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.

Great to hear, thank you! I hope to start soon.

Heads up though, my buddies junior to me, but still 2022 hires still can't get 2023 vacation awarded and obviously it's now March.

Hello all,

Couple quick DEC questions:

-the recruitment literature says 12 days off. Is that true or is it the typical 11?

-it also says LC Reserve after 250hrs. Are they sticking to that or changing folks to SC or airport standby on scheduling's whim?

Thanks for your time and any info!

The AIP that addresses both of those things has not been ratified yet. Once it is, 12 days off will be the minimum.

Long call can be converted to short call but cannot be used for airport standby unless there aren’t any originally short call people left to cover it (recent FLICA changes make it easier to keep scheduling honest about that)

I can’t speak to the CA side but FO side they haven’t been converting LC to SC for a long while now.

"...more commonly getting passed through the for the OE Instructors to deal with"'

Absolutely false. Hence the comments on not many making it thru training...

what is the dec pass rate as of late? What are some of the problems and how did the company help or just kicked em’ out?

DECs are expected to bring their knowledge level up to an FO that has been here for 2 years. familiar with FOM and a deep proficient knowledge of the 145. Those just coming over and expected to be taught this are not doing well. It’s a lot of self study