Any New DEC's on here
 

Hello,

Anyone on here hired since SEP as a DEC?
-If PHL, how many hours are you flying?
-What type of call out do you hold? Short, long ?
-How was training? Well organized? Good quality?

Just applied, and trying to choose the best regional for me.

Hired Oct…
This is my first week of reserve in PHL, a couple airport standby (active reserve) shifts, got a turn, and have a 3 day assigned.
Training in my opinion was really good. They do have some limitations on the amount of students they can put through, but as a DEC you will be scheduled as efficiently as possible. I only had a 3 week wait between procedure training and sims. Plus we just got some of the IPT trainers (touchscreen flight deck mockup) from Envoy, so that will help with procedures training.

If you want PHL, then you’ll get it in training. MDT as well, CLT is looking like 6 months.

Hope this helps!

What do you want long term? If it’s to get United or Delta quickly Piedmont is pretty good these days if you make it through DEC training. If it’s quality of life, and schedule flexibility, not so much.

Thank you! Great info.

Thank you ! I live near PHL, so that should make reserve more bearable.
If it could get to United or Delta, that would be amazing! Since I left flying for 12 years( returned in 2016), I thought the Majors were out of reach for me.
I have an EMB145 type, with a few hundred hours, no PIC time in it. What did you think of the DEC training?

Having the 145 type will help a ton. Training department is saying vast majority of DEC failures are guys coming from other types having to learn both a new airplane and new company procedures.

Our training department is top notch, especially when you’re willing to put the work in.

Living near PHL is good. Piedmont training is generally good. DECs generally are weak and are more commonly getting passed through the for the OE Instructors to deal with. Lack of recency of experience really hinder DECs situational awareness and lack of familiarity with AA regional operations tends to compound issues. DECs come chasing the money and the company is under a lot of pressure to get flights staffed so they keep getting pushed through. Very few DECs have made it through successfully, in training footprint. It is possible, but requires a LOT of effort on the DECs part.

Thank you ! Great input. I will definitely put the work in. When in training, the only "breaks" I take are to go to the gym. Otherwise, I'm in class or studying.

Thank you, that is valuable feedback. I'm currently flying a Challenger, and have flown 450 hours in the past year, and the last 5 years in various Biz. jets.
I feel current, and I noticed part 135 OPSPEC and GOM's are fairly similar to Part 121. I miss the Part 121 Standardization, and I would welcome it.

I'm in a similar spot as Grabo172. Training was very well organized and professional; yes DECs are put to the head of the line because CAs are needed on the line. Of the DECs in our class, we had few problems. The one DEC I know who didn't make it through had a 145 type rating, so who can figure. For reserve, I checked "First out" ("Will fly") and I've been flying most of the reserve periods. It's been a good move. Now there are some deficiencies in the contract like no 401(k) until six months, and actually getting and using those weeks of vacation is more difficult than it should be, but it's still been a win so far.