My dos centavos, for what it's worth. Ground school to sims took 3 months for me. Sim training was big hit or miss because the instructors were pretty good overall but the system itself was not up to par, in my experience. There's a lot of study and figuring it out on your own throughout training, not a lot of teaching. So if you don't have much high-performance or ATC airspace experience you might, again, MIGHT be behind the curve, at least that's what I saw for me as I had such experience that helped me. We were finding stuff out at the last minute either from just randomly reading the books or hearing from other students' mistakes that no one had taught us basically almost until check ride day. That being said, I did hear a few months ago that training was getting overhauled, for better or for worse, I don't know but it sounded like the instructors were going liking the changes that were coming to the syllabus. As far as the check rides (KV and LOE, not including the MV because it is mostly a cadence) it definitely sounded like the experience was heavily depening on the instructor and how they felt that day but i did hear bad stories about some LOE instructors that were failing people intentionally to include for being military, like someone else just stated here--not sure how accurate that was/is but I definitely heard some of them having that reputation in the past. I believe that as long as you have a good attitude, be honest when you don't know something, and show what you know you will be fine.

I'm hearing from folks that finished their LOE that they waited an average of about 8-10 weeks before being called to go fly IOE. Like someone else said, you will be paid at the 75 hrs guaranteed and you will have call-in days, twice a week, to check if you are assigned or not every week. Yes, it sucks as far as not being able to fly that entire time and rack your hours, but it work for others that may have another flying job.

Take it or leave it, at the end of the day it is still a regional and IMHO a regional is like an ILS...need i say it? Find what works best for you, i have not heard good things about PDT, Mesa, or Skywest mainly regarding QoL but it sounds like you will finish training faster than PSA. Again, find what works for you, at least temporarily (idk of any folks that get into the Regionals to make it last a lifetime) My two cents....

 

Envoy pilots getting 300% pay for any open time trips picked up for July.. we need better Critical pay, that matches Envoy and Piedmont.

 

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Oh yea lets just continue the matching ENV, and PDT. This is one of the best environments for pilot bargaining in most of our carriers and everyone just stands around seeing who can p*%ss farther.

 

Most of the sour grapes about training is from those with little to no 121 experience or having less than 3,000 hours tt. A lot don't realize till they get into the sim this is serious. you're getting paid to learn not only the airplane but policies and a lot of other stuff as well. They aren't going to force you to learn it and spoon feed you. The instructors know who's putting in the effort and who's not. Operating as a 121 airline pilot is a big responsibility that shouldn't be taken lightly.

 

I talked to a recruiter today who said they were pushing my interview back ~1.5 months since they're putting a temporary pause on extending CJOs (or something along those lines). They didn't say why, but presumably the training backlog is getting a bit out of hand?

 

The training backlog isn't out of hand. The amount of LCA's is beyond out of hand. Once they take care of that problem it will be business as usual. My best guess is they delayed your start for 2 reasons...1 being they won't have to pay you premium pay while you sit around waiting for training to start and 2 it will also help you if they can streamline you thorough training instead of having 4 gaps that last over a month a piece. Something else maybe happening but I would bet I'm pretty close with my guess.

 

I missed a call from PSA yesterday, called them back but no answer. Presumably the same thing on my interview. I have a class date with Republic that will start before the delay in interview so I am thinking I will just cancel the interview at this point if this is really the call I get. Money is hard not to chase, but getting in and building 121 time suits my end goal better I think. If I have to wait 1-2 months for interview, then 2-3 months for a class date, then wait 6+ months to get through training, then a long reserve, it puts me a year or more behind than if I start now. Money is important, and it certainly holds a lot of weight....but still need to be smart about it.

 

This is a wise choice. I've said it before and I will say it again for those unaware - do not go to PSA, and the sole reason I say this is because of their horrible training department that needs complete renovation. Especially the rouge APD's.

Republic is a wise choice. You will finish training in only 3 months... compared with PSA's slow completion (which will now be pushing like 10 months due to the influx of new people). You'll also have a much better airplane (e175) with autobrake, auto throttle, VNAV, etc. which will prepare you well for the airbus especially.

Or you could take a drastic pay cut and go with Mesa. You will also finish training in 3 months, however, you will be flying 100 HOURS per month and be able to move on asap. I know someone who moved on after only 8 months from DOH, to cargo operating the 747

Another great option is Piedmont. Stellar training program, lots of 300% flying. Only negative is the poor condition airplanes and QOL.

Good luck in your choice, I would slide with republic for sure. Much better 401k as well.

 

I spoke with them via email and it was the same thing..delaying new hires for a month or so. I gave them the thanks but no thanks response.

 

if you can live in base do that, don’t commute if you don’t have to