Pre-study should involve fixing your dryer or dishwasher now. Do your honeydo list. Take your loved ones out for dinner. Take that last minute romantic trip. Enjoy some quiet time with a nice Scottish Whiskey. Celebrate getting the job!

 

It's pretty drawn out - you'll have so much time to study actual systems once you get here.

They should give you the pre material prior to class- it'll have access to some stuff like flows and callouts. Bu honestly you'll have time. It's not that busy. Just partner up with people and work over systems and flows once you start class. They'll get you through it. It's not bad.

Hey - at least you guys get per diem lol. That was a recent addition a few years back.

 

Come on, brother... you know I only speak the truth and from the heart. 😉

I totally admire your commitment to your wife. It's not a cheap shot, it's a cause for celebration. I mean, Miatas are like Yorkies.... they're cute and special in their own way, and generally great for discerning and very special girls in our lives.

I mean, they do say pictures say a thousand words:

 

Not gonna lie. That’s one damn cute Yorkie. Forgive me…..I’m totally a dog person.

 

Of course she is... just like Miatas. They're....... cute.

 

😂😂😂👍

……

 

Did they change systems training recently? I went through pre AQP and I will say the short duration (7 days) between the start of systems and the systems oral was a challenge for all of us. We worked pretty darn hard studying everything while practicing the presentations we had to give in the oral. I've completed training at three airlines (OO, SWA and UAL) and the SWA systems oral stands out as the one section that required the most work of any portion of those three programs.

We all found that teamwork was essential. It's one thing to take a CBT exam or even just answer questions, but to deliver an oral presentation explaining every system and switch was a different length of challenge. Maybe that's just me though...

 

In 2018 the approved solution for the oral involved being able to discuss everything on any panel, either going through all flows describing what actually happens with each step or just going from panel to panel describing each one, and then picking one section of the panel and going into silly detail on that system. Electrics, hydraulics, and fuel are pretty standard. If you pick bleeds you might run out of things to say before you run out of time, which can lead to a short stump-the-dummy session. If you pick flight controls, bless your heart.

It felt to me like we had "enough" time to prepare for the oral especially if you were able to gonk through the systems lessons and videos ahead of the class schedule so you could spend the class time picking up anything that wasn't clear in the electronic courseware or fine-tuning your understanding in prep for the oral. If you don't stay ahead of the classes by going through the courseware ahead of time, it can be a bit more stressful and you'll waste time trying to chase down answers after class for things that weren't gone over in enough detail.

I think we had only one new hire in my class have to re-do the oral, not sure what happened there. Only one guy had to re-do a portion of his checkride and that was just for the single engine stuff because if I recall correctly, he came from a multi-engine centerline thrust aircraft and somehow didn't get the word that the key to the single engine sim profile is to get the plane trimmed out and back on autopilot before doing pretty much anything else, so he was trying to hand fly the profile with the plane not quite trimmed out, with predictable results. He was a good pilot and figured it out quickly after the fact, so the re-do was apparently not a problem and it sounded like he got plenty of friendly help getting it done.

 

Yup I agree, advance preparation was utterly essential. The systems CBTs were a *lot* of information, and class was really about clarifying questions, as you say. I just think that the sheer level of detail we were expected to know was fairly challenging. (The UAL systems exam is a joke compared to what SWA expected.)

I think one thing that was also challenging for some was the idea of getting up in front of an examiner and "teaching" the panel and systems. For those of us unaccustomed to public speaking, it didn't make the process any easier. Personally I had no problem with it, as in a previous career I spent countless hours presenting to groups of demanding and skeptical people, but we had one guy in my class who knew the information cold, but had to have his exam postponed because he couldn't get up in front of people and present the information verbally. That said, I came out of systems training feeling very confident about my aircraft knowledge.

Too bad I've forgotten about 90 percent of what I've learned 😅

 

What helped me during onboarding was to understand my contract and training details. I use https://airlinecontract.com/ to get the information I need, still now after a few years. It has a AI chat when you sign up and its free. Maybe it can help you. Cheers.