Aloha shirt, tattered khaki shorts, slippas, a blunt behind the ear, and fat wallet for beers for your bros is all you need. The company needs playas wid flava.

Maybe cookies and milk instead of the beers. Try to fit in just a little.

 

Can't argue that! As long as there's pictures.

 

Ground school runs M-F, 8a-5p, although sometimes you'll get out earlier. During Systems you'll also be doing Matrix training, which can happen in the afternoon or evening. Your weekends are always free, though you'd be wise to spend 1 weekend day hitting the books, practicing flows, etc.

You'll start with 6 days of Indoc, then take your Indoc written test on Day 6. Systems starts on Day 7 and lasts about 13 class days. So basically you're looking at 3.5 weeks from start to finish, for ground school.

Sims will start anywhere from 12 hours to 6 weeks after ground school ends. They'll be in either SLC, ATL, STL, and possibly DEN although I think DEN only has E175 sims. The sim training footprint will last approximately 3 weeks. Your sim times depend on what's available and who bids for what. Most of my sims were 8p - 2a, which does a number on you but is great prep for flying standups once you're on the line.

As for clothes, don't over think it. Brinf 2-3 pairs of khakis for class, plus dress shirts. Bring jeans and t-shirts and a sweater or two, plus workout clothes. That's all you need.

The important thing is food. Trying to live on fast food or microwave pizza for 7.5 weeks is a recipe for disaster. When you get to SLC, take the light rail downtown to Harmon's Grocery store and buy supplies. The Candlewood has a full kitchen in each room, plus outdoor BBQ facilities. There aren't any food options at the training center, so pack your lunch (they'll give you lunch on Day 1 but after that you're on your own.) The training center has fridges where you can store your lunch.

Also don't forget to exercise. The hotel has a gym, or if the weather's decent you can run north along the airport perimeter road for as long as you like. There are sidewalks and the traffic is very light.

I went home every weekend for 24 hours, but you can only do this if you are willing to cough up cash for a last minute ticket to SLC in case the loads are full and you can't non-rev. I got lucky, but I was traveling during late Sept -- late Oct, typically the easiest time of year to non-rev. Try that over the Thanksgiving break and you run a real risk of not making it back to class. I also knew I could drive overnight 11 hrs to SLC if I had to. During sim training in ATL (December) I didn't even bother to try going b home.

It's not boot camp. The training isn't easy, but as long as you put in a decent effort you'll be fine. Just make sure you have your EP&L packet memorized, cold, before you show up. Trying to study for that test while also studying your Indoc syllabus won't be fun at all.

Relax. Have fun. Treat it as an adventure and enjoy it.

 

Turbosina, it is people like you that make me believe that the pilot group is a special group. I was on the fence between Compass and Skywest and chose Compass based on personal reasons. But I am still interested in what's going on with Skywest. Thanks for taking the time and helping others with VERY informative posts! By the way liked your post on the floater landings as well. Keep it up and fly safe!

 

Wow! Thanks much for taking the time to post this. All the more reason I believe I made the right decision to pursue SKW. For real, thanks!

 

Glad I could help!

A couple other pieces of advice that I wish someone had given me:

1) About halfway through Systems, it's going to feel completely overwhelming. You're going to think to yourself, 'There's no way I'm going to pass this. Just no way." Just realize that this feeling is normal; everyone feels this way at some point. But the Systems Validation (systems exam) is definitely easier than the training itself. In other words, they will cram your brain with more knowledge than you need for the exam.

However, out on the line, you will be surprised at how much you use that knowledge every day. Admittedly, some of the stuff just evaporates from your brain because you never use it, or because the reference is printed right there on the TOLD card or somewhere else (max landing weight comes to mind; if you turn to 70,000 lbs on the CRJ-700 TOLD card, it'll say in very big letters, "Landing - Overweight", as an example.)

But other stuff, such as "How and why do we transfer the APU bleeds on the 200?" is stuff that you'll use every day on the line, and will become second nature the more you do it.

2) The earlier you can practice flows, the better. Sit with a buddy and help each other memorize and practice flows. Unfortunately on the CRJ you won't have any seasoned Skywest pilots in class with you (I don't know of anyone who's doing a E175-to-CRJ transition, although I suppose it's possible), but if you do have any ex-121 guys in the class, ask them for help. Watch how they practice flows. Go into the Matrix on your off hours (SKW allows unlimited self-practice time on the Matrix simulator) and run the flows and callouts over and over. Again, it really really really helps to do this with a buddy.

I came from a Part 91 background with north of 6,000 hours of piston time, and the concept of flows was a tough one for me to grasp. Reading the SOP, with its rather confusing separation of flows and tasks and checklists, left me utterly confused as to just what we were supposed to do when. There were times I thought I'd never get it.

Now, however, I can jump in that airplane and do flows and callouts with my eyes closed, half-drunk (OK, I'm kidding on the second part.) When you see a seasoned crew blitz through an originating, pre-start, engine start, taxi, and takeoff check, it will seem like magic if you've never done it before. Then once you get enough practice, it becomes second nature. I mean, on our first FTD session, it took me and my sim partner 90 minutes to power up the airplane, run our checklists and push back from the gate. My record now is 18 minutes from arrival at the cold, dark aircraft to actual pushback, and that included the walkaround...

Of course if you're prior 121 then you know all this, but just in case you're coming from a GA background, I thought it might be useful to hear one GA pilot's perspective.

 

I almost chose Compass but the clincher was that SKW has a base in my hometown, whereas I'd have to commute to Compass. Having spent a few months commuting to reserve, I will now stab my eyes out with a rusty spork before ever commuting again

Good luck and have fun at Compass. Just quit taking our flying! (KIDDING)

 

You must be reading my mind right now! Tomorrow is our last day of systems (different regional) and my mind is mush. This is my second time through FSI (first 121 program) and it's intense. Between memory items, limitations, systems, GOM, SOP etc....I feel like it never sinks in, but when you review at night and fire off the answers it is a promising feeling that maybe you are retaining more info than you thought.

I do like how the training is broken up now a days into two sections. Getting the oral out of the way first is great, then you can focus on flows while you have your break before sims start.

DH

 

It's shrinking due to losing the American flying in LAX this month. The most junior FO in LAX has a 01/2015 hire date but I doubt they will transfer anyone into there for a while. Probably not attainable for a new hire anymore.

Things keep changing rapidly though so that could change next month for all I know. It's impossible to predict. SFO and DEN are attainable for a new hire if you don't mind that commute for a little while.

 

Bring a pilot shirt and solid black tie if you have them. That way your badge picture will look like an airline pilot, not a civilian balancing epaulets on his shoulders. My FO got hassled at KCM because his badge looked photo-shopped.