Jallancarter

Can any AA pilots give me an idea of how long the training is for new hire pilots, what the schedule is like and what they go through? What is the pay like during training? Days off? Also, how and when does the aircraft you fly and base get determined?

Csy Mon

Training 7-8 weeks. Usually weekends off.
You get assigned aircraft and base pretty early, based on your wishes and relative seniority in class.
Don’t know what training pay, or probation pay is these days.
Traditionaly pretty poor but things ave changed lately.
Training is good but AA can be anal. Be prepared to study hard to show “good attitude”, then if you have problems they will bend over backwards to help you.

EMBFlyer

Indoc is 2 weeks long.

When you start aircraft training the footprint is pretty much the same among all fleets, but this is based off the 737 (which I just went through transition training on).

9 days of ground school. 4 on. 2 off. Followed by 5 on 2 off.
10 days of sim. 5 on. 2 off.

Before aircraft training on most fleets, there's a home study course on the iPad before you show up. It's about 21 hours of home study (give or take).

I can't speak for the other fleets these days, but I can't speak highly enough of the 737 program. The instructors are excellent and are more than willing work with you. Their goal is to make sure you succeed.

As stated above, the biggest thing is attitude. Have a good attitude and try your best and they'll bend over backwards for you.

Clint

737 and 320 training is 25 days with the on-off schedule that EMBFlyer described. E190 and S80 is 33 days with a similar schedule, but they have an additional week of ground school (737 and 320 have computer based training beforehand that removes the need for that extra week).
Everybody has 48 hours off after their sim checkride, then they have an additional 48 hours to complete four observation rides in the jumpseat of their aircraft (two of which they can do as early as completion of their 5th sim).
Then you are blocked days for OE (Operational Experience – flight with a check airman to make sure you’re up to speed). Domestic pilots get 18 days, international pilots get 23 days (international pilots also do a couple days of additional ground school). You need 25 OE hours, and it’s normally done as two trips of 2-4 days.

During a full month of training, you get the Monthly Average Line Value (MALV) for your four part bid status (ex: LGA 737 Domestic FO). This varies month to month, but it’s usually around 80 hours paid at first year pay (about $85 an hour right now). On your last month of training as you transition to reserve you will be paid reserve guarantee of either 73 hour for long call or 76 hour for short call. On the rare occasion that guys come off OE and hold a line, they get prorated daily value of MALV while they’re in training, then the value of any trips they pick up when they’re done with OE.

Your base and aircraft are determined on day 2 of indoc. The class is arranged by birth date and they pick from oldest to youngest.

tothebigblue

Any insights to getting a call from AA? I have an AA pilot rec., 35 year AA employee letter of rec, many externals, and routinely updating pilotcredentials, volunteer work etc etc etc. Not trolling just getting frustrated what else I can do

Otterbox

LCA seems to be a big ticket item for non-flow/non-military pilots.

newcfii

As was previously posted from our Director of Pilot Recruiting David Tatum:

What advice do you have for someone with an ultimate career goal of flying for American?
Our three wholly owned regionals - PSA, Piedmont and Envoy - play an integral part in our long-term pilot pipeline strategy. For someone who is taking the civilian route and desiring to fly for American, we highly recommend flying for one of our regionals. As you have seen in the last few years, our primary source of pilots is the military and our three regionals. Our unique seniority-based flow agreements make the regional path the one most certain to lead to our cockpit.

Again, your recommendations and involvement in our recruitment process are key elements to our success. Thank you for helping us to find pilots who would be a great asset to our airline.

David

Sliceback

Training is not “most weekends off.” Class start almost every day and you get on your 4/2 or 5/2 cycle. If you’re on a 5/2 cycle and start on Monday you’ll have every weekend off. If the classes were starting every day one pairing (2 FO’s or 1 CA and 1 FO, gets every weekend off, one pairing would get every Saturday off, one pairing would get every Sunday off, and the other four pairings would work every weekend.

Training start every day would be 60 ‘starts’ per month. I’d be surprised if it’s that high. Thirty starts would be an aircraft training class starting every other day.

A 4/2 schedule would have some weekend days off.

EMBFlyer

Precisely. I was in training every weekend during my transition training.

Kebert Xela

Same, though I had it a little different cause I went to Miami for 73 sims 1-5 instead of DFW.... got an extra day off on the back end for travel back to Dfw to continue sims 6-10.

Don’t know how much longer that will last but I think we’ll be sending folks to Boeing in MIA for a while.