JohnBurke

You're taking a checkride to determine your ability to pilot an airplane full of paying passengers in a large, turbine, multi engine, transport category airplane under instrument flight rules under 14 CFR Part 121, not doing stalls in a 172.

Failure to use rudder during an engine-out situation isn't a small lapse. It's grounds for termination.

Isn't it?

You're complaining that you can't get an interview or a job, and can't own your own failure. Do that, else you really are done. Given your attitude and justification, you do not belong in a cockpit.

Your evaluators apparently feel the same.

BusBoe

Lol what happened to republics training? I heard it was one of the best and top tier. That was two years ago. However, I guess with so many OG instructors and pilots leaving, there are a lot of new faces in the training department and things changed.

Failing initial ATP once or twice is really the norm now days with so many inexperienced pilots. However, failing recurrent is a big negative. On recurrents, you are already expected to know how to fly the plane, so there shouldn't be any room for error. The solution to this inexperienced pilot problem is as this person said

this is 100% on point and correct.


I'll close this comment by saying be thankful you aren't at PSA. it is a complete disaster there and there is even a website dedicated to it (dontflyforpsa dot com). I did my time there before going to another airline and it was a nightmare with the training department having their heads so up their a55. My buddy who is on the hiring board and interviews at a major airline says the recruiting department there dosnt even grade PSA failures as failures, because they just know.

FlyJD

Hmmmm . . . well. . . . I tried. I guess I really am the weakest link. lol

Excargodog

Seriously? You tried? You are talking RECURRENCY HERE. I will grant that with the CA shortages a junior FO might not have flown all that much, but you undoubtedly got at least SOME actual flying after IOE, earning you actually had at least that much more experience in type than you did at the time of your IOE. So what WERE you doing in the 9 months to a year before recurrent training? You were getting paid the reserve guarantee and during the time you were on reserve but not actually flying you had far more time to hit the books and review everything in detail than you did during your initial type rating. What WERE you doing to further yourself in your chosen career all those days you were getting paid to be on call and not flying? And even when you did get a trip - how many times did you take advantage of downtime to review your notes from your training? Or to study up for recurrent? Or to pick your CAs minds - let them mentor you? It’s difficult to believe that someone successfully type rated in an aircraft and having the better part of the year to prepare and actually fly the aircraft would badly fail recurrency if they had made any sort of serious effort a month or two before the recurrent trading was scheduled.

And NK, it really isn’t a laughing matter.

FlyJD

I really do not know what to say to that. Should I have recorded myself with what I do on my days off? Am i studying the wrong way? Did I really use my entire time on call to grab my fishing poles and have fun? Was ExpressJet Airlines really too good to be true and were they slacking on people including me during my three years there and I do not deserve my ATP and do not deserve the satisfactory results in all their exams?? That C-17 pilot in my class who failed LOE, did the air force reserve cut him way too much slack and shouldn't have the current pilot slot? For months of studying prior to recurrency, is that looked upon me as somebody completely flustered? I don't know what to say . . . I'm the weakest link I suppose.

Sirius

These are good questions to ask yourself. One of the greatest things we can do in life is to learn from all negative encounters. Yes I believe you can study harder and leave nothing to chance always assume you will be taking a checkride with the toughest check pilots you’ve ever met even when you’re at a better company.

Unfortunately I do believe that as applicants we must do our DD and become as informed of a company as best as possible. There are companies that have bad training departments and unfortunately have narcissistic characters who hold power over us such as chief pilots and check pilots. I’m blessed to be at my final airline which is one of the 3 legacies but if I could do it all over again I would have avoided the regional where it all started. Companies like Republic, PSA, Atlas, and Gojet I would avoid like the plague due to the higher than normal career altering events and bad training departments. I remember calling in sick when I would get a known tough for nothing check pilot. Unfortunately I believe some of these guys determined how the outcome of a meeting or checkride would go before the ride even began and stroked their egos with the outcome. Also most of those super tough for nothing check pilots that I knew of were terrible pilots. I knew of those guys dragging wings, tails, runway incursions, and violating the P56 out of DCA.

Now it is possible to go to one of these regionals and the Swiss cheese never aligning where you’ll be fine but why risk it when the percentage numbers are higher than other places? The majors know of the problem airlines and see the bigger picture so don’t give up but also work to become the best pilot you can and DO YOUR DD and avoid places with higher than normal problems.

mciflyer

The problem is the excessive failures and making excuses for them, beginning from the written as a new hire. Failing each stage of recurrent is a huge red flag and inexcusable, especially with years in the airlines. That just shows a total lack of preparation and/or inability to be a 121 pilot. Now, any evaluator can find a reason to fail you for anything but you don't give it to them. Instructors talk; we did when i taught in the school house. By your second airline, you know what to expect and how to prepare. Now, the regionals have harder recurrents than the majors, so you just have to be extra prepared. My first recurrent at a major, I studied several months in advance. All my classmates did; we just know how to be professional pilots. Just like in training, you over prepare.

As for the C-17 guy who washes, big deal. That has no bearing on you. Look at all of the lifers at xjt who were mil pilots; most couldn't move on bc they had attitudes and chips on their shoulders. You have to worry about you and after 4-5 years as a 121 pilot, especially at two different carriers, you should know this.

Hopefully you can right the ship and salvage your career; it's nothing personal, as I told you in a PM we flew together at xjt.

flynd94

Where do we start. Many folks have already chimed in. I was at Xjet and a LCA there. We had an excellent training program but towards the end they kept people who should not be flying 121. I did many QC rides.

as for preparation, this is your profession and as a professional aviator there are expectations with our career. AQP is both good and bad. You should always be studying, reviewing SOP’s, systems and such. When you fly you should be asking questions of your Captains and asking for feedback.

I am not saying this to make myself out to be Chuck Yeager. I just returned from a leave of absence where I did fly a plane for 7 months. I am a CA at a legacy. All I was required to do was a CQT/CQMV and a line check. Guess what I spent time in the books, chair flying, etc and it worked.

Stop blaming others. As my dad told me as a kid”the world needs ditch diggers too”.

Excargodog

You are the only one that ever will or CAN put yourself in a better position to deal with your chosen career. I’m not denying there are jerks out there who - through one means or another - have ascended into positions of authority. I will deny that those people last too long in positions of authority because in today’s environment NO ONE can afford to toss away competent pilots or not upgrade to CA those who are able to hack it. .

There is a pilot shortage and more to the point there is a CA shortage and nobody can afford to disqualify competent people who know their stuff and can do the job. Certainly not at the regionals and even at some of the majors. But especially at the regionals where they are offering hitherto unheard of bonuses for FOs who are upgrade eligible or nearly so and in many places for FOs with over 500 121 or qualifying 135 hours for upgrade.

But neither can anyone afford to keep someone on who really ISN’T qualified. This isn’t a non competitive junior soccer league where everybody gets a trophy for showing up, it’s a profession where if you screw up it’s not just your life on the line but the lives of 75- 300 or more people behind you as well. Republic has 2500 pilots and they ALL go through recurrent with the same CKAs. The overwhelming majority of those pass. You didn’t. Why do you think that is?

JohnBurke

Your continued justification hurts only you.

The C-17 pilot is irrelevant, but had he passed his training, would it have helped you? No. Whether he or she passed has no bearing on you, or your performance. You were told by your union stewards that there was nothing they could do for you. You were given a unanimous decision by your training review board: you were offered the chance to resign, rather than be fired. Whether the C-17 pilot was told the same is irrelevant. What the C-17 pilot did in the USAF is irrelevant. You neither studied for him, nor did he study for you. You failed on your own. Your continued, dogged insistence on justification and excuse makes quite clear why you didn't pass. Your obstacle to your career is not the Republic training department. It is you.

This is where you must start and what you must fix. You can focus your excuses on Republic and blame them for your troubles, and you can attempt blame everywhere but yourself, if you insist, but it will not prepare you for a checkride or an interview, or fix your lifetime pilot record database (PRD) employment history. All the excuses in the world, and a resignation, won't change the record that will go in the PRD. That's the purpose of the PRD.

You need to put distance between this event and yourself. The only possible scenario that will help you is to establish a track record of good study habits, decision making, employment, and checkrides, because these are evidence. Excuses are not. No employer will listen to you justify yourself based on what a C-17 pilot did. Doing so will only succeed in making yourself look bad.

This is a good time for you to hire professionals: you need an honest evaluation of your flying and any training necessary to fix some obvious deficiencies in aeronautical decision making and basic airmanship. Only you can make yourself study and prepare.

You need to consult with a professional interview preparation service to discuss the best way to address the specifics of your situation, moving forward. Fail to do so at your own peril.

Stop making excuses. Own your past, stop projecting it on others, and fix what's broken. It won't fix itself.