I'll side with Keizer Soze on this one. Professionalism comes in lots of different shapes and sizes. True, some of the 91/135 guys are a bit shell-shocked at the pace and individual learning style in a 121 environment, but most have at least an idea of what they're signing up for and handle themselves professionally, as I'm sure they did at SIMCOM and FlightSafety. One of the worst I've dealt with in my years of doing this was a F-16 guy who wanted to be spoon-fed every bit of information and not crack the manual himself...but he was the outlier. And us 121 guys? Most good, some very average with entitlement issues to boot.

Again, the issues I'm witnessing is simply a lack of experience thrown into a "121 crash course with Airbus differences". Could be a 91/135 guy, could be an 8-year RJ FO, could be a military guy who hasn't gotten the call from the Big 3 yet.

 

CSI is supposed to be about systems. Instead, it’s a lesson in speed reading the ECAM then jumping into the COM and speed reading again. Then you spend an hour learning to shoot NDB approaches and LOC approaches using a manually calculated CDP and optimum energy approach profiles. That’s the reality of “systems training”. Stop bringing up the “study guide “. There’s a couple of examiners that will flip out if you regurgitate the misinformation contained in that. One of them came to our class and told us to throw that guide away. You think that guy asks questions from that guide? All I expect is some structure to the program. Not to be spoon fed, taught. Big difference. To hand someone a stack of manuals and then play stump the dummy isn’t teaching and isn’t helping anyone.

 

Did you state as much in the request for feedback at the end of training?

 

Most anytime I've brought up my less than stellar opinion of the training program to anyone (even those involved in training) I've been met with a shrug of the shoulders and basically "It's what's approved and it's Spirit and everybody else has had to go through it so...". Seems to me that anyone who might care about complaints isn't in a position to do anything while the people who might be able to do something don't care so trying to offer constructive criticism is a waste of breath.

 

Id like to reiterate that it’s not all corporate pilots but the above is straight from someone that is allegedly currently training corporate pilots.

Doesn’t anyone remember not so long ago Spirit rarely hired corporate pilots? Company reps would flat out tell them at the job fairs that their chances of getting an interview were slim.

I believe the new hire program is severely lacking and I’m not trying to insult any singular pilot that might have come from corporate because we all know must of us would suck it up big time if we went from 121 to corporate. All I am saying is that corporate pilots have historically posed a more risky hire and that is fact. It’s not an insult to anyone’s personal background

 

Right on BROTHER! It's a complete joke! It shouldn't matter your back ground. It's just a different aircraft. We don't have a legit training program.

 

Well said. And yes everytime you mentioned this to anyone, it was received with a shrug and just don’t whine. Cooperate and graduate.

I recently spoke to a friend, who is also in the training center, and he complained about the “teach me attitude” that some of the upgrade pilots are coming in with. He mentioned the lack on knowledge and leadership that is being displayed by some.
He also said that the quality of guys entering the program has degraded quite a bit.

 

Swiss cheese anyone? Its worrisome and I hope it never ends with fatal consequences.

 

It will happen, a Spirit Airplane will get bent, hopefully not with casualties. We have a handful of incredibly poor CAs who paired up with some of these new hires?? No way Id sit in the back. Sad state of affairs when mgmt knows this but refuses to get this contract done all in the name of saving a dollar.

 

Boy, if this is true. That's pretty disturbing. Most airlines use some sort of study guide to consolidate the massive amount of technical knowledge into a manageable format. For an examiner to tell a new hire class to "throw it away." Horrible trend.

Stump the chump is no way to go. Yuri, what happen to your "warm and friendly" training environment?

Mr. White