Fastpilot

It’s more like less than 2 years at a regional nowadays. 4 years is a lot to be an RJ driver. The normal timeline seems to be RJ driver for less than a year then LCC for less than a year then legacy.

AlikesitR

I may be guilty of this timeline.

But I like to think with 2 successful type ratings, and a hell of a lot of studying, I can get through and be a positive for the airline.

Jdub2

You absolutely can. The angst is about the pool in general and people slipping through the cracks, not that everyone is a bad attitude knuckle dragger. It sounds like you’ve got a great head on your shoulders and that’s half the battle. Experience isn’t replaceable, but it is what it is and doesn’t mean you’re a lesser pilot! You are what you make of yourself. Welcome to Delta and you belong here!

170Till5

I think the real issue is junior captains upgrading on planes they’ve never flown before and only being at Delta 1 year. They don’t have tribal knowledge to pass along to the new FO’s and they don’t know Delta procedures well enough

Hotel Kilo

we've had an unprecedented amount of training reviews and people being put in STT. Over 140 so far, numbers we've never seen here at delta. Something is wrong. We first thought maybe the training program needed a scrub, so we did, it turns out we are right where we want to be with it (lots of external stake holders demand efficiency in the training programs). So next it came down to looking at the demographics of those that were having training difficulties. It became obvious. This was fed back to hiring. There is a feedback loop from training/standards back to the hiring teams. Not sure where it goes from here. Perhaps that is why the numbers of CJOs are going down? IDK, I'm not in hiring anymore.

Experience can make up for a lot. But if you're an ***, don't be one here. otherwise you're going to struggle .

The U3 have really got the attention of a lot of people for sure.

LAXtoDEN

You literally have to try to fail out of our training. It’s almost impossible tbh. I’ve also heard we’ve had an unprecedented amount of failures in training recently. I don’t know how they could dumb down the program more than they already have. I’ve also heard it’s not an attitude issue but a pure lack of grasping the knowledge being presented.

Avgeek7248

I consider myself low time/experience (4.3k TT, 500 TPIC, 3 types two RJ's and a 73, training department experience) compared to what I used to consider an actual qualified candidate (+5k TT, 2k TPIC, LCA or other position to make stand out). However I quickly realized even with my experience level I could go to any of the heavy hitters with how desperate things have gotten. United cold called me after not updating my app in over a year and a half. AA sent me an interview with an app that was 6 months out of date, and luckily I got the DL interview and had a very pleasant experience. The interview is not difficult it's more dependent on who you get sitting across the table. My class was a good mix of military folks (F/A-18s, A-10, C-17, KC-135, C-37A), a couple purple guys, one SWA, two JB's, and the rest RJ pilots a few without any TPIC experience. Lowest time being just barely over 2.5k TT. It was a great class with everyone but one getting hired. As someone that was around the training department at AS a lot and constantly helping new hires doing open time seat support I got a first look of our future talent pool. 1,500-2,000 hour pilots some with no jet time or only 500 hours in a Embraer that you could see them start to really struggle. The ones that got through always had a positive attitude and went above and beyond to get the job done. IMO there does need to be a limit of who can upgrade and into what airframe. If I'm being honest a 24-27 year old who's brand spanking new at DL being the skipper of a 76 is a pretty wild and slightly terrifying thought. It's not flying the airplane that's the difficult part. It's the tribal knowledge of airports, airspace, operations, etc. that make the captain so vital.

AlikesitR

I’m guessing STT is some form of special tracking?

Nick Bradshaw

This is sometimes true, but it's not universal. There's also a lot of "U3" pilots who have years and thousands of hours of 121 PIC time at other airlines, in everything from RJs to 747s.

And "tribal knowledge of Delta procedures"? Delta Procedures are what's written in the manuals and what's taught. We don't need more harping on technedures. And let's be honest. We do a lot of dumb stuff here that no other airline does just because "that's the way we've always done it". A great example is running multiple checklists and verifications to perform a parallel runway change in VFR conditions, and making it so onerous that Delta flights refuse runway changes that other airlines just deal with. DFW, IAH, ORD, DEN, SFO are great examples of this.

I really don't care for the U3 moniker, and I actually think it's borderline discriminatory how we've been branding these guys and giving them one size fits all scrutiny because of it. Yeah, some of them fit that mold, and should be given more attention, but certainly not all. It needs to be based on their actual experience, preparation, and performance, not simply "Years At Delta".

We really need to get away from this attitude that whatever you did before Delta doesn't count.

HandFlyorDie

I was awarded an upgrade at ~10 months on property, but I am also not a moron. 99% of the people at Mommy D that knew about it were really supportive and excited…only a few self proclaimed “deadzoners” (with 5-10 years left) gave me a hard time. EVERYONE in the training department was thrilled for me, and I never once had anything negative said about me or any other junior upgrades. The only time it was mentioned was when the OE planner told me I had to get 47 hours of OE. So if it makes you feel better, I think people are exaggerating the situation. Some people need to have some extra instruction and that’s fine too. I never felt like anyone that matters was lumping us together.