Reactivity

I'm curious about what those gaps are.

My career before ABX was almost entirely part 135 in jets under 20,000 pounds - no 121 experience and no time in anything over 40,000 pounds. I didn't feel like there was anything missing. Jets is jets, and part 121 is just part 135 with a lot more supervision and people who are (sometimes marginally) trained to do flight planning and file flight plans for you.

NeverHome

I can’t speak for anyone, but I do know that non 121 often struggle with OpSpec stuff. An example would be derived alternate minimums, lowest RVR to take off or land, and the like. I have no 135 experience but I assume OpSpecs are apart of 135 life. Maybe differences. But for those that are weak in this area, 121 life can be a big leap. Although I’m certain most people don’t think about them. Rather focusing on the manuals and doing what is in them, not realizing the legal framework they are built on.

point432

Derived alternate mins...what you talkin about?! Ha


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NeverHome

Exactly!

CA: “ready to go?”
FO: “how’s the alternate looking?”
CA: “don’t worry about it, start #2”
FO: “you got it skipper!”

Reactivity

I can see that - if op specs and all that stuff are entirely new to you, it's going to significantly increase the amount of stuff you need to learn. Having spent almost 20 years in part 135 before moving to 121, I spent no time on those because they're largely to those at every 135 operation I had seen.

Elevation

Gaps would include things like basic turbine theory, high altitude/high speed aerodynamics, international procedures, etc. For example our international procedures training is a total of 4 hours of classroom work with an over-reliance on check-airmen to provide instruction in the field. This results in flight by rote around the planet rather than giving people the know how to anticipate, research and act according to the changing circumstances around them.

At the most basic level the regionals are making assumptions about training their candidates which are accurate. The ACMI carriers are making assumptions about training which are inaccurate. We take pride in getting people out of the classroom and back to the hotel a few hours earlier than scheduled. Everyone's happy when that occurs. This all combines to overload our check-airmen and turn OE into something it was never intended to be.

For me, these gaps were covered by things I did in previous jobs. Like you I did a lot of my own handling doing some international 135 work, contracting, etc. I'd flown some jets before, etc. If you don't have that prior knowledge, we're relying on people to pick up what they need on the line. They're not going to do that at the rate we fly and with how we concentrate different tasks into different seniority levels within our company.

Apologies for the long post. I suck at editing.