Unless you have been to AQP recently, you wouldn't know this. But they have tightened the belt on sim training. I don't know if they are still giving unlimited sim sessions or nor. But I do know, that the initial training and AQP is lot harder now. Supposedly, FAA has been observing sim sessions. I know of 2 captains that were downgraded to FO. FO's are getting another chance after a failure. I am not accusing Mesa/training department, but I wonder if they are doing this so, people have failures on their record and can't go else where. I have talked with senior captains, and they are even worried. I hope, any one thinking of coming to Mesa would think twice before coming here. Your future is in your hand. Don't let Mesa ruin it...

 

If you study and work hard you will be fine. AQP standards are where they shold have been all along.

 

Exactly, I am willing to bet all issues in the sim (AQP) are the newbies that have the notion the coddling is forever here. AQP is simple, straightforward, and a non-event (IMO) as long as you crack the books (a little) and know the call outs.

 

This is a good thing, it will prepare you for your next aviation job. AQP seemed to me like a three day vacation in Phoenix when I was there. People would move on and discover to their horror that other companies are zero BS and have zero issues trimming away those that can't keep up. Luckily I knew this was the case when I moved on, and was prepared for it.

 

With the new FO pay, mesa still pays per diem during initial training?

 

No, I know of a 18 year captain was told "If your FO didn't help, you would have failed it" So, no, not just the newbies. Newbies is just the stigma. FWIW, I have talked with couple different senior IOE Captains and they are even worried.

 

I just had AQP last week and it was no different then it's been since it started (for me at least). We talked about the failures of late and all of them are because people go in and are stupid.

Some examples:
-Unable to recite Vspeeds while sitting in the sim with the placard in front of you.

-Failing to fly the published missed. Not once, but twice after backing the sim up and specifically talking about it.

-Not knowing your callouts. Not just the abnormal ones, but the regular day to day ones.

I can go on, but you get the idea of why people are failing. Training is no more or less hard then it's been. People are getting lazy and complacent.

AQP is getting a bad rap online lately because people are going back to the crewroom and having to explain why they failed when they don't want to tell the truth. Crashing the sim multiple times is not something people will step up and admit. Instead it's "training got harder" or "they're out to get me".

 

I'm mostly hearing that guys are being put in impossible situations during the loft and failing on that part.

 

I didn't know someone could fail a loft though. Hope the best for them.

 

You definitely can. I think this whole AQP thing is fully based on who your instructor is. If you get paired with a weak Capt/FO I would suggest getting out of it.