MantisToboggan

"We are making a big push for SIM instructors now because we are going to be more than doubling are (sic) available sim time. "

From the head of training (is that was he's called??).

My guess is AA is pi$$ed we have staffing issues while so many people sit waiting for various stages of training, while collecting a paycheck and benefits. Not exactly a good business model

PDTFlyer

I call him Lord Commander S. He prefers that over Fleet Captain.

Newstick189

No doubt they are trying their hardest to fix the inefficiency problem. It is simply a temporary problem though because of the transitions from the Dash coming en masse. Once ROA is closed and we have all the Dash 8 guys on the EMB 145, there is no reason to have a capacity greater than 22-30 per month (Which is what we currently do).

That being said, if they are gearing up for expansion beyond 56 jets, then absolutely. It's all hearsay until the fleet plan announcement.

MantisToboggan

So if there's no reason for capacity greater than 22-30 trainees per month for 56 jets, and they're drastically increasing capacity, doesn't that give you a pretty good idea of what's going on here? Yeah, there's no formal announcement but..... are they really going to hire a bunch of instructors that we won't need a year from now? I don't think so.

And it's quite far from a temporary problem. When I was hired, we had zero jets. It took six months from DOH until I flew the dash. This is a longstanding problem here at PDT, exacerbated by both fleet transition and growth.

Flyjustin

We are currently organizing our simulator training into more preferable time slots. Were we were originally buying scattered slots in STL and DFW, we are now getting more long term continuous time slots. PHX sim is up and running for Jan 1. ATL has a 145 simulator we will soon utilize. Our second CLT simulator is planned for August 2018.

Looking to double the amount of new hires we bring in each month.

Grow baby Grow

MantisToboggan

Wow. Music to my ears!

Are they going to catch up the backlog first and then increase hiring, or will the increased capacity be enough to do both at once?

MKUltra

I'll clink your chucky Shaw to that sir...

Bluetaildragger

Hahahahaha awesome man yeah!!!!!

Battlinbear21

I’ve been told they just want to hire as many as possible, give them their money and have them on the electronic leash. They only hired 11 in 60 days so that helped get things unglued.
It really is impressive to see how many pilots became qualified in 17 w our min resources. Last year was beta testing for the footprint. Now that they have the data they can build a new curriculum that can fit into 5 lessons pre MV. Heard we are going to be using ATL all day as well in the near future. As far as the other sim in CLT... Think late fall, rumor is it’s a old express jet that crashed during in ac training and they made it a cabin Trainer. Cockpit was just a FTD, now they are building the sim with that. (Rumor)
Now they have procured fully dedicated sims it looks like not enough instructor/evaluators. Make sure you consolidate before applying. I’m hearing sr group is gonna push hard to get the language out of cba that will allow them to be hired into Training after they retire... is that true? If so the pilot group as a whole, better get huge improvements. we all know that having Instructor/LCA on resume puts you into the proverbial blue chip pile of applicants at the Show. It will take many of those opportunities away from the group. Or maybe I’m wrong?

PDTFlyer

I remember that. ExpressJet’s cabin trainer was a crashed training event, and yes the cockpit was turned into an FTD. Glad to hear we are still full steam ahead with training new people.