I was hired at AWAC in 2005. They were literally hiring anyone with a pulse back then. That was during the UAL/US transition and people were quitting left and right. Upgrade for me was 30 months just to give you an idea of how quickly people were leaving, and that was while shrinking 18 airplanes and around 200 pilots system wide. Avg of 18 CA's leaving a month for 2.5 years, that is a lot of guys for a small operation. It's about half that now from what I was seeing on the resignations list, and people think the movement is quick now...

Anyway, out of a class of 9 back then, 3 didn't make it thru training.

• One fired during training due to attitude issues (Colgan Saab captain)
• One let go in sim due to inability to operate the automation (Beech 1900 captain)
• One let go in OE for lack of ability to fly the plane/attitude issues on the line (high, high time CFI, ex-mil Lt Col)

So about a 33% washout rate in that class, all were ATP rated with some being current 121 guys.

Meanwhile the rest of us were relatively lower time CFI's and ex-freight dawgs, some had ATP's but most of us did not.

AWAC training is about attitude - or at least it used to be. The same people doing check rides are still there now when I went thru, I assume it's probably still the same.

On a side note, 2 guys are left in that class. Thankfully, I am not one of them .

My experience working with the new hires was vastly different than the others posting above. I loved working with them. They knew their stuff, were fairly happy/positive, were great pilots and didn't bitc* about the 22 hour overnight in Jackson, MS. OK maybe they'd complained about that one, but so did I. Who could blame them .

To sum up my experience with the company, on my VERY LAST LEG I was junior manned into another turn. I had swapped in to the trip, had me done before 7:00 AM on my last day. I honestly thought that Scheduling was playing a joke. Would've been the perfect time to say "what are you going to do if I say no, fire me?". Ha. Anyway I still did it, not sure why, I hated every minute of it and was bitter and just bitc*ed the whole way to the brand new FO who took it like a champ (sorry). OK enough rambling. I made it home still that night (barely). They canceled every flight after the one I got on! So glad I'm done with the place. Get in and GTFO as fast as you can.

 

I interviewed April 2013 and from what I gather nothing has changed. CP - Matt Hintz and Jeff Griffen (both ORF pilots) will more than likely be your interviewers along with Scott Swanson (HR). Everynow and again a DC Chief Pilot will fill in, but it's usually Matt. They are all great guys and make you feel at home. Matt and Scott do the actual interview and Jeff is doing sim evals.

You WILL NOT be doing a sim ride if you are 135/121 current. The only exception to this is if you were to do poorly in your interview, especially tech, they will probably ask you to do it. I know this because it happened to my friend. He was 135 current, but was nervous and didn't do well on tech (which honestly is not hard at all so kinda surprising), but he killed the sim and was offered a class.

I was coming from Cape Air and it was an awesome feeling knowing I didn't have to fly the sim. They use a Redbird which I guess isn't as ghetto as most sims, but at the end of the day it's still a sim. Anytime I can avoid one I will not complain. Had a bad sim experience at Skywest (blessing in disguise now).

The interview is standard HR questions (maybe only 6-7 of them) and then the tech is basic IAP stuff like "What is the DH?" "How would you shoot this approach/fly the missed/enter the hold?". Not hard stuff at all unless you are way far removed from it. Finally it finishes up with a couple scenarios. "What do you do if you see the CA drinking?" Etc.

They are way more interested in knowing who you are and if they would find you pleasant enought to want to work with and spend 4 days on the road with. The training program washes out enough people that won't cut it so I guess this is why the interview process is very laid back and easy.

As for training. Ugh. I have very mixed emotions. This was my first 121 program and all I will say is there is definite room for improvement. The only good thing is this. I (and any others who've gone through) won't ever sweat showing up for class at your legacy job. This is the hardest program in the regionals and from what I've gathered from guys who've moved on, even harder than a majors program. So that aspect is cool I suppose, but it makes for a way to stressful/BS filled 2+ months.

Ground school is up in Appleton. You have your own hotel room at the Ramada. It's definitely not a bad place to live for a month. Free pizza and beer Thursday nights.

You will do 2 weeks of Indoc and 2 weeks of Systems. Be prepared to have no life. You have 2 test for Indoc each at the end if the first two weeks on Friday. Need an 80%. Systems test is probably one of the hardest test I've ever taken. They make this thing tough! I got an 87% and was more than thrilled.

You will have a packet (a syllabus of sorts) given to you on day 1. It has required reading for the night followed by homework questions. The next morning you start the day off going over the homework and correcting any wrong answers together as a class.

The Indoc tests questions are (for the most part) based off the homework questions. Indoc isn't nearly as hard because if you study your homework questions (assuming you made sure you have the right answers) you won't have any issues with Indoc. It's Systems that gets stupid.

After Indoc, on the 2nd Friday, you get a nice 45 page packet of homework questions for Systems (not joking) to take home with you for the weekend. My advice is take advantage of the weekend off (relax for 1 day and drink some beer) and get at least 1 to 2 days ahead in your homework. If you show up on Monday of systems having Wednesdays or even Thursdays homework done you will have way more time to actually be able to read all of the assigned reading and not feel nearly as stressed and behind.

I had a number of days (especially first week) in Systems where I got back from class at 4 (relaxed for half n hour) and was reading and doing homework until midnight. Then I had to get up around 630 for class the next day. The 2nd week I got a day ahead in my homework and it made a huge difference.

The Systems test is tough because it's a mixed bag from where the questions come from. It's not like Indoc where over 90% were straight from homework questions. You are responsible for more of the material in Systems and that's what makes it so god damn stressful because there are tons of lectures and power points and online IBT modules it just makes your head hurt. If I had to guess the homework questions comprise maybe 50-60% of the Systems test. The problem is they are worded very tricky and you really have to think about it. There are very little limitations questions which are cut and dry and not hard.

The test is on the last Friday in the afternoon. 100 questions and unlimited amount of time to take it. You have to get 80%. If you fail you will (assuming it wasn't a fail like you got 40% or something seriously bad) get to tak another test when you show up for CPT/Sim that is comprised of only the material you missed on which is nice. You have to get an 85% on the retake.

Alright Well I'm beat. I'm on a trip right now and need to get to bed. I'll finish and write from CPT/Sim thru IOE tomorrow sometime. Hopefully this posts is helpful for others.

 

If you can't make it through awac initial then you need to stfo of a 121 cockpit. It's no where near difficult.

 

Welcome to awac! Good luck in the sim.

I wouldn't say it's the hardest ground school for regionals. As long as you are able to study and understand the given info you should be fine. Appleton is boring but they do have some good bars, women....not so much.

Have good attitude and you'll make it no problem.

 

I think he's already on the line, he just hadn't gotten around to writing about CPT/IOE in the forums yet. lol Now that I am done nitpicking people's posts, here's a funny picture of a cat!

Update: I don't know how to attach funny pictures of cats to these forums. But let me tell you....it was really funny.

 

A systems instructor recently said the test was 95% straight from the systems homework. Maybe he is mistaken? It sounds like you semi-recently took the test....

 

PDT's shuttle training program would beg to differ...(unless it has recently changed).

 

I finished training/IOE recently. It wasn't difficult, but it did require a good attitude, and work ethic. We did have some guys have issues. I know of one guy busting the type ride, and we had one guy get washed back for not being ready for CPT's.

My best advice is to study your butt off, ask your instructors questions and you'll be fine. I studied 4 hours or so a night when I was in training and I didn't get below a 96 on my tests. If you paid close attention in class, studied the home work, and did the reading the academics weren't too hard.

For CPT, Sims, and IOE. I utilized the CBT's on the company IBT website. If you wanna get a leg-up in between Appleton and the sim I would recommend practicing the acceptance checklist, flow, profiles with your sim partner a few times and starting to memorize the FCM limits, IAC, and mem items, with a review of the a/c systems to keep yourself sharp.

I found it thorough, but manageable with the right amount of study and work ethic.

 

Wow, I didn't know we're at 50%, that's pretty high!! I definitely didn't feel the training was a cakewalk by any means, but with a good attitude and some hard work it's managable. The other thing too is that the company is willing to provide additional training if that's what it takes to help people pass an initial PC. With that being said, they can only do so much. I don't know when too much training is too much as far as the company is concerned but I tend to doubt they'd give someone 15 extra sim sessions. However if someone needed 3 or 4, they're really good about that. I never once felt they wanted to see anyone they hire wash out.

 

I'm a Sim Instructor for AWAC,

Our failure rate is not 50%.

We are having completion issues. More students are needing more time to finish. Where it use to take 9 sim sessions is taking 12-14 now.

If we feel a student can not safely operate the aircraft then we do not sign them off. If they are close to passing we recommend additional training.

Additional training use to be hard to request because supply and demand allowed the company to get rid of people who didn't complete the sim in the 9 training sessions. However we are now working with everyone to get them through. One person had 2 failed check rides and passed on his 3rd attempt. Still here.

Additional training is not initially planned because we expect you to be be done in 9 days. So when you need more time, it's often 20+ days later because we schedule a month in advance. So 20 days later you come back for 1-3 days and then take your check ride.

Your paid the entire time.

That being said our completion rate the first time through is more like 50% however the pass rate on the first attempt is more like 70-80% right now.

To say we are not fair is a lie. If I feel that my wife and kids would be endangered with you flying the aircraft I'm going to recommend more training. If you crash 6 times on the day before your check ride you will not take your check ride.

We do not train FO's meaning we expect our FO's to show leadership, situational awareness and have a detailed understanding of the systems; just as our captains do. If you are not willing to take your job seriously don't come here. We have an awesome and competent flight group.

I have taught every ground training program we offer. If you study hard, take this seriously, ask questions and perform within standards you will be fine. If your struggling but showing us that you are trying then we will work to get you through training.