That was a SMALL SMALL SMALL minority of pilots hired during a VERY small window in the late 60's. I'm not even sure any of those guys are even flying for the airlines these days. I met a Pan Am guy on a America West 757 jumpseat more than 23 years ago who was one of those guys, but he was the only guy I met who actually was one of "them". He was a class act, btw.

I am certain that NONE of those guys are around now, Think about it: 23 years old in 1969 would force that guy to retire in 2006 or 2011 (age 60 or 65). I know for a fact that no 250 hour wonders were hired in the 70's, so, I'm not sure I quite believe the guy you referred to was one of those 250-300 hour wonders hired in the 60's. He's not old enough.

Also, NO division of AE was EVER Pay For Training (PFT). Thank God they never went there.

CoEx pilots back then who went through that were considered nearly SCABS because they PAID to fly for a company, rather than being PAID to fly. They caught a LOT of hell on these forums back then. However, as far as I know, pretty much ALL of those guys flowed over to Continental within a couple of years, so they had the last laugh, I guess. Many are captains at the New UAL now. Who figured?!

Are you sure you're not thinking of another small group of pilots that paid, and became engineers, THEN pilots at CAL? As opposed to the standard mid/late 90's PFT that A LOT of regionals used?

Because as much as it sucked, as much of a black eye as it left on the industry, it's as mentioned; PFT was more a norm and NOT an exception. And contrary to what Kit Darby used to preach, PTF'ing did NOT hurt careers. There's a metric crap ton of pilots that PFT'd at any one of the various commuters/regionals listed, and it in and of itself DIDNT harm those guys. Many that are probably CA's and various legacies right now. As well as FedEx, UPS, name it.

My father among them.

You forgot Southwest & the 737 type.

At ASA and Comair a candidate paid for E120 training at Flight Safety. The outcome was far from certain, since the bust rate on the E120 at times got pretty high.

Maybe someone can explain the distinction between Southwest's "buy your Type" and the express version of "buy your Type." Either way a candidate was not "hired" until they had the Type.

Kit probably did not like it because typically the buy your Type crowd did not have as much need for his services. After all, they had been trained using documents and procedures similar to what the airline used and had more of an idea what the employer was looking for than a two hour interview prep would have provided... just a guess.

Wow, I had absolutely no idea that PFT was used by so many regionals not that long ago. No idea at all.

Soooo....does this mean that a lot of the more established guys now, who tell us all that PFT is only a slightly less evil device than Al Qaida...

...may themselves have gotten into 121 by paying for training?

Ohhh boy, could go into some tricky territory here. But to somewhat sidestep yet provide an answer, I believe that AFTER 9/11 the background check did become more comprehensive, as well as go back further. I remember all of us in the 121 world did get another check done. So it could be said that back then, yes, people with less than legitimate backgrounds probably did get some training that they would not in a post 9/11 world.

And the kids today thing they are getting screwed with the ATP rule.
HA!

Sorry, I didn't phrase that well. What I meant was, if a lot of regionals required PFT throughout the 90s...that means a bunch of guys who are now mainline captains must have paid for their training. Yet, in today's world, PFT is viewed as a despicable practice...and it wouldn't surprise me to see those same mainline guys leading the outrage against PFT. Which would be...ironic.