Wdc0001

I recently received a CJO on the 767 this week and I’m looking for some insight on Omni’s training department. During my interview, the pilot told me to expect a bunch of CBTs and a systems test on day one and that’s really all I know.

If anyone could offer I better look into training it would be much appreciated.

I’m coming from a 12 year Air Force career so CBTs and test are a familiar way I’ve learned to qualify on aircraft, but the 121 Charter world is a different beast and assume it will be much quicker than anything I’ve experienced in the past.

steamgaugepilot

Complete CBTs as soon as you can; do not underestimate how much work this is. Don’t stress over the knowledge test. The training department is good, and the cadre cares about your success. Other than CBTs, focus on memorizing limits, emergency procedures, and flows prior to arrival. Unsolicited advice: Reconsider forums, not much factual info comes out of them and your posting history is (very) public. Congratulations on the CJO.

Cujo665

Apply elsewhere. Omni has fallen so far behind in QOL and compensation that it should be looked at as little more than a lifeboat for a paycheck until something better comes along. You also will not build 121 hours very quickly either with the average guy getting anywhere from 200-350 hours an entire year. Senior guys can get more. So, if you're looking to build experience to get someplace better, this is a poor choice. The management has also become very discipline heavy and is going after guys for the companies own ineptness, then realizing it during the hearing that the situation was actually their own creation. Guys have left for other places and had classes delayed due the current slowdown and pause at legacies and this management has refused to allow pilots to extend their resignation date or withdraw their resignation. Some guys can, some guys can't. It depends if they like you or not, not if they treat everybody with the same respect.

Ever since ATSG bought Omni it has been on a downward spiral. Very senior training center staff have left all at once, two APD's left, lots of senior check airmen have left, a chief pilot left and the new managment coming in at the top slide their way into positions, in some cases by digging up dirt on the predecessor to get them fired or pressured to resign. A few are even from places like Swift/iAero which if you know anything about... their management was so inept they bankrupted a golden goose being fed nonstop US Govt cheese. Talked with a guy recently - who the company does not like - who had a PC due and his landings had expired and they told training to schedule a full PT for PC which is a bunch of uneccesary stuff subjecting yourself to addition jeapordy, and directly contradicts the company's own training manuals. When the training requirements in the company manual was pointed out to said manager, he ignored the email and never replied. The sim instructor had to call training and change it back to a straight PC. That's the type of nonsense you will be subjecting yourself and your license to. A company that doesn't even follow it's own training manual, and when asked directly about it, just ignores the question.
They are using the PanAm sims (junk) rather than Delta and United like they used to. Just more ways of saving a buck regardless how crappy the equipment gets as long as it's FAA approved. They say it's an availablity issue. Fine, then go to someplace else, those PanAm and ABX sims are junk. Not anything I'd want to bet my license on if I didn't already have tons of time in the real plane to recognize when the sim is jacked. They recently started using the ABX simulator in ILG for training too. I didn't think anything could be worse than the PanAm sims, until we used this thing. What did they do to get instructors spooled up on the "new" to us ABX sim? They emailed them the 2,000 plus page Simulator operators manual a few days before they were to begin teaching and checking in it. No familiarity sessions to see where it acts up, or isn't so great..... so determining student screw-up from sim issue becomes harder.
It's a who they like and don't like kind of place. I've been lucky, I get along with the folks there and I have not had to deal with the abuse, but I've seen them do it. Theres no bucket system or structure to awarding flights... it's put a name in the schedule hole, and if it's the same name all day, every day, so what as long as it's legal.

Omni is still a good job, but it's fallen far from where it used to be. I too have my resumes out now and frankly I had never expected to leave until I retired. I enjoy the work, and who we do it for, but it's just not worth it anymore.

People who are new here and only have a horrible regional to compare it to will think it's still sunshine and palm trees. They'll learn.

If you have other options, I'd consider them carefully. This place should be a last resort lifeboat only at this point under current leadership and working conditions

There are two other Omni threads with very recent and detailed information on them. No need to continue this seperate new thread asking things already asked and answered. It's your career, your training and your ticket. Protect it.

Wdc0001

It’s all great info, but it’s not as easy to just go somewhere else. The light at the tunnel is getting dimmer and dimmer for most FO applicants.

Even with multiple CJOs, sitting in the pools waiting for class dates is not a safe bet anymore. Most regionals continue to be pushed back or even cancelled. Leaving you passing up opportunities.

In my case, I’ve been told by two regionals, “we’ll contact you for class dates” with no expected timeframe. Omni has given me class dates. I’m not going to tell Omni TBNT and wait for my regional classes to be cancelled due to flow hiring and then be SOL.

JohnBurke

I chose the Hemlock, Tom said, not for its boquet or bright colors, but because it was the closest on the table, and was, after all, the bird in the hand. I'd been warned it was poison, but I swallowed anyway.

I convinced myself that later, I could say I knew no better, justification being the narcotic of the soul.

The ripcord was rusty and the pack worn and thick with mold, but the parachute would open. I just knew it...

Cujo665

ATI has a job fair going and is hiring. It's another ATSG ****show, but at least you'll get to fly and log flight hours instead of logging hotel hours at Omni. Atlas, Kalitta should be options too, especially with military background. I'm surprised some regionals haven't offered, more than a few are notorious for scooping up ex military. A few are logjammed trying to get more DECS thru and the mainline hiring pause has given them a short FO breather. Which have you tried?

Have you done the CTP yet? I didn't think Omni was offering that as part of the new hire and ATP/Type process.

Look at Emerald Coast to review your resume and paperwork. They do interview prep also. With the temporary surplus of FO candidates you need to make yourself stand out. Get that military service near the top after your FAA qualifications.

oh, Thank you for your service. It's an honor to fly you guys. Thank you.

Reactivity

I was going to offer up that ABX is hiring as well, running classes into the fall, but it occurs to me that ATSG is not inclined to move pilots between companies. It has been tried. On those occasions when it was not simply denied, it didn't work out well for the mover.

hopp

Is that red-headed guy still the assistant chief pilot?

nearly65

Don't worry about the training The pilots are very good and want you to pass. Just get the type and move on like the hundreds before you. The flying for some reason has dropped
way down. Durning normal times the best you could do was 250/300 a year for just flying the line This summer has been really slow. Some of us like that,more time at home with the kids
If your goal is to build time go to Atlas or ABX at least you will fly every week. Here, with the luck of the draw you could sit for months

Pirate99

The slowest I have seen in my few years at Omni.
Sat hotel reserve the entire month of June. Didn’t fly one hour.
Don’t know what’s going on.