And sometimes, very occasionally, its something else. When I was at the schoolhouse at Eagle, AMR decided to cut the number of sim hours needed for upgrades, which reduced the overtime sim instructors were getting. All of a sudden the number of upgrade failures skyrocketed. They went back to the old way, the overtime, and the pass rate returned to normal. Maybe it was the change in curriculum, and maybe there was a message being sent. Either way, there are guys with busts on their record that maybe didn't deserve them.

Another time and place had the Feds all over the training department. Things went from "Have a good attitude, and we'll get you through, even if you need a couple extra sessions" to "Don't fall behind even a half a session, or you're a wash out. We can't do any extra training." Just in the course of a month. I'm sure it was not the instructors making that call, but outside pressures were being applied. People got dinged up who might well have made it through at another time or place.

I have no knowledge of the situation in YIP, I've never even been there, and I'm absolutely NOT saying this kind of thing is happening there now or has ever happened there. Only that it is a fair question to ask, because it does happen, from time to time.