Originally Posted by
AtlCSIP
I think SWA is PFT because we made it that way. I think the 737 type was a requirement in the beginning to attract pilots who were already typed, thus decreasing the possibility for washout during training. Because we pilots realized that SWA was a good place to be, we CHOSE to pay for training to qualify ourselves instead of going to work for another operator who flies 73's first and moving to SWA. They have never said that you have to pay for your type, they just said you have to have one.
You may be correct. The fact still remains: No other U.S. airline requires a new pilot employee to show up on the first day of indoc with a type certificate in hand.
As I understand it, during the last several years that SWA was hiring, they ran out of applicants with 737 types, so they agreed to interview and hire someone, as long as that person showed up with a type in hand on the first day of indoc. If this isn't a PFT scenario, I don't know what is.
As long as new-hires agree to do this, nothing will change.