PSA Training Overview – What to Expect (From Someone Who Recently Finished)

Here’s everything you might want to know about PSA’s ground and simulator training, straight from someone who recently completed it and lived to tell the tale.

Training footprint:

• INDOC: ~8 days
• Systems: ~10 days
• SIPs: ~9 days
• KV: 1 day
• MV Sims: 6 sessions
• MV check
• LOFT Sims: 4 sessions
• LOE check
• IOE ~3-4 trips

Quick glossary (because all those letters get confusing fast):

• SIP: Systems & Integration Procedures
• KV: Knowledge Validation (oral exam style)
• MV: Maneuvers Validation
• LOFT: Line Oriented Flight Training
• LOE: Line Oriented Evaluation
• IOE: Initial Operating Experience

Training lasts around 2.5 to 3 months in CLT, and you’ll stay in a long-term hotel setup with a kitchen and living space, which helps when you’re there for the long haul. You usually get short breaks between SIPs and KV, and again between KV and SIMs - you can go home during those. My advice? Bring your car. The hotel shuttles are fine at first, but relying on them gets old fast, especially when you just need groceries or want to grab dinner off-airport.


Surviving Through Training:

Memorize all bold limitations before day one. It makes a huge difference and gives you breathing room when things start moving fast.

Take it seriously. PSA CRJ training is no joke. There are no real “off days.” The day you decide to take a break is the day you start falling behind. It’s intense, but you’ll be fine if you stay consistent.

Passion beats perfection. I’ve never been a straight-A student - my attention span is about 10 minutes and I struggled in school - but I had a passion for aviation. That’s what kept me going. If you love this career, you’ll make it through.

During training, I made the mistake of not going out or hanging with classmates. I regret that. You need some balance. Go out once in a while, have a laugh, get to know your group - it helps with stress and keeps your mental health in check.



Study Tips That Might Help Maybe…

Group study is a lifesaver for a lot of people. You’ll learn more by explaining things to others and cross-checking answers.

Now, full honesty - I didn’t do group study. I’ve just never been a fan of it. I preferred using Quizlet, and that was my secret weapon. It worked great for me, but I know that’s not everyone’s style. If you’re a social learner, group study can make a huge difference and keep you sane.



For SIPs and SIMs, study callouts and procedures together. No shortcuts here. Most people who didn’t team up for SIPs and SIMs ended up getting held back for extra help. If your partner’s calling “gear up” while you’re still on the runway, it’s going to be a long night in the sim bay.

Don’t try to get ahead too early. Don’t start memorizing flows during week one unless you’ve already got your limitations and systems down cold. Focus on what’s in front of you - jumping too far ahead just leads to burnout and confusion.



Staying Focused

When you’re in ground school, do not go home if you don’t absolutely have to. That’s where a lot of people start slipping. Stay put, stay in the routine, and keep your head in the material. Once you start traveling or relaxing too much, it’s tough to get your focus back.

There’s usually a solid break between SIPs and SIMs: use that time to reset, get organised, and make sure all your flashcards and notes are updated. The schedule moves fast once SIMs start, and you’ll want to hit the ground running.



Final Thoughts

To sum it up, PSA training is tough but incredibly rewarding. I made it through without any repeats or fails, but that’s not the case for everyone - and that’s okay. Every class has a few people who need extra help during SIPs or SIMs, and PSA genuinely supports them. They’ll work with you and make sure you’re ready before sending you to your checkride.

This isn’t the PSA from 2017. The training department has been completely overhauled, and the instructors actually want you to succeed. I had nothing but great experiences with mine. The KV is still an oral checkride with an APE (Airline Pilot Examiner), so you’ve got to know your stuff, but if you study, you’ll be fine.

PSA produces solid and some of the best regional pilots and gives you a strong foundation for 121 flying. The training is demanding, the long hotel nights are stressful, and it’ll test your patience, but if you put in 110% and keep your motivation up, you’ll come out stronger on the other side.

When you’re sitting in that hotel room late at night staring at flows and call-outs thinking, “What did I get myself into?” -remember, everyone’s been there. Push through, stay in the books, and trust the process. You’ll walk out of CLT with your wings, a ton of new knowledge, and maybe a couple of gray hairs to prove it.
FYI all new hires get DAY as starting base but depending on class size most bid out prior to completion of training.

 

Great write up! I’m sure this will help a lot of people, including me.

I’m curious what bases people were able to bid to after training?

Also, did you feel fully prepared for all your checks and IOE? Did anyone fail training that you know of? It’s so nerve-wracking to know that we’ve invested so much time/money into this and we basically get one shot.

 

Congrats to the OP on getting through. The pass rate for initial is 90% ish, its good.

The training and footprint has improved since I went through in 2021-2022.

 

There’s no reason to make training difficult or have examiners looking to fail anyone. Many come prepared and bust their asses in training.
But there are always a select few who put forth no effort and expect things to be handed to them.

 

Sounds like you do the work and you’ll be fine. That’s reassuring to know.

 

Excellent writeup! Well said!

I went through initial training in early 2022, and I kinda felt the same way about group study in particular. It’s just not for me, never has been, and probably never will be. And for some reason I felt guilty about that. Because on the one hand, group study has always been incredibly distracting to me and tends to produce negative progress with memory retention. However, if you lock me away in my hotel room where it’s quiet and no distractions, I will do what the company asks me and have those limits and callouts memorized by tomorrow. You put me in a group, I will likely fail in a heartbeat.

The company had a habit then, and still does seem to based on what my FO’s are telling me, to really really encourage ‘group study’ and that if you consider not doing it, you are likely to fail. This is seriously misleading and I sometimes wanted to tell the instructors to knock it off. That is doing a lot of people a huge disservice, especially to introverts like myself. I’m sorry, not sorry, but I just do not operate that way. Some of my instructors would ask if I was studying in groups after a sip/sim session went really well (because I busted my butt with self study) and they seemed baffled and perplexed when I told them I wasn’t doing group study, like, at all. Honestly, I was shocked that they thought that way. My sip partner was the same too, I think he was more introverted like me and didn’t really care for group study and we just kind of ignored the company’s suggestions to engage in ‘lots of group study,’ every night almost.

I will say, that we did actually get together and ‘study,’ but it was only ONCE and for a short duration (maybe 45 minutes?). It was more of an assessment, a check if you will, on our callouts and flows to see if we were in fact ready to perform in the first sip session. We had already practiced and prepared individually in isolation without any distractions. That, in my opinion is key, and where i saw a lot of the ‘group study’ die hards struggle was beginning to practice flows and callouts early on when they didn’t even have them down cold by themselves to begin with. So they would constantly trip each other up and they really didn’t understand that they were hindering each other’s progress by doing that.

For the ones who do well in group study, I honestly don’t know how you do it, but if it works for you, it works for you. Don’t take it personally or the wrong way if your partner doesn’t wanna do group study. That should be a sign that it may not be their primary study method, and to do so would actually hinder them rather than help.

Also, I didn’t go out either. I felt guilty about it, but there were reasons I had for it. At that time, PSA was still paying us on the old pay rates, like, $50 an hour. I have a wife and 2 kids, and at that time I was the sole income earner. I could not afford to go out, even to buy a single drink. My wife and I were watching every dollar until the new hire completion bonus came in. Yes it was that tight on our budget. Also, I had pretty much everything to lose if i slipped up and washed out of training because of a lack of progress. I was scared to get started down that road. When my classmates were wanting to go out on Friday night, I immediately got to studying for what was on the syllabus come Monday, especially once sips started. Some may say I was overdoing it. I feel like it definitely paid off. Each day you are being evaluated at PSA. Each day is a checking event, it’s not a training event. Someone told me this who used to fly for PSA and then moved onto the majors, and it got me a little scared. It really got me thinking about it, so I decided to get serious. If this is your first 121 job, understand that you are now in the big leagues of aviation. You are no longer working for your part 141 university flight school. It’s not a game, it’s do or die, and there’s no guarantee you will get through training, even with effort. You don’t work for a major at this point, you are in training at a regional, and many regionals still employ old school teaching tactics. So you had better show up to that first sip session ready to teach the instructor instead of the other way around.

A common denominator I saw with some of my classmates who were always going out to the bars was that they were the ones who ended up repeating sip/sim sessions, failing an MV and needing to redo, failing an LOE, etc. Not making it up, I literally saw this firsthand. I felt really bad for em, but at the same time I’m glad I listened to the advice from people who had been through PSA’s training and knew what they were talking about. I’m glad I hunkered down and got busy hitting the books. I’ve never had any lesson repeats, any MV/KV/LOE/IOE failures at PSA, either as an FO or a CA, and I’d say my approach to PSA’s training demands paid off.

Now, having said that, yea, I took breaks, healthy breaks, and my go to choice for stress relief was to hit the gym, not go to the bar and down some drinks. Doing a full body stretch, running on the treadmill, hitting the weights, ahh, it’s the prefect stress relief. For me alcohol has never been a good stress reliever, in fact it seems to make me more stressed, so I generally avoid it.

 

A couple thoughts; ... flying is a social endeavor at the line level. There are two of you in the cockpit, you will be there for extended periods on some flights. If you flying international, you may be in the aircraft for 10 + hours at a time and on multiple layovers with more than minimum rest. The longest trips I ever took involved crew that were socially withdrawn, didn't talk much on the flight deck (outside of required conversation related to flight) and had an excuse on every layover why he couldn't make find/make time to even meet for dinner. To each his own, but a great part of aviation in a crewed environment, is sharing and enjoying the company of the other guy/gal you are teamed up with. You won't get on with everyone, will have varying opinions or feeling about most, and some will be totally forgettable. At this point, you come across as one in the latter group. Best of luck in your career, but try to enjoy more than just your personal world of flying and the benefits your job brings to you and your family. There are a lot of interesting people out there who will bring a multitude of experiences and ideas to you, and may even help you to be a better pilot and person.

 

Jesus. The guy explained that he felt guilty and gave family/financial reasons for it, but he still gets a lecture..? You come across as a guy who creates slam clickers. My loss on missing an opportunity to be a better pilot and person🙄

 

Gee thanks man, much appreciated with the personal judgment aspect to your post. We have never flown together, you don’t know me, and I don’t know you, never met you in real life (more than likely not, or maybe we have, who knows??) but I won’t judge you though. But hey, all you read was what I put above in regards to training. Training is not the time to be screwing around, especially at a regional, especially at PSA, and especially if it’s your first turbine 121 job. I also provided my reasons above, but I guess you missed that part. I also never mentioned that after I finished training that yes, I do go out sometimes (when I have the energy and the other pilot isn’t giving off total douche vibes and isn’t a pain in the padded rear end to be around). But hey, thanks for the judgment there, chief.

Also, how did you come to the conclusion that because i said I’m an ‘introvert,’ and ‘slam clicked’ in training, that I am a super quiet guy out on the line? lol I can be quite a talkative person. Sometimes I think other introverts get tired of me talking so much during certain periods, so I dial it back a bit because as a fellow introvert, I know that overstimulation is a real thing with a lot of us.

 

I start Nov 17th. Have a link to the Quizlet you used??

QUOTE=Cmcd;3957835]PSA Training Overview – What to Expect (From Someone Who Recently Finished)

Here’s everything you might want to know about PSA’s ground and simulator training, straight from someone who recently completed it and lived to tell the tale.

Training footprint:

• INDOC: ~8 days
• Systems: ~10 days
• SIPs: ~9 days
• KV: 1 day
• MV Sims: 6 sessions
• MV check
• LOFT Sims: 4 sessions
• LOE check
• IOE ~3-4 trips

Quick glossary (because all those letters get confusing fast):

• SIP: Systems & Integration Procedures
• KV: Knowledge Validation (oral exam style)
• MV: Maneuvers Validation
• LOFT: Line Oriented Flight Training
• LOE: Line Oriented Evaluation
• IOE: Initial Operating Experience

Training lasts around 2.5 to 3 months in CLT, and you’ll stay in a long-term hotel setup with a kitchen and living space, which helps when you’re there for the long haul. You usually get short breaks between SIPs and KV, and again between KV and SIMs - you can go home during those. My advice? Bring your car. The hotel shuttles are fine at first, but relying on them gets old fast, especially when you just need groceries or want to grab dinner off-airport.


Surviving Through Training:

Memorize all bold limitations before day one. It makes a huge difference and gives you breathing room when things start moving fast.

Take it seriously. PSA CRJ training is no joke. There are no real “off days.” The day you decide to take a break is the day you start falling behind. It’s intense, but you’ll be fine if you stay consistent.

Passion beats perfection. I’ve never been a straight-A student - my attention span is about 10 minutes and I struggled in school - but I had a passion for aviation. That’s what kept me going. If you love this career, you’ll make it through.

During training, I made the mistake of not going out or hanging with classmates. I regret that. You need some balance. Go out once in a while, have a laugh, get to know your group - it helps with stress and keeps your mental health in check.



Study Tips That Might Help Maybe…

Group study is a lifesaver for a lot of people. You’ll learn more by explaining things to others and cross-checking answers.

Now, full honesty - I didn’t do group study. I’ve just never been a fan of it. I preferred using Quizlet, and that was my secret weapon. It worked great for me, but I know that’s not everyone’s style. If you’re a social learner, group study can make a huge difference and keep you sane.



For SIPs and SIMs, study callouts and procedures together. No shortcuts here. Most people who didn’t team up for SIPs and SIMs ended up getting held back for extra help. If your partner’s calling “gear up” while you’re still on the runway, it’s going to be a long night in the sim bay.

Don’t try to get ahead too early. Don’t start memorizing flows during week one unless you’ve already got your limitations and systems down cold. Focus on what’s in front of you - jumping too far ahead just leads to burnout and confusion.



Staying Focused

When you’re in ground school, do not go home if you don’t absolutely have to. That’s where a lot of people start slipping. Stay put, stay in the routine, and keep your head in the material. Once you start traveling or relaxing too much, it’s tough to get your focus back.

There’s usually a solid break between SIPs and SIMs: use that time to reset, get organised, and make sure all your flashcards and notes are updated. The schedule moves fast once SIMs start, and you’ll want to hit the ground running.



Final Thoughts

To sum it up, PSA training is tough but incredibly rewarding. I made it through without any repeats or fails, but that’s not the case for everyone - and that’s okay. Every class has a few people who need extra help during SIPs or SIMs, and PSA genuinely supports them. They’ll work with you and make sure you’re ready before sending you to your checkride.

This isn’t the PSA from 2017. The training department has been completely overhauled, and the instructors actually want you to succeed. I had nothing but great experiences with mine. The KV is still an oral checkride with an APE (Airline Pilot Examiner), so you’ve got to know your stuff, but if you study, you’ll be fine.

PSA produces solid and some of the best regional pilots and gives you a strong foundation for 121 flying. The training is demanding, the long hotel nights are stressful, and it’ll test your patience, but if you put in 110% and keep your motivation up, you’ll come out stronger on the other side.

When you’re sitting in that hotel room late at night staring at flows and call-outs thinking, “What did I get myself into?” -remember, everyone’s been there. Push through, stay in the books, and trust the process. You’ll walk out of CLT with your wings, a ton of new knowledge, and maybe a couple of gray hairs to prove it.
FYI all new hires get DAY as starting base but depending on class size most bid out prior to completion of training.[/QUOTE]