Training timeline
 

I am heading off to the ATP/CTP in DFW this week, then to MSP for orientation. Some current training questions.

Is the CBT training a set 2 weeks as mentioned in the hiring process, or dependent on scheduling?

How long is ground school until SIM's and do they typically roll the class right into sim's or another break? Sim length?

Going into Nov / DEC was told would not have classes over holidays but wasn't clear on if time to make it home during the holidays. I am sure this is schedule dependent but trying to understand what no training over holidays means.

Friend of mine went through a couple months ago. All standard stuff without a whole lot of delays anywhere.

2 weeks for CBTs and class starts the Monday after those 2 weeks. I think CBTs had to be done by the Friday prior. 2 weeks of ground school and 3 days of systems integration training before the oral.

After that for FPTs and sims, it seemed like you’d have maybe 3 days in a row with a couple days off then 3 days in a row- something like that. There were maybe a couple 4 day off stretches after some of the validations here and there.

Sim length would be about 1.5-2 weeks, 6 sims before your maneuvers val.

Not sure about the holiday schedule. I wouldn’t plan on a ton of time off but you’ll bid for your schedule amongst your class on day 1 of ground school I think.

Why would you go to a place that is loosing 60% of their flying with no replacement?

Training
 

I went through training during the holidays. We had a week off for Thanksgiving and 2 weeks off for Christmas. We were able to travel home for the holidays. You will still receive your monthly guaranteed pay.I do not recall if per diem was paid out or not. We were not in the sims yet so if you are to that point you might be training over the holidays. You will bid for your sim schedules the first week of Indoc, so you should have a good idea of your training schedule, of course that is subject to change, and it did a few times for me. I hope that helps and welcome to Compass! Good luck in your training.

I finished training somewhat recently.

You get per diem the entire time you’re in MSP, which is awesome.

My training stuck to the schedule for 100% of it. Nothing got moved or cancelled. No delays. It was great.

Took 8 weeks from the first day in MSP (not including orientation) till my checkride.


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Because other options don't have me starting until an unknown time next year, so I am still ahead and it meet's my goals. Heck I couldn't even get an interview until after this class date for other options. If/when I need to make a lateral move I will of had a training event, type and hopefully some 121 time. If replacement does happen I am positioned well and if not its not time wasted for me.

Thank you for the info!

Cool, appreciate the info.

For this and many of your other posts the last few months, it seems you will fit in quite well here. Welcome!

This move advances your career and experience no matter what. Make the most of it, and hope for the best.

THIS^^
I love flying with guys/gals like you, people who think the big picture!
Welcome to CPZ!

Welcome! Agree with all

stang, any idea how many are in your class? Curious minds want to know.

No clue. My understanding is 2 dates in October and both are full.

Thanks to the others for the kind words. Will be making the best of it all!

That's great. Enjoy and welcome!

His class has 6 total

It will be interesting to see if all 6 show up.

I’ll take the under. With all new hires going to LAX now it seems, I’m curious if the recent lack of new hire attendance is also hurt by Seattle or Phoenix guys now not having an option to be home based.

Oh and the flying or lack there of..situation

I was just offered a position at Compass. I applied for very similar reasons as Stang. WORST CASE, I get interview experience, maybe an ATP, maybe some training, maybe some flight time before being told we dont need you any longer. 3 of us (out of 7) were offered positions on the spot, MY GUESS is the other 2 will not actually show up to class. 1 was based in SEA, the other was a young kid from Texas I believe, way more options out that way without the career risk. My question is I was told there are spots in the November class, but 2020 classes have not been scheduled yet. Made me think, if nothing comes up, there will be no classes scheduled. Does anyone know if its common for CPZ to not know class dates going into the next year when you apply during this time of year? Maybe I am reading too much into it and its standard practice

Correct we have no projected hiring in 2020. Is that “common”? No. My advice to you is if you’re a gambling man/woman and you live in SoCal, take the job. The crews are great at this company and it’s a great aircraft to fly. Just accept the fact that you might be on the bottom on the seniority list for a long time, on account of no hiring.

No. I was one of the last guys hired here when we froze hiring and it’s not a place to be. Reserve here is awful. Even more awful if you commute. And if you think the LAX base is staying more than another year or two... I’m sorry but it’s probably not.

11 days off a month doesn’t go very far when they make you shuffle broken planes until 1:45am on your day off every stretch and give you 5-on, 2-off reserve logging almost no hours. Don’t give this place any of your time. I’ve given it too much of mine, and we had a better looking future then than we do now. I’ve been here 3 years and only had 10 months NOT on reserve.

There is no reason to go here when you could go to skywest/other and have a [RJ] career, not a temporary job where you’ll spend every day worrying if you’ll be unemployed tomorrow. Pick a better regional and move to the domicile.

If we land some UA jets, come on over. But until then, be patient and go somewhere better. Pretty easy to ask to be left in a pilot pool and jump in if good news arrives

Not trying to be negative, trying to save you wasted time and effort for a place you’ll be disappointed in.

I’d take Stang’s approach. If you can get into a November class here, and you have no other conflicting prospects, come to CP. That’s low risk/high reward; an investor’s dream.

If you’ve got other prospects in like January, maybe consider them.

It’s a gamble pure and simple. From the sounds of things none of the management types have anything definitive, but they all seem to believe that something possible is on the horizon (no pun intended). Upgrades are continuing so if (and here’s the gamble) something is coming being one of the few to lock your seniority in now may be a huge advantage. Of course, if nothing happens you will be the first on the chopping block.

I agree with the approach others have suggested. If you have other offers within the same time range probably best to look elsewhere, but if not I think it’s worth a gamble, worst case you can take a later class date elsewhere.

Just my opinion, and worth as much as the paper it’s written on.

Wow only 3 out of 7. It’s definitely a culture fit type of interview.

As others have said collect the cjo’s and take what makes sense for you. On a side note I didn’t collect cjos as I was too lazy to interview after I got my first choice


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Everything Slowhawk tells you is perfectly true, but it is HIS experience. Your mileage may (and likely will) differ. In the three years he’s been here he HAS spent two and a half years on reserve. In the year and a half I have been here I’ve spent slightly less than 2 weeks on reserve, and almost half of that was REC, that is days I had scheduled flying originally that were purchased back from me to support someone else’s IOE. Those are long call, except I wasn’t ever called, making them paid days off.

But that doesn’t mean Slowhawk isn’t telling you the truth. Regionals are unpredictable. Sometimes it’s feast, sometimes famine. Sometimes management is junior manning you and sometimes they aren’t flying you at all. If you have any friends at Horizon, ask them about the latter.

Everything is a roll of the dice, but you also gotta consider what you are betting vs what you are assured of. Slowhawk got screwed by the fickle finger of fate. He REALLY UNEQUIVOCALLY DID, through no fault of his own. He did nothing wrong and couldn’t have predicted that he was going to spend three years of his life and possibly still NOT get the TPIC he needs to take the next step and I’d be as frustrated as him if it happened to me. Nor does the fact that my first 18 months at Compass has been about as good as I could have hoped for reflect that I was somehow better or brighter than Slowhawk. I was luckier, and that’s all.But you aren’t Slowhawk and you aren’t me, although your crystal ball is no less cloudy than ours. So what are YOU risking?

Well, that depends on your alternatives. If, for example, you have a CJO somewhere else you’d like ALMOST as much as you’d like Compass with a class date three days after your Compass class date, that’s a no brainer - take three days off and start there. On the other hand if you’re CJO/class date somewhere else is 6 months out and it isn’t your preference, that’s a no-brainer in the other direction.

A newbie isn’t like Slowhawk or even like me, your ante isn’t that much. You get a job, you get an ATP, and you get a type rating. Once you are done with IOE you get a bonus. Once you have your type-rating consolidated, do you really care if they furlough you? Well, yes, but probably not as much because your investment is less.

As a furloughed guy, already with an ATP and type rating? And with bonus already in hand? You go from being one of a sea of 1500 hour CFIs to a hot commodity that any regional out there knows for sure can hack it - someone who already has his/her ATP which will save them some money. They’ll be happy to slip you into the first vacancy that comes up in their next class. So yeah, you have to endure another init and you lose maybe six whole months seniority, but so what? You just been there, done that, still got the t-shirt. You can do it again and it’ll be easier the second time, Besides, you get ANOTHER signing bonus.

Slowhawk has a right to be ****ed if - with three years invested - he doesn’t get his payoff. A newbie has a far smaller investment. Heck, even if you are furloughed the first day of indoc you get your ATP and the Sim time that went with it. And those things have value.

The right answer is different for everyone and the airline industry is ALWAYS unpredictable. Just ask the Delta pilots who lost their “guaranteed” company pensions way back in 2005.

https://www.aviationpros.com/home/ne...exdelta-pilots

The airline industry is one big gamble. It will never be anything else. If you aren’t willing to weigh the risks and place your bets, you probably need to think about some other career. That’s just reality.

I think what everyone has said so far is pretty spot on. I've heard nothing but good things at Compass and I like your low risk/high reward logic as well. What I will say however is that in the unfortunate event that things go south at Compass, going through indoc again, learning a companies new quirks and procedures again, having to make a lateral move, none of it would be fun. Depending on where you live it may be worth looking into a AA WO. With Envoy having over 170 FO spots on this vacancy they're gearing up for some type of expansion.