sailingfun

Delta has been doing it for years also. The difference is however no other airline has the type of operation Delta does on the 757/757-300/767/767er. We have 4 different airframes with at least 10 different sub fleets. We fly the aircraft truly world wide. The only continent we miss is Australia. A new hire may find himself called out to fly a 757 to Bogata on his first trip. His return leg may be in a 757 with a different cockpit setup. The next day he might be flying a 767-300er to Amsterdam and then on to Bombay. One might be a DAL 767 and the next a former Gulfair jet. More differences. Some may have GPS and some not. When he gets back from BOM he might go to Moscow or get a see the Pacific trip to places like Saipan, Guam, Hong Kong ect. Back from that he might get a 8 day trip to Africa.
As I mentioned Delta has had many new hires on the 767. It has worked but that does not mean it's without challenges. There have been issues and the preference would be not to put new hires in that seat but if unbid the seats will get filled. Looks like at the moment 120 nre hires will be trained on the 767er.

MikeF16

We just got our pubs last week. It was mildly amusing to compare the 717 pile to the 7ER.

ShyGuy

Curious, what does that have to do with anything? Put in other words, suppose a guy gets the 717 for two years then goes to the ER. How is this individual now "prepared" any more so than a newhire to the 7ER?

RockyBoy

They will have slots available in SLC and LAX for guys in class before long. What is crazy is that in the next couple bids we will see 7 year upgrades on the 88 or 717 in NYC.

TED74

So what are some keys to success for new guys who are assigned the ER despite knowing they are thoroughly ill-prepared?

RockyBoy

They are not. I've never done any international flying. Been on a narrowbody for 7 years and bid around anything that involves customs. I'm certain a newhire can figure it out and be just as safe as I would if I bid the ER. However, it does take a newhire a few months to get spun up and in the groove in any seat. Take a newhire off OE and throw him into the NYC shuttle operation and you will have a captain that will be every bit as nervous as an ER Captain taking a newhire to Africa.

LivingTheDream

Be the ball!

GogglesPisano

With the caliber of people we're hiring, I don't think ER new-hires will have issues.

As has been said many times, the ACMI carriers have been doing this for decades.

sailingfun

He understands the Delta system. He knows how to work a ACARS. He knows all the required company reports. He is familiar with how Delta sets up their manuals. He understands Delta op specs. He has has been in and out of most domestic airports. Checklist and approach procedures are similar between fleets ect..
My second IOE was a cakewalk compared to my first. All I had to do was know the aircraft. Much less to study.

LivingTheDream

Seriously, for me there are several issues... all trainable.

If you've only flown short jets, flying the long jets requires a little different technique. I've only had a couple of new hires try to scrape the tail "milking" it on for the greaser. (i.e., a tiny percentage.) Same for any jet with a long wheels to tail ratio. (7ER, 757-300, 737-800/900, etc.)

The larger issue is keeping a running/changing scenario, for hours, of what-ifs. Much more limited choices in many international arenas. (over Andes, Iran, Polar routes, Russia, China, etc.) Many more palatable options over the US of A.

My job/trip is much easier when I get the sense that the other guys are thinking of the what-ifs (in between reading the latest "training" materials, of course).