Five (5) months is on the "accelerated" program, assuming all goes according to plan. We are hearing from our referrals it ranges from the extremely rare 4 months to as long as 6 months, the latter hearing the same old excuses ~ the sims are down, instructors aren't available, re-tests, and upgrades.


Regardless, it's the same *******show it's always been, the training "department" is a mismanaged and inconsistent cluster-f, and the entire hiring/training/scheduling process remains inefficient.


What do you expect from the same personnel with the same anti-pilot attitude (???)...although "management" has changed in a never-ending musical chair game, the low-level, 8th-grade educated, decision-makers, who viciously guard their fiefdoms are still jerking everyone around.

 

Your timing sounds about right. 4 to 6 months from doh to IOE. The biggest complaint from Ejet new hires observing in my jump seat that I hear is why do they send these new hires to systems and FPT to just have them sit for a couple of months before their oral and sims. Many of them tell me they had forgotten everything from FPT by the time they get to the SIMs.

I guess I have never encountered an anti-pilot attitude except for top management at Mesa. Some of the instructors shouldn’t be instructing because they don’t know how to. Also, from what I see of new FO’s, some of these guys must be barely making it through the SIMs and IOE.

 

Crj side is no different.

 

Same as we are hearing. Scheduling is a major obstacle and is truly screwed up. Training is rushing new hires thru each training component so they can advertise a "shorter training time" and comply with their FAA approved "program".


This was precipitated by several late-2017 new hires completing Oral Exams only to have them lapse because of the 60-day rule, with a few new hires having to re-do Orals 3 and 4 times.



But fixing the front end only fouls up the back end, yet Mesa is simply too dumb to connect these dots. It's all touted as "someone else's fault".



Sending them home ~ because Mesa has stopped paying local hotels for trainee down time ~ has not worked to keep skills and knowledge up-to-par so the deterioration is the Company's own fault. This is exacerbated by the fact none of the material covered in FPT is made available on an iPad App or PC-based program [like the Aerosim or L-3 flyable flight simulator programs, virtual flight deck, and FMS trainer], and Mesa is too cheap to purchase even short-term licenses for new hires to use those programs during self-study.


As for the calibre of instructors, 'nuff said. Simply because a pilot sits well in the left seat of an airliner does not automatically sit well in front of a class. The use of part-time instructors on a musical-chair basis between instructing and line flying has never worked, does not work, and will never work. Another lesson Mesa fails to learn, over and over again.

 

It’s an absolute basket-case, in shambles is charitable.

 

Even Republic can't seem to get the message. They bought the L3 "flight deck trainer" software but the licenses, which cost $37000 each, are tied to desktop PCs in the systems lab in IND. The only way to practice FMS programming is to stay late after class during systems review (about a week and a half long). So the 8 hour day turns into a 10 or 12 hour day. Or at least it should, but usually doesn't because people are lazy, and this explains why most of Republic's pilots hit EFPT without being able to push from the gate in less than an hour on average.

As for being sent home, I suppose it's all how you spend your time. I went to Republic for the quick training but came away thinking I would have been better off had there been at least a couple weeks between each training phase. More time to study without going insane.

 

Haha Haha, couple weeks between each section? hahahaha, sorry for being cynical, but my training where I currently work was nonstop, by the end of it, could barely say my own name. Please change your expectations so you are successful when you make it out of the regionals.

 

Very long days indeed and the facilities are typically booked with FPT and FMS classes 16-18 hours per day, so the units are well spoken for. Vying for after-class time is difficult, unless you want to be there at 2:00 am.



In Mesa's case, the FPT/FMS facility was an after-thought. Haphazardly sandwiched into what should be a single 10' x 10' office are four units (sitting on top of particle-board desks, with the PC units either sitting next to the monitor or on the floor), and eight chairs. Add an instructor or observer(s) and it becomes an even bigger cluster-f ~ people tripping over each other, 4 or 5 conversations at the same time, and nothing accomplished.


The failure of Mesa to supply its new hires the proper tools is another of its self-inflicted wounds...but don't ask them, its never their responsibility or fault.



Endeavor, and Delta, has a much more efficient footprint. Come to Minneapolis/Atlanta for initial INDOC, badging, HR, etc., then home to complete a CPT course on Endeavor, test, then another CPT systems course, all loaded to your iPad or PC-accessible. They also now supply the L-3 virtual cockpit which is flyable, contains a workable/practice FMS. The Delta training facilities have a fully-working FPT/FMS set-up at each new-hire's assigned workstation, which they can access 24/7 if they want (or remotely).


While Mesa continues to tout it's new, improved, and modern "training center", it's simply a chopped-up, low-rent warehouse of wasted and inefficient space, not conducive to a learning environment, especially in the functions needed most. Contrast Mesa's POS facility to JetBlue's in Orlando which was a ground-up-design specifically targeted to pilot training.


Again, Mesa finds itself the victim of its own cheapness and arrogance, hence the continual and abysmal E-Jet training situation.

 

Mesa management didn’t even go to the instructors and ask what they would like to see in the new training center. The FPT room is a joke. The building is still overcrowded. Oh but hey, there’s a CRJ cabin in the lobby!!!

 

Management of this pathetic operation masquerading as an "airline", especially in the training environment, could care less about what anyone thinks who is not beholden to their sociopathic, fiefdom style of governance. Hence the continual news releases about management changes ~ disagree with anybody in (or make a logical suggestion to) the 44th Street Glass Tower and you're out, valid reason or, more likely, not ~ a fabricated, personal-vendetta-based one.



The "training" department is a complete joke as we heard first-hand from almost all our referrals. Their protocol is to supply cheap, low-end, haphazard, non-standardized education, not provide the proper materials, texts, and resources, then send new hires off to "do it themselves", expecting them to meet moving-target standards (which are still unpublished and vary among instructors).


After numerous "training" department personnel changes, each one touted as the nirvana of cleaning up the mess, it's no better.


We keep hearing complaints about the "state of the art" facility but it's overcrowded and not enough space is devoted to what's important. Perhaps if Mesa stopped dragging pilots off the line and put their "training" department in the hands of professional educators, things would change. But if Mesa does that, they would have to pay real wages to real professionals, instead of relying on the "pilot shortage", "bonus", "upgrade" farce.