+1 - going through 88 training right now. Chatting with others on the ER and A-320/19 in particular - now I see why systems review on the 88 was two full days long and the Airbus folks got 1/2 day. If they're putting new hires through the 88, they can most certainly make it through the ER.

 

The 88 is a beast of a training cycle. Very call out intensive plane with a heavy amount of quirks. It's pretty funny when your LCA says it's the worst plane he's ever flown. With that said, I'm enjoying the airplane! Well at least the MD90

 

I'm not making a big deal about it, it was a comment on the interwebz.

Yes, we have new hires that have experience flying large aircraft; we also have new hires that have experience based solely on flying regionals or single seat military fighter aircraft who've never seen an oceanic crossing.

I've been flying for 33 years and have hundreds of oceanic crossings in heavies. I also have good friends who are CA's who fly with newhires on the ER.

It's not the training, its the reality of flying a heavy internationally. I've also been through the Maddog training and line experience, as a new hire BTW. No, I don't think its a "big deal." Yes, I do think its important. Some guys are gonna have their world rocked.

 

I don't think anyone thinks there a problem getting a new hire through training on the ER. It is probably one of the easier planes to learn. The question is: "then what"?

As you probably know, international flying isn't fast-paced, and it isn't really difficult. It's mostly about procedures that are not related to flying the airplane. When you're doing it, you're not learning to be a Delta pilot, call-outs, large airplanes, etc. Those things are a prerequisite, but the opportunities to practice are limited. You're expected to have that background already. You're mostly focused on not getting a gross navigational error, or some sort of local infraction.

I think the problem some guys have is that the new hires they get haven't done a few laps on the 88 or 320, or 737, and the stuff that's supposed to be second-nature, just isn't there yet. I think that's all people (some people) are complaining about. Or maybe they're just ****ed because they had to wait seven years to do it, I don't know.

If I was new, I would not worry about any negative stereotype. Most of the guys in the left seat, and the other FO's, are real class acts. They are at the graduate-level in their respective seats, and graduate-level pilots know how to deal with all sorts of experience levels. They're going to make you feel right at home. All you need to keep in mind is that you're going to want to be all kinds of proficient at a) the basic "be a Delta pilot" stuff, AND b) be a pilot that confidently flies all over the place. It's a plane where you can hypothetically get a little lazy, and nobody likes a lazy anything, especially a lazy newhire.

If you get enough domestic flying, and you don't stop trying to learn, there is no reason you couldn't be as sharp as the guy flying four legs a day. Welcome aboard!

 

It has nothing to do with that. The ER captains are so far removed from their FO days, that they no longer remember all the housekeeping stuff the FO has to do. They rely on the senior FOs, with the institutional knowledge, to do it all. At least the junior CAs on the NBs remember how to do that stuff.

Besides, those guys are too grumpy to make good baby sitters.

 

Thank you! Slept like crap the last two nights but it will be better from here! It looks like if you interviewed before this week you will be in class in Oct sometime. It sounded like everyone this week will be in nov or later with maybe a few in oct, who knows for sure though.

Have you gotten your cleared to train letter yet?

 

My brief to the new hires when I was an 88 Captain;

"Just don't kill me, keep us off CNN, and try not to wake me."

Now, 22 years later, my brief to my 25+ year 777 F/O's;

"Don't let me wake up and catch you sleeping!"

Sometimes they'll stay awake all the way to coast out...

sometimes.

 

Excuse me. What?

I'm an excellent baby-sitter & I'm rarely grumpy.

 

Cleared to train letter does not mean anything as far as Indoc date. Mind came during second week of Indoc.

 

Mine came after my 44x checkride.