LAXative

OIC.... They HAD to PFT to get a job at the certain commuters that required it. Why didn't they get a job at a commuter that didn't PFT?

jayme

As an Airbus captain (not at JetBlue) I fly with lots of great FOs and a few crappy ones. I find there is very little correlation between their experience and their performance. Almost none, really.

If my company had a program like this, I'd never give a graduate of the program a hard time... Unless they sucked.

It sounds to me like a lot of people here are just frustrated that somebody else might have an easier path to the airlines than they did.

CaptCoolHand

Didn't SWA just stop PFT?

...This thread is disturbing.

phoenix 23684

You have the money to go through the JetBlue course, go through it, work hard at it and you will be rewarded for your hard work. All of these people chiming in that it is not fair, bla bla bla. Hint number 1. Life is not fair. A lot of us had a crappy decade or two due to the times. I'm in my 40s and finally at a national carrier. I wish I could have been at a legacy by now, but I will never fault anyone for taking a better path.

Good for you, you get to bypass the crappy life as a regional pilot. Most of these people wish they could have as well. Good luck to you and hope it works out.

grim04

Not true. I'm glad I got the experience at the regional level. Yes it was low pay for a couple of years but then the captains moved on and I took their spot. There are no shortcuts for experience like that. This is the same as these millennials coming out of college crying unfairness because they don't want to start at an entry level position.

jayme

Ah yes, remember the good old days when people graduated college and begged for jobs cleaning toilets just so they could "pay their dues?" Man I miss those days.

Nobody from a prior generation EVER wanted to make good money early in their career, start a 401k before they were 40, or aspire to retire at 50. Nope, it's just this "entitlement generation."

GMAFB.

CaptCoolHand

I don't think this is about scrubbing toilets. But "Paying your dues" goes hand in hand with the experience of what to do when it really hits the fan. We all know that real life rarely gives us what happens in the sim... Sim=wink wink there may be an engine problem on this takeoff... Real life= BLD leak in icing conditions followed by flap failure, air return, bing bong lady in 23 is having a hear attack, oh your diversion airport just closed... deal.

The reason you fly smaller planes early on or go into the military is so if you Ef it up you hurt the smallest number of things. JMO.

Going forward, I truly don't think jb will need this program and I don't support it at this stage of the game. That being said, if I was in a position to apply and attend I'd take it. Call me hypocritical, but that's life.

jayme

Nope!

The reason you fly smaller planes early on is because nobody will hire you to fly the bigger ones.

That was due to market conditions.

Market conditions are changing.

phoenix 23684

You're lying to yourself. You tell me if a legacy would have offered you a job straight out of college or at the time you were getting your first regional job that you would have said thanks but no thanks, I need to get my regional experience first? Right. There is no doubt that you got great experience at the regionals.

RJCaptin

Closing Arguments:

1. Regionals are designed to wip up a fresh 1500 hr 172 CFI into an Airline Pilot. The regional Check Airman have dealt with scenario for years with these type of experience; you know, how to land a jet for the first time. What is de-icing? Radio calls in JFK, flow in ORD. So, go to a regional that will gladly teach you this, not buy yourself into a Major airline that will expect you to know all these things on day one of IOE.
2. Your typical civilian new hire at a Major airline is regional guy used and abused for years. The mere fact that they are out of the regionals makes their attitude much more pleasant. You bought your job, it makes you a consumer, which gives you entitlement. If your entitlement expectations are not met, you develop a self destructive attitude, which will be a pain to deal with from the training department all the way to the line pilot.
3. You are buying yourself a job, no questions about it. Your average regional pilot did not. They bought the flight training, worked their way up to the regionals without any guarantee that their seniority number is reserved at a major. Only thing that will get them there is merit. You are bypassing everything by just writing a 125k check. Imagine starting a 4 day trip where the captain had to slum it out at the regional level, network and work their way into B6, while you, bought your job. Imagine the level of respect from your peers.
4. If B6 is worried about a pilot shortage, then maybe they should stop ignoring high time regional CAs and LCAs who are deemed untrainable. Lots of us will be happy in any seat if our QOL and paycheck is better. B6 will have a net pool of 3000 candidates, which is not a shortage.

There's no way around it, you bought yourself a job, and it's not even guaranteed. Idotic is not even correct world to describe this type of action. Get a job using your own merit, if you have none then....