OK, get this one, I just got hired at a new regional and I had to fill out the PRIA docs for my past airline job. It has been over 3 years since I worked there. Well I received my copy in the mail and it said “No Training Records found”. So what the hell does this mean? I guess its kinda good cuz I did bust my initial checkride there but I had already mentioned this at the interview so there was nothing to hide anyways. So is there a limit on how long airlines need to keep their training records or did someone just screw up and lose my data?

I have no idea....What happened when you busted your initial? Just a retake and carry on as if nothing happened as far as the training center/company were concerned?

To the best of my knowledge PRIA requires you to go back 5 years in your work history. The company you are applying to must make an effort to retrieve the training records from your previous employer(s). Your previous employer(s) are required by law to comply with the requests of the PRIA.

Someone correct me if I am wrong, but that is how I understood it to work.

No problem. I had the benefit of knowing plenty of 121 pilots for years before I was hired by Mesaba. So I'd say 95% of what I've been through wasn't unexpected. It's a steep learning curve mostly because of the time constraints and usually the leap in aircraft speed and capability. But studying aside, I have always found that people can be a tremendous help, especially those who know more than you. As you can see, pilots love to talk about flying, espcially someone who is interested and looking for answers. Use this to your advantage and you will be fine. By all means, let me know if I can be of anymore help.

This was a SIC ride. The check airman did not do any retrain. He just paused the sim, told me I failed and then asked if I wanted to continue with the rest of the checkride which I elected to do. It made the re-check much easier (at least for the PF parts. I still had to do all the PNF over since I was with a captain doing his ride during my re-check).
We did not do any retraining because we were very short on time. In fact, I don’t know how we could have finished had I done everything right the 1st time.

Thats unfortunate. I unsatted <--- (is that a word?) a non-precision approach during my PC. Fortunately, we had plenty of time and we talked about it, I shot another one and he called it good.

It was a pretty common word at Mesaba back when I was going through training.

It's not a career killer. However it will make life a little difficult. Try telling that next airline that you're worth them spending $20k or so training you to be a safe pilot when you have already not made it through somewhere. In today's environment you're a little better off than you would have been in the past but you might have to lower your personal standards to get that next job.

A friend failed out of TSA. Six months to get another job even though he had about 15 interviews with various 121 and 135 carriers.

Failing out of 121 (or 135) training completely is going to make life hard for a while, but once you do get a job somewhere (probably a bottomfeeder) you can build experience and let the passage of time diminish the significance of the original failure. Just don't make any more mistakes.

What you DO NOT want to do is have a repetive history of 121 training failures and problems...this is why PRIA was created in the first place, and no airline will want the liability of your record. In the event an accident you'd be a plaintiff attorney's wet dream :eek:

Failing a checkride (or a part of a checkride) and having to repeat it should not be a big deal as long as you don't make a habit of it.

Also avoid failing your initial upgrade/ATP checkride at a regional. People understand how new-hire FO's can be overwhelmed by the new environment, but an upgrade should know what he's getting into...a failure in that case would be assumed to be lack of innate ability or work ethics.

Don't forget the importance of attitude. My current airline has given (inital training) people extra time (such as PNF'ing for upgrade training) to get them so the staff was comfortable with their ability to pass a PC...and they did that because those folks had a great attitude.

Others who came across as tools were dumped at the first sign of difficulty - they're not going to go the extra mile to help you out if you look like you'll be a fun-sponge on a trip.

HTH
Spongebob