Yes. This has already been briefed by Boeing as part of the plan. I believe there are only two or three carriers worldwide that have operating Max sims. The NG sims will be used for the training.

I the long term the same amount of pilots will need to be hired, maybe even more as some pilots will leave due to stagnation and/or we might get a sweet deal from Boeing on more MAXs. It is a relief that no more pilots will be hiring the line for awhile since we are currently shrinking capacity.

I think the one reason hiring continued for so long was that training capacity was limited, they can't just stop hiring then push new hires through at a higher rate when the MAX comes back. Apparently the company believes that when all MAXs are back on property we will be slightly understaffed.

What will be telling will be what happens with instructor hiring...with additional MAX sims and additional instructors, training capacity will be increased.

Hopefully the twitter world doesn’t catch wind of this, if it happens. Max pilots to receive extra (Max specific) simulator training in a different generation of 737 before flying the Max.

It's essentially the same airplane from a pilot standpoint with the exception of the engine starts and display configuration. I have flown the max and a NG within minutes of one another with zero difficulty transitioning.

Yeah, it takes a few seconds to figure out where the clock is..... that’s it.

The flight number disappearing after landing is my biggest gripe.

SWA does NOT intend to use NG sims for Max training, which is why they are adding an additional 3 Max sims to the old training center.

Southwest Hiring 2020
 

Source?
Even with 3 extra sims, training 10k pilots will take a while. Sims aren't cheap. They aren't buying 3 sims for a few months of training.

9 Sims total. 3 are fully operational and Level C certified, waiting on the FAA ungrounding to certify to Level D. 3 more sims being installed now. Final 3 sims to be installed in the old sim building by end of summer. So, 6 should be operational almost immediately after Feds certify the Max, 3 more operational within 6 months from that. Sounds like the extra 3 sims may have been acquired from another airline or simulator instruction company.

The source is flight ops. They intend to do the training in the 9 sims, hopefully in 2 hour training block. (Not sure yet what FAA will require) I have no knowledge but not sure the FAA will allow Max training in an NG sim. I doubt it.

The additional sims are coming from CAE in Canada somewhere.

Still will take at least 3 months to get everybody trained. 10K pilots, 2 hours each in equals 20K hours divided over 9 SIMs, even at round the clock SIM that is at least 100 days. Without any new hire training in those three plus months there would have been around 15K hours of SIM recurrency events planned. I don't know how many other SIMs WN has, but it sure sounds like a lot of training.

also, sims need maintenance and "down time" occasionally

They’ll get through training everyone by years end, if the Max returns by the end of summer. Another rumor is there may be 4 pilots in the box during the 2 hour event, not just 2.

FAA/Boeing have already said a workaround using NG sims will be allowed. With so few Max sims and so many airlines with parked planes it’s not feasible to tell some airlines “tough ****....go buy a MAX sim”.

The only difference is the display. Sim is only going to be required to train MCAS/trim runaway. You can do that in any model.

Source?

It is my understanding that the software is significantly different in the 737 MAX. Not just the displays.

Expediting the timetable for the return of the 737 MAX and relaxing sim requirements sounds a lot like the first mistakes that were made.

If there is another accident, one can imagine the backlash that would ensue.

As far as the cockpit goes, it's literally identical except for the displays, the gear handle (because of the displays), and removing a couple of overhead annunciator lights. That's why they're talking about reconfiguring an 800 sim's software to replicate the difference. All the other hardware (yoke, trim, stab cutout switches, etc) is exactly where it was in the NG, so it'd be a matter of loading a hybrid software package to make an NG sim fly like a Max sim for this specific training event.

I wonder how simple that would be and if it would be possible to do that without compromising the NG sim characteristics. The important point is that the MAX has different stability characteristics and the MCAS system. It will be interesting to see if merely a software package can enable a NG sim to be flown as a MAX or NG interchangeably.

Or perhaps some NG sims could be dedicated fully to the MAX. If that was the case, could WN afford to lose NG sims as they are converted into MAX sims? That would also possibly create logistical challenges with sim scheduling as now 2 different particular sim types would be required for all initial and possibly recurrent training.

It's been a while since I've worked with simulators, and it was a much older generation of sims than what we're using now. I don't know if it would be as simple as pushing a button to do the software load for the Max training, then reloading the standard NG software to restore it to the original, approved design.

I don't think that hybrid Max-in-an-NG software would be usable for anything except the MCAS/runaway trim training, since it wouldn't 100% replicate any specific airplane type. But to get the crews trained on the differences and able to fly the plane, I think it'd be a very reasonable, realistic option, if the FAA is on board with it.

Oh yeah--the FAA is going to jump over high hurdles to bend the training requirements--just like they're working overtime to get the MAX back in service.

To make a pigeon fly, you have to have a stone to make it leave or bread crumbs to make it arrive. Don't see anyone having that kind of pull with the FAA.

Amazing how things can progress in an election year when you start tampering with the economy.....

As of now, SWA intends to do the training in the Max sims.

Have you flown both aircraft?

The MAX has slightly larger displays, a smaller gear handle, and the clock is in a different place. That’s it.

The important stuff is all the same. The software can be changed, that’s the beauty of a simulator.

Just got back from the Training Center. Plan is to have all 9 MAX simulators up and running by June. 3 MAX sims are already installed and operational in the new training center and 6 MAX sims installed in the old training center on a temporary basis until the construction is finished on the new training center expansion sometime in Q4 2020. The current (new) training center is currently full after the first 3 MAX sims were installed.

Also interesting to know would be if they are increasing the amount of instructors, and which is most limiting on total training capacity, instructors or simulators.

I just got back from training as well and we were told that the 3 sims from CAE wouldn’t be on property until September...

What?! Two completely different and disparate rumors from the training center? Say it ain't so.
If we collaborated and made a list of the training center "facts" and scored them a year later I would bet that they run somewhere around 20 percent true.

I don’t know. I didn’t go over to the old building. I know 3 were supposed to have shown up a few days ago. That would bring the total to 6, and the other 3 have been moved up to be in place by June. That information came from Alan I believe.

I have never flown a 737. Just have had the joy of jump seating in them. What I was considering earlier was the difficulty and possible complications of changing the software in a NG sim to mimic a MAX. Also, would the FAA would sign off on it?

It may not be as simple as just uploading a new software package.

There will be sim training. Not every operator owns a Max sim, in fact only a very few do. You do the math. They aren't going to recertify the airplane without a viable return to service plan.

For the application, when it asks about failures: Have you EVER failed a Flight Check-ride, Proficiency Check, Flight Evaluation, or Upgrade attempt (Aircraft or Simulator, Oral or Practical)?

For military, does this include check rides for graduate level tactical qualifications like FAC(A), SFTI, etc.?

I would say No. I think they are concerned with Checkrides in your FEF. Not your grade book. I turned in a copy of my AF Form 942 with my app as proof.

Is Southwest OK with people taking military leave during the first year of probation? I’m sure it’s frowned upon but I’m talking for like 2-3 months.

guy in my class finished IOE then took a leave for a year until he could be off reserve in a base he wanted. So no I dont think they care.

I’m glad you asked that question—I’m a civilian with a few guys retiring MIL soon with similar questions. My question is does it matter what SWA thinks? Is there not a legal protection for military ordered absence?

SWA doesn't care. Had a couple in my class take mil leave the day after indoc.

They don't care.

I was out for three months of probation year for reserve duty. No questions asked. All that happens is your probation gets extended 1 for 1 for anything over 30 days, I believe.

Yes, there is legal protection. The law is called USERRA. So if they were going to retaliate, they can’t directly tie it to taking too much military leave or anything like that. It’s kind of like with whistleblowers. The law protects them. A company can’t directly target a whistleblower for their whistleblowing but...

Don’t know how they treat it currently, but in the past there were (and maybe still are) chief pilots who frowned upon and covertly discouraged taking “too much” military leave. That said, any company has to be very careful if they try to retaliate against guys taking mil leave.

From where I sit anecdotally, SWA appears to have the most lax mil leave stance/scrutiny in practice, of all the a-world dudes I've work/worked with/for. And leading 2nd place (AA) in that specific race by a large margin too, nevermind the rest of the peloton trailing rather far behind by comparison. To pick an analogy for those of us not making big airline money: if SWA was a returns/customer service desk, they'd be the Walmart of returns desks. :D

If MLOA maxi-flex (an ART pun, very much intended) was my primary angle in (junior) vocational life, SW would be my #1 choice hands down. It's a good airline to be a dual-status kernel/F-teener.

At the beginning of all the covid nonsense, my unit had a lot of missions drop for transporting medical folks up to the NY area to standup the ad hoc Hospitals. We got slammed with requests and ran out of full timer crew availability fast. Our boss started asking for help. I called my chief pilot 3 days before a trip and explained the situation. I hate dropping ML less than 2 weeks out. He cut me off and said “Thanks for what you’re doing, don’t think another thing about it, we’ve got it covered here, be safe and we’ll be here when you’re done with these missions”.

The only correct response from the CP. And I'm a tree hugger.
edit to add: if the mission was bombing some other country to secure our oil supply my answer would be the same, as it's not up to the guys in the cockpit to choose the mission.