Ouch. : (

Do you think it was a currency issue? Has anyone established any kind of a common thread?

That really stinks - I hope you find something else soon. Best wishes.

 

Agreed -- Was Feb 26th AM interview - Background was flawless, over 5K total time, 4700 PIC, about 250 a year, Dual rated Helicopter and FW ATP with 2/3rds helicopter and 1/3rd FW, with about 400 twin turbine PIC with one jet type, but my current job is in a Twin Turbine IFR Medevac helicopter ... I have no 121 experience, but do stay current in FW in the Falcon 900 at CAE, a Mooney that I fly every week, and do contract work in a Sikorsky S76 for a local company.

I understand JB has a certain criteria and at the end of the day, they have to go by established guidelines and rules. Yes, it was more than 4 months for me to get the TBNT letter, but that's the way life works sometimes. I'm not at all upset or even disappointed. Not everything is meant to be at the schedule and time that we want it to be ...

My question now is do I leave my medevac job to go to a regional to get 1-2K hours of jet / 121 or some other option?

I really was interested in a career with JB...not just a flying job. Will see what the future holds. No company is perfect, but I think they still have a lot of good going for them -

 

Yeah this is very stressful not knowing. I wonder what the issues seem to be? Too many in phase II?

 

I had a similar thought ... They did interview a lot of people this spring and if class size is decreasing to 20 and below, they may have an excess of candidates in phase II.

Here is the timeline leading to my TBNT email.

-Applied in November
-Mil IP/EP, Fighter/Trainer background, 3000 TT, 1900 ME, 2200 TPIC, CFII, MEI, ATP. No 121 experience.
-One internal rec
-Email in mid February to invite to interview on 11 March, 1300
-I felt the interview went very well
-Late March - Phase II email
-Background cleared in April (TS-SCI clearance, clean record)
-May - "JB still wants you, expect mid/late summer class date" phone call
-Two weeks ago, email, then phone call, requesting recency of experience since 2010, year by year breakdown of hours, duties and accomplishments, for a PHC meeting later that day
-Immediately responded with the data
150+ hours in last 12 months, still actively flying, 500+ hours since Aug 2010, current EP in the T-6
-Yesterday generic rejection form email addressed to "pilot candidate".

I think what killed me was one or a combination of these three things:

A-My internal rec left for for a Legacy since my interview
B-150 hours in 12 months was considered too low
C-All my recency was a single engine turbo prop

If it was A, I think it would be extremely short sighted, but since I live in Texas, maybe they thought I'd jump to AA, SWA or UA at the first chance (they'd be wrong if they thought that). If it was B, then they misunderstand how many hours a pilot in a leadership position flies in an AF training unit. If it was C, well, they knew that going into the interview... so who knows?

I was extremely excited at the idea of going to JB for the long haul. If I wasn't a good fit, then I wasn't a good fit, I just wish it didn't take 100 days to make the call.

Good luck to the rest of you.

Cheers!

 

Has anyone received the TBNT that interviewed 3/19-20 or 4/8?

 

We have had more trouble getting guys through training recently. The rejections are most likely based on recency and 121 (or similar experience) deficiencies. They liked you enough to pass you through phase one, and assuming your background was good, they drooped you guys out of phase two for recency and experience in 121 or similar. It really sucks they made you wait so long, but the requirements changed mid process due to recent training fails.

I do feel bad for you being strung along. To the guy that asked about going to a regional, although not pleasant, I think it would help tremendously. I think it would increase your chances at JB and every other major airline. High tempo ops multi-crew turbojet time after passing a 121 turbojet training program is very much what they want to see. Doesn't have to be a regional airline, also try a cargo operator or national like allegiant, frontier, etc...

 

That's just odd ...

What's even more odd is I never received a call about any updated hours, training, etc - I stay current in 4 aircraft a year, 2FW and 2RC and am in flightsafety or CAE nearly every three months for either recurrent, differences, etc. If they really had a concern about passing an Checkride, i would had thought they would had at least queried me
for updated hours or recent training.
oh well! c'est la vie

 

Can anyone chime in what background their washouts have come from?

How many have been highly-experienced fighter/instructor/evaluator pilots like rdc who (like most retiring mil pilots) have flown <200 hrs the past year? I wonder if they know that frontline fighter/attack guys are getting <150.

I'm a guy who fits that profile and had flown ~100/yr hrs the 2 years prior to starting with JB, and all of that in C-172/182s. I'd never piloted anything larger than a fighter. The only problems I had with training were trying to figure out the 121 environment. All that took was a bit more work, no extra training, and I walked out with a clean checkride.

Seems to me they've done a poor analysis of the problem and come up with easy answers. As the big boys start ramping up hiring (and if you didn't know, the hydrant is wide open right now), unless JB is willing to do the hard work of a bottom-up review of both hiring and training shops, slaughtering a few sacred cows, and negotiating a competitive CBA in good faith, they're going to have a tough time staffing their airline with people with whom you'd want to fly… or to fly your family.

 

FedEx carries emails now? Will they need to hire more pilots?

 

I just completed a survey from Talent Board about my experience as a candidate for JetBlue. It amazes me how they can call themselves "The People Department" when those HR idiots treat people the way they do. 3 months to be told no after getting the call to expecting a class date? Let's just say the survey wasn't glowing. More like steaming. Good luck to the guys that were able to jump through the HR idiot's hoops.