Piedmont Training Dept.
 

Evidently there has been a shake-up in the Piedmont Training Dept. New hires are being yelled at in the sim and being told that if they fail a checkride they will have to do a 709 ride. Not sure if that's legal or not?

That doesn't sound like a shakeup to me. Sounds exactly like my training in 2007

What crap. A CFI who can't quite hack 121 training does nut justify a 709. I'd finish training (don't want to quit and have to explain later) and then immediately take a job with another regional. To hell with PDT.

Agree. I was at Piedmont in 2011. AQP training is hard at this regional. Is JF still the senior check airman there?

Not sure what legal issues can arise from the company though. I don't think any.

I have to say the 709 ride is a new one. When I went through initial it was EXTREMELY common for crews to be let go for issues during sims.

First of all being yelled at inside of the simulator can be very disconcerting and frustrating to someone that has never seen it before. I don't understand why sim instructors do this it can absolutely destroy a prospective pilot and make him feel about an inch tall. Second if you fail the checkride anyway you should walk away. How could they impose a 709 ride after the fact? I thought 709 rides where for when you screw up GA or as a pilot already on the line. And third if all this about piedmont is true avoid them like the plague.No sense it possibly destroying your hopes and dreams and hard work just because a sim instructor wants to get macho and see what you do.

Only the FAA can request a reexamination (709) of an airman usually as a result of an accident or incident where his competency was in question. If someone is having difficulty during training perhaps the organization needs to look within itself first.

APDs, DPEs, etc. act as the FAA in the 121 flight training world. It's not out of the realm to have them issue a 709 ride. In the case of PDT, I'd have to believe it isn't justified. My guess is it's way over the top for what would essentially be a non event. I don't know for sure because I'm not there and I'm not I. The know. Just my assumptions after having been through training with them, and my treatment in sims.

PDT training is not for the faint of heart or those with easily hurt feelings.

Designees cannot "issue" 709 rides. It has to come from the administrator (FAA) in any world including 121.

Only as outlined in their letters, and imposing a 709 ride is light years beyond anything that is in any DE letter.

It sounds like somebody at PDT is like the TSA underwear checker who thinks that they are now part of the FBI.