Republic training agreement
 

This is my first post, so bear with me. I accepted a position with Republic recently and I'm up in the air about the job due to the $15,000 training agreement. While I don't expect to leave in under two years, does the company go after those who leave early? I would hate to think that someone who wants to leave would have to pay a pro-rated amount just to quit.

Just as important, Republic has assigned me to the E-145, but I only have Cessna, Warrior, and Seneca time to my credit. Obviously, the training will be rigorous and difficult, but without any glass cockpit time or large aircraft time, am I biting off more than I can chew at this point? The fear of non-success has me a bit worried.

Thanks in advance and I appreciate any insights that can be offered.

Just remember one thing:

They want you to pass.

About the contract, would you really want to leave before you upgrade? Right now the time to upgrade is about 24 months. Could go lower. Where would you go? As far as regionals go, RAH is in the top tier.

As far as learning the airplane, it was built for guys such as yourself. Study your A$$ off in class. Spend lots of your time in the books and at FSI in front of the CPT when the time comes. You'll do fine. Like the other guy said, they want you to pass.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, that is all most people have these days when they get to a 145. I think with a humble attitude like that you should have no problem. Like the other guys say, stay in your room and study and leave the bar for an after party when the time comes and you will do fine.

I NEVER spent more than 2hrs in a night studying. I find anything more is counter productive. Let your brain rest on the stuff. I drank lots of coffee and paid attention in class. I used my 20min breaks to go through my flashcards. I figured if I was going to be stuck there I was going to use the time to study. I did well on my test and my oral. Still in sims but class isn't helping any there.

Thanks for the comments. I'm just battling a case of anxiety. I'll work through it, I hope.

Hey, Duck
 

How's your sims going? Your on the 145 right? Nice airplane huh? Just finished my 1st week of sims and checkride is on fri. Good luck to you.

Whacker you'll do fine. Good luck.

another thing;
if there's a Trans States ship-jumper in your class, get good friends with him/her. they made us learn way too much about the plane so the TSA folks tend to know the plane pretty well

Where are you doing your sims at? They are giong well I think. I make mistakes on calls here and there but I'm seeing constant progress so that's the main thing.

There are probably a lot of pilots out there (or at least on this forum) who wish they were in your shoes right now and had an offer from RAH. I'm sure the training agreement would be a non-issue for them, so I wouldn't sweat it.

But of course, you gotta do whats best for you. Don't let anything said by anyone else in here sway your opinion.

I had 0.0 hours of glass, jet, turbine, anything before walking into RAH. I was 1800TT and 350 ME when hired. You will do fine in the sim. The FSI guys have taught this enough to know how to get it through to you the first time.

Study at nights...but not too long. 2-3 hours a night should be plenty if you take good notes in class. Make sure you go out on Friday or Saturday night and have some fun...otherwise training will be miserable.

As far as the training contract...I've heard some people they haven't gone after, others they have. Luck of the draw I guess but I doubt you'd be jettin' outta here in two years anyways. Good luck.

Hey, same here. I am in DFW FSI. I'm with Eagle though, not RAH but all the same stuff anyway.

Once again, thanks for all of the comments. As far as the training contract goes, I was more interested about what they would do if a student couldn't complete the training or decided during the training that airline life wasn't the way to go.

All the training contracts I ever heard of hinged upon the trainee completing training before they take effect. If you leave training, you won't owe them money, in most cases. As for being worried about the training contract, don't sweat it. RAH is a destination of sorts, i.e. lots of RJ guys and 135ers like me have flocked this way because it is a good company. I would imagine most people who move on are captains going to bigger things or maybe guys who get jobs closer to home. The training contracts to beware of are from pits of hell (mesa, crappy 135, etc) who want to suck you in and beat you regularly for the contracts duration, or make $ off you when you run screaming.

RE Training agreements, if you leave voluntarily, expect the company to come after you. Whether they do or not is at their discretion, but I know plenty of companies that have simply sold the debt (at a discount) to a credit collection agency and let them be the bad guy. If you wash out of training or are fired for cause, then companies probably won't come after you.

Simply put, if you sign an agreement, make darn well sure that you can commit to it (either through time or money), and be sure to look at (or ask) all of the conditions under which the contract applies.

This is a rapidly changing industry. Although 2 years sounds like short time, a lot can happen in that time frame. I know plenty of people who have left regionals with less than 2 years to go elsewhere (either corporate or other gigs, or lateral moves to better regionals for better money or QOL).

The RAH training agreement hinges on you finishing training. If you bow out before you complete training, you owe nothing. That is straight from Linda Bannister's mouth.