You signed a contract and broke it. Now deal with the consequences. Your "friend" sounds like a shady person. Breaking a contract will look bad to a potential employer in the future. FWIW, I would never sponsor or vouch for someone that committed such an act. Shame on anyone who does it!

Any company that has to handcuff their employees to retain them ain't worth a ****.

That's why you never work at a company that has a training contract.

Every time a pilot shortage gets mentioned, it needs to be followed by one of these threads to bring people back to reality.

What a sobering walk back from the mailbox. I just received the same letter and it's legit.

Nice job coming in and casting judgement on a person and situation that you don't know. You condemn this guy and his friend yet you know none of the details. All the guy did was ask a question and sought advice of people familiar with his type of situation at RAH. And who cares if YOU wouldn't sponsor or vouch for him? Relevance?

Just to put it out there, I had a medical condition of which I was going down a wild goose chase to clear up. It was preventing me from flying and I needed a paycheck, so I resigned and sought employment somewhere where I could earn a paycheck while not flying. Being that I wasn't there for a full year, I didn't qualify for FMLA. I also gave a notice of which the company declined since I was out of work and it didn't apply.

So you are on the hook for a bunch of money due to a medical condition beyond your control?

everyone knew what that signed. I would read the small print to make sure what you can and cannot do before leaving. Spend a few bucks on a lawyer and get a legal definition of the training contract as it applies to you and get it in writting.

My last company has a history of going after select folks when leave and letter others out of contract. One of the guys they recently went after used that history to show bias and I believe field a counter suit for discrimination. You're best bet is to find a lawyer. Free advice is always worth what you paid for it.