Clamp,

I'm glad you found your instructing experience rewarding. I can't say the same about mine. I instructed at a small flight school where the majority of students were getting their Private. I'd occasionally have an instrument student and we'd try to get in the clouds but that was hit and miss. Teaching was great for my confidence as a pilot but flying to and from the traffic pattern or the occasional cross country did very little to prepare me for the skills and experiences I would eventually need to be an airline pilot. That included 100 hours teaching in a Seminole. Shutting off a fuel tank and watching someone go through the single engine drill for the umpteenth time only goes so far. I don't know. Maybe I'm one of those that sucked as an instructor.

I left instructing after 1200 hours and hauled checks single-pilot for two years. By the time I got to the regionals, I didn't know how to fly a jet per se, but I sure as hell knew a lot more about weather, ATC, busy airspace, command decisions and risks than I ever did before.

You and I had the fortune to find experiences elsewhere, you with corporate, me with freight. Unfortunately for the majority of others, their experience will be limited to the traffic pattern and the 100 hours of twin time that they will beg, borrow or steal, more so now than ever, since many of the skill-building jobs are going away.

And you're right. An airline training program should be exactly that, a training program. Fortunately, I had the choice to go to a respectable regional that did that. But from what I hear from others, that can't be said for all regionals.