Unless it's changed there was 2 days of cpt training and it wasn't very good. Many other companies spend a week if not more in CPT or FMS labs so that students are better prepared for sims.

5 FTD sessions at XJT before sims, really good for the CFIs and non airline pilots to get their groove on. The 2 paper tiger sessions are not very helpful.also if the instructor lacks the knowledge to teach those 2 sessions are brutal. Wonder how it will be with the sim in MIA as I heard it's going there.

What this guy said... The Saab is not an extraordinarily hard plane to fly. The training departments job is to ensure your safe,proficient and knowledgeable about the plane you operate. Do you want guys on the line that cant handle a V1 cut in the sim? No and either does the public flying on our planes. As the level of applicant goes down the wash out rate will go up and rightfully so. If anything this shows the training department is doing its job, not the other way around.



1. So did captain Fairmont and you see how that turned out.

2. Dude your still here?

Folks we have a stage 5 clinger on our hands...

First off propspilot, I bid and was awarded beech captain fair and square. I have no idea what shenanigans the company plays with Flica. My tolerance for BS is low after all these years. And I think if anyone is qualified to give advice about burning bridges it's me, for better or worse. In any case my record is impeccable.

Pilotandmechanic ask about wash out rates at Silver. He explained that he wasn't IFR and MEI current. He also explained that he held a good job as a mechanic at a major airline. I advised him to not risk his current job to come fly at Silver.I told him the story of my sim partner who had a similar background as pilotandmechanic and washed out. My partner and I had the late sim and we stayed 2 extra hours every night after Pan Am closed. Plus all the normal additional paper tiger flying on our own. My partner pushed himself to physical and mental exhaustion. He wasn't lazy or stupid. But his flying skills were weak.As you stated, nobody wants a weak pilot in the cockpit. All I'm telling pilotandmechanic is that it's not worth risking going to Silver as a not current pilot if it means giving up his mechanic job. My experience is that he can expect little extra help from the company and their is a high risk of failure if things remain as I saw them. Matt Bailey is a great instructor, but he isspread VERY thin at Pan Am. Pan Am Iinstructors like Tom Gordon are vast wells of knowledge, but they aren't going to be there if Silver doesn't pay them to be so.

Silver isn't the worst training, but it certainly has many bugs to be worked out. I'm not going to tell tales out of school though. I think the easiest way to sum it up would be to say lack of resources. But most regionals suffer the same problems. But, as I said, I know if some places that, at least in the past, gave pilots many more resources and gave struggling pilots more sim instruction.

In short, if you have any doubts about your abilities I would pick a different place.Personally for me it was smooth and pain free, but for others not.

Theres no way you got captain "fair and square" hence your not being here.

If your guy was "weak" and couldnt hack the training he doesnt belong at an airline.

Too bad in ALL that vast experience you never learned to not use full names on a public forum.

You're a riot man I tell ya.

I appreciate the advice, and it sounds no different from any other regional airline's training. My problem would definitely be the sim. I've been to myriads of airline training classes to include DC-9/MD-80, 737-1/2/3/5/7/8/9/ER, 757-2/3, 767, etc. A&P, Avionics and Electrical, etc. I don't understand how a 250 hr. pilot used to (until recently) get through training with only 6 sessions, or how Silver is going to ever find enough pilots to fill the seats if they wash a lot of pilots out. I thought maybe I'd be able to get current again, and, since I do hold an ATP (which should mean I can't be that bad.) I'd have a shot. I'm not giving up, though.

Pilot and mech,

You seem like a smart and experienced aviator. Silver woul be lucky to have you. The Saab isn't hard, most people get through training like any other airline, by studying hard and working with others in class. But I will say that any person I have seen struggle it is because they are not instrument current and PROFICIENT. Every time. You can't get ahead of the sim if you have to think about what is happening next on the approach. But I think you already know that. So brush up in your scan and procedures and get in a sim with a cfii or something.

Good luck!

Don't give up.... If you want to go there than go, but maybe get a little more than just current before heading to sims. It's a lot to take in under a short timeframe.

Agreed. Don't let someone on the Internet tell you you're not gonna make it...!

Ha!