Airline Pilot Central Forums - Question about AA instructors

Airline Pilot Central Forums (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/)

- American (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/american/)

- - Question about AA instructors (https://www.airlinepilotforums.com/american/69642-question-about-aa-instructors.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by captjns (Post 1254124)

In some parts of the world, the F/O flying with a captain with less than 1,000 in type as PIC is not allowed to touch the controls. Imagine being at a small base. Some F/O's don't touch the controls for 6 months at a time. Now that really sucks! 22 year F/O... holy $hit! That can't be great for one's ego. Damn... that really sucks. In many parts of the world a cadet finds their way into the left seat within 5 years after induction.

At the end of the day a job is a job and give the situation in the US... not much in the way of pickens. However, there are alternatives with the looming avoiding of the current labour contract at AA. If one is under 45, there are opportunities for landing gear operators overseas.

AA Sim/Ground School Instructor

Does anyone have a POC for Sim/Ground School Instructors at AA?

Are they hiring?

I am a furloughed AA pilot who is about to retire from the military. I have 727 FE and 737 FO experience. I would enjoy instructing at the flight academy.

Thanks,
Big Slick

Quote:

Originally Posted by B757200ER (Post 1254117)

"Ancestral worship"? When I'm taxiing the jet, the last thing I want to do is try and make a PA...especially when there is a fully capable F/O not taxiing that can easily pick up the PA and say "Flight Attendants prepare for take-off"!

Just to be clear - I agree with you 100%. I named it "ancestral worship" because AA has always had the CA run the PAs, from push back to gate arrival. Ever since the DC-3 days!

Quote:

Originally Posted by aa73 (Post 1253582)

^^^^^^^^ ForeverFO does not lie ^^^^^^^^^

AA has always had a "Captain" mentality since the DC-3 days. They love to claim they hire Captains but the truth is that, when you're an FO, you're just an FO.

Examples:

- All PAs are made by the Captain. That includes on taxi out, in the air, on the descent, and on taxi in. Doesn't matter whether he is PF or PM. The only PA made by the FO is approaching the gate, for folks to remain seated and for F/As to disarm doors (which, ironically, is made by the F/As at every other airline - for good reason, who wants the FO making a PA approaching the gate????)

- Only the Captain is allowed to land the airplane with RVR less than 4000 or vis less than 1/4mile.

- Only Captains are allowed to be Check Airmen.

- Only Captains are allowed to start the engines.

- Only Captains are allowed to turn on/off exterior lights, hit the sterile chime, and work the seat belt sign.

I could go on and on, but you get the point. We have FOs here with thousands of hours of experience, most of who have been Captains previously, who are essentially prevented from acting like Captains in training. And frankly, most of our FOs are so beaten down by this mentality that they only do their job and no more.

Sad situation. I will say that it has SLOWLY been changing, but we have a long way to go in catching up with most "modern 21st century" airlines.

AA73 a couple corrections. Landing 4000 RVR or 3/4 mile not 1/4 must be made by captain. Also, during a single engine taxi, the f/o may start an engine. But I have not done a SE taxi in a long time. Dont forget the walk around culture, cockpit setup and checklist reading all done by FO. The fo at AA is not a captain in training as was the case at my "aggressively safe" and "scd" former airline.

Forgot to mention. I usually offer the f/o the opportunity to make the PAs, other than the mandated "prepare for t/o or landing". Most turn me down. On the other hand when I offer to do the walk around, most say go ahead.
Back on topic, we have many f/o s who have check airman experience on the A320. AA would rather have an AA captain with no A320 experience as an instructor than hire very experienced, former A320 captains, that are now recalled to AA and sitting in the right seat.

These anachronistic practices seem to be the antithesis of 6th generation CRM.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Slick (Post 1255592)

Not sure if they are hiring, but on my least recurrent the sim instructor who did our "warmup sim" was a furloughed AA pilot.

Man, it sounds like the cockpit culture at AA blows. In addition to everything stated above, I've noticed things while on their jumpseat. From mile long checklists, to writing down fuel and times between every fix, to many really unnecessary tasks, I really hope that the US Airways training and cockpit procedures prevail after the merger. I'm surprised there's any situational awareness at all considering all the things they have to do in there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lsl80 (Post 1256307)

Thanks man, the 1/4sm was a typo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by texaspilot76 (Post 1256684)

The writing down of fuel between fixes is a VERY good thing. We've caught more than one severe fuel leak between 2 close fixes using this technique. Remember the A300's inaugural flight back in 1987 with the VP Flight, CA Ewell, as the captain? They caught a disastrous fuel leak between 2 close fixes thanks to this procedure. Almost had to ditch, but thanks to an EAL crew who told them to pull a fire handle, disaster was averted and they landed in Bermuda.

Otherwise, I agree with everything else you said. We do have a lot of long checklists, and the CA does a lot of stuff he shouldn't have to do. Hopefully this will change with a merger.

I will say that we have a highly skilled pilot group that still manages to fly safely amidst all of these antiquated procedures. 99.9% of the CAs actively set a very CRM-friendly cockpit atmosphere and recognize that most of our F/Os are highly experienced as well.