I never had an Old-Skool UAL course, but I took my 747-400 type in Seattle with the guys who built her, and my 777 course in Miami with the same company.

Much of the ground school on both was delivered by Pelesys, just as it is when you do the UA737 course in IAH. The As were delivered in FBSs by retired line pilots, just as they are on the UA737 course in IAH. The B's were delivered by professional instructors, just as they are on the UA737 course in IAH (or MIA).

The biggest difference was the SKVs, a brand new experience for me, which I found much easier to master than it is to obtain the level of understanding one should have to pass a proper oral exam. And as mentioned, the lack of instructor continuity was a real issue, mostly due to most of my sims being done in MIA, and the PIs doing only a day or two of TDY each.

Bottom line, if you haven't flown a Boeing you will need to pay attention to the Pelesys course. The information you need is in there. But there is no foot stomping, there is no instructor to say "Wake up, this bit is important". So it is harder to assimilate. And far cheaper for the company to produce. So if there are any changes at TK, I'd expect the other courses to look more like the 737 in the future, rather than the 737 to look more like the other fleets.

Nobody that I know of had any problems being successful with the course, or on IOE.

 

This is the most salient post right here. If you expect it to be ****ty, don't be surprised that it is. If you go in with an open mind and a willingness to learn, you'll be just fine. Could the course be better? Of course it could. After training make sure to fill out the critique accordingly, PDR as needed during and after, uphold your contract at all times, and if need be change IPs or ask for additional sessions. But keep in mind, show up as a professional, keep a pro mindset throughout and graduate as a pro.

 

Damn, I sure hope not! IAH's 737 training is definitely not something to emulate.
I've been through both places. There is no comparison. I don't call Houston's sim building a "training center". It is not a training center. It is a building with sims in it. TK is a training center, with places to study, places to relax, and has instructors who are professional and available to teach. It has nothing to do with being "spoon-fed", as some would call it. It is not that. It is all about being good at what you do. TK is good at what they do. Houston's sim building has managed to "meet the minimums". That is what they have striven for, and that is what they achieved.

 

As bad as the rumors and experiences make UAL/lCAL's 737 training it is apparent many here do not know what the minimum FAA training really is.

I have a friend who got a job with Spirit and came to me after his 320 training (where they also typed him) and asked if UAL was similar. This was his first big jet training experience and was shocked at the lack of sim time and minimal instructor time.

Also you might note the minimum FAA approved 777 to 787 training is three days, essentially a PC.

Does this mean UAL/lCAL's 737 training is great? No it simply means it could be a lot less. Blame it on a spineless FAA whose minimum is considered "safe" and adequate by men like Jeff S and others. In some airplanes the insurance folks are by default the real regulators over the FAA because they require a hirer standard of experience and checking than the FAA.

Now on the other hand, how many of you fly both the 757 and the 767 and yet get checked in only one? Considering they have similar cockpits they fly and land completely different why aren't the pilots required to maintain landing every ninety days in each airplane?

Watch out what you wish for.

 

I am just going to throw this out there.

I run into two basic types of students coming through transition training. Those that are prepared and sail through the course and those who are not prepared and ***** and whine about how horrible their training was.

I'm going to crack the code on how to be the prepared guy, and it's really simple.

Systems;
Do your home work, Pelysis (SP) CBT's whatever. That is the stuff I kind of breeze through. Start paying attention and asking questions once you sit down with your FTI. Do the systems reviews several times during the week, Sit down with your sim partner and quiz/work with each other.

Flows;
Memorize the location of each item to be checked. Get the flow pattern memorized in your brain. Then go back and one at a time look at each item in the expanded section of the FM so you understand each step in detail.

ESKV, listen to your FTI. Nuff said.

Procedures phase;
Have your flows to an end state knowledge level BEFORE you show up for procedures.

Here is key to success on procedures. Know your call outs FM Chap 3 it's right there in the front of the chapter. Profiles, all are in FM chapter 3.It doesn't have to be perfect but you do have to have a good working knowledge of call outs and profiles. Takeoff, climb, cruise, descent, non precision, precision approaches. The approach profiles are also in chapter 3 under, approach, precision approach and non precision approach.

How do you know what approach profiles to be familiar with? SIMPLE in our I-pad under training/qualification/(your aircraft) pilot syllabus. Open that and it tells you exactly what you will be doing for upcoming training period. These are soft balls folks, easy to catch, easy to hit. You just have to know where to find them.

Full flight sim periods and lofts.

Go to your I-Pad Training/Qualification/ Pilot syllabus look to see what you are doing the next day. Review whatever you deem necessary. Use these tools folks and your training will become much, much easier. Hint there are no surprises in the training syllabus. It is done the same way every single time.

As an instructor here are some of the things that just make you shake your head.....

Doesn't know ANY call outs. I'll ask that student to please open his or her flight manual to the call outs pages. Invariably this student doesn't know where it is and can't find it.

Can't find ANYTHING in the I-Pad because they've never used it. Strange but true.

Cops an attitude and wants to argue with the book when they are shown in the flight manual or FOM that they are wrong. "WELL when I flew for the AVG in WW II (or GoJet) that's not how we did it!!"

Assumes that call outs and profiles will be the same as the airplane they are coming from. That is almost NEVER the case. New airplane, new call outs and profiles. PERIOD.

Screws up, blames the sim.

Wants to tell war stories during the briefing or sim. We all love to tell and hear war stories. The sim periods and briefing times are so jam packed now days, this simply is not the time or the place to do it.

Wants to tell me how screwed up the, syllabus, the company, the ISL, the hotel, the van driver, spouse, the pay desk, I-Pad, ETC ETC ETC is. Seriously, first off I can't change any of that. It's a sad truth, but we instructor are not listened to by management either. Second I've got 5 hours worth of crap to stuff into a 4 hour block IF there are no repeats. I simply don't have time for dirty laundry during a training period. And lastly I do love you man I really do BUT I've got my own crap to deal with from the company/at home I seriously don't and nobody else could really care less about your personal drama.

MLM, Iraqi Dinar, "business" offers, currency trading software, commodities trading scams.....REALLY!?! The answer is NO it will always be NO so don't even bring it up, please!!!

In the most basic terms. Do NOT show up to a training session completely unprepared and expect to be spoon fed everything you need to know for today's sim session. When VOR approaches are on the menu you'd BETTER have a basic knowledge of how to set up and fly a VOR approach in THIS airplane the day of the sim. If you spent all of your time at Shotgun's the night before. I respect and appreciate your hobby. But it makes for a miserable training session for you and me the next day.

 

Airhoss, thanks for posting that. You do point out a universal complaint though of trying to put five hours of stuff in four hours. That's a training department decision and puts the instructors in an awful position of checking things off with no time for do overs. We all know if they added an extra sim to the syllabus then they'd want to just overload that one too though. There's the standing policy of if you need extra training you will get it or can request it but not many do that.

 

Great post.

Showing up with an attitude of you have to teach me everything kind of conflicts with the level of training we are talking about here. Whether military or civilian training, I always showed up as well prepared as possible. If I had questions, I had them ready.

No different today than when my T-37 IP sat us down when we hit the line and explained the syllabus and the MIF requirements. We new what we'd be learning when and the level of performance for each block.

Professional pilots don't come in unprepared for a sim or sortie. Just my humble opinion.

As a former military IP, I have sat guys down and not done the event when the stud was obviously not prepared. I've also flown them to then proceed to hammer them in the debrief if the issue continues. Some saw the light. Others became something other than pilots.

Lee

 

I agree as well... however, that preparedness can really vary depending on how much time you have between indoc and training.

I saw anywhere between 2 days and 3 weeks. 3 weeks, you better be prepared. 2 days? Good luck.

 

Shoulda stopped at the word Go Jet

 

This is excellent info for anyone about to go through.

I was one of the guys in the "2 days off between indoc and systems" group. We all got right through it working diligently, not a lot of "hanging out"' time. We didn't whine to the instructors but there was plenty of whining amongst ourselves.

I will comment though that by having to do the CBTs during systems rather than prior is a major disadvantage. The reality is that you'll have time to play them, not watch them. The course is absolutely designed to have had the CBTs done and flows at least familiar prior to arrival.