Long time lurker. After reading this thread, I had to post.
This is either first hand information, from speaking with instructors, or from speaking with pilots currently in these classes.
There is some misinformation here. Let's clear it up...
There is a bottleneck in training. It's huge. Some people appear to be lying in this thread. There were two classes in October. The true October class started October 3rd. That class has some pilots who are in GFS with sims scheduled in January. There are eight other pilots in that class who just finished systems and still do not have GFS scheduled and have no clue when simulators are going to be. They were literally told the company doesn't know when they'll be scheduled and to just stand by...
Why? According to one senior instructor, XJT agreed to C5 using their Houston simulator, and then backed out of the deal after C5 scheduled classes. Naturally, this has caused many problems.
However, none of this was told to any of the pilots in training. They are all clueless as to what's happening and have no schedule whatsoever for the coming year. The communication is abysmal.
Next, the dramatics. Well... the dramatics on this board pale in comparison to what has actually happened in class.
Last Friday, one of the company's two DE's came into class and went on a rant about the importance of staying off "internet boards" and that if anyone wanted to "b!tch about the training department, they should do it to him". He went on to say that it is a very professional training department...
Next, said DE began harassing one particular student for no apparent reason, yelling at him for looking at his phone etc while ignoring everyone else in class. The student had no idea why they were being singled out. This became more intense and heated. Finally, during a break, the DE went over the student and yelled, "Stay off the website!! Protect your career!"
.......
That happened.
The student shouted "What WEBSITE?!" and promptly left glass.
People's careers are on the line over what is anonymously posted here.
20 minutes later the DE returned, apologized for his demeanor and told the class that he had heard a rumor that this particular student posted that the training department was bad.
REAL professional. That's how C5 operates.
Someone in class got bent out of shape over a post on a forum and their reaction was to ruin someone's career, which the DE happily went along with. Think about that. THAT HAPPENED.
From what I have heard there are several pilots who have been on property for months without ID badges. There is no CASS/KCM until you complete your PC, which could take 6-7 months. There are growing pains, but this is far beyond that. There are serious issues that need to be addressed. Some people have posted that XJTs training was better... well, considering most of these instructors have almost no time on this airplane, and they literally just read slides, what do you expect?
Is it safe? Sure. It's safe enough, but they certainly aren't going above and beyond. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying, or has never worked anywhere else, which seem to be the people who get the most upset.
As for me... happy to be here, happy about the growth. However, I'll be watching my back, and looking for the next move sooner than later.