It is an unfortunate situation for everyone at CAT and I wish everyone the best of luck. There are many people at CAT that have a large stake in the outcome of CAT’s success or failure, besides just employment. Most of the pilots at CAT have had to pay for their training out of their own pocket.

In many cases the FE’s are low-time pilots having shelled out $33000 to fly as an FE and then upgrade to an FO. You can go directly into the right seat if you have 1500+ hours for around $20000. This will give you a 727 SIC type rating. Additionally, there is only one door to CAT employment, and that’s through Sim Center. Side note; a 727 PIC type rating can be obtained for about $7000-$8000 from other training facilities.

I know that Sim Center http://www.simcenter.cc/index.php has been pumping out around 5-8 FE’s and FO’s every five weeks (do the math.) These pilots are all paying for their training and now are not being delivered what they were promised. The program is advertised as a “short-cut to the airlines.”

Let’s take another look at Sim Center and its relationship to CAT. There is a company called Jet University www.jetuniversity.com/ . These folks do the marketing for Sim Center and were formerly pushing Gulfstream’s First Officer program. Next is Sim Center, that provides the actual flight training. Lastly, we have Jet Flight Crews International, which leases flight crews to CAT. Sim Center and Jet Flight Crews International are both owned by Henry George. Hmm, do you suppose Henry is greasing anyone? Sim Center KNEW that CAT’s UPS contract was ending, yet happily took everyone’s money. Do you suppose this would be an indictable offense, fraud maybe?

Technically, everyone at CAT that entered CAT through Sim Center and is an employee of Jet Flight Crews International, was and will not be furloughed since they are not employees of CAT. Many people just finishing class will possibly never step foot in a CAT aircraft or receive a penny refunded from Henry George. I know, cry me a river!

Any intelligent advice besides don’t be a dumb-@ss by paying for training???