PDTFlyer

They have part of the blame. We need SOE captains badly. They will not allow us to sign off our guys, every SOE captain has to have a Fed do the sign off, on the Feds schedule. Is it that way at every other airline?

Otterbox

Fleet transitions never run smoothly. A fleet transition from a turboprop to a jet, while trying to double/triple your pilot group size and building infrastructure to support it while changing route structure through the opening of new bases and closing of old and operating the same volume of service is a rather large and undertaking.

LUS seems to have painted Piedmont in a corner with a lack of plan for the Dash as the airframes timed out. Once AAG took over the transition was forced to happen, thanks to the lot of aging airframes, before the training infrastructure (sims etc.,) was in place to support it.

CharlieFoxtrot

I'm assuming the backlog is also trickling down to just new hires in general. I applied nearly 2 weeks ago and have not been contacted other than the bounce-back "thanks for applying" email that is auto-generated.

A buddy of mine applied about 1 week prior to me (we both used the same person at Piedmont for a referral) and he just got set up with an interview today for late September and also I guess the recruiter told him that the earliest class date for new hires is January.

So hopefully I'll be getting a call soon too.

MKUltra

I believe they are CJO into the December class right now.

MKUltra

If this no new classes is true.. your going to have some very very p$ssed off senior people walking around..

Jersdawg

Envoy requires a Fed observing a line check as the final step for IOE (SOE) captain sign off. It's not just you guys. We are losing lots of check airmen to flow and are getting a bit backed up as well.

Wink

None of this supports your original claim that the FAA is slowing the training process down and has the airline's growth "handicapped"....

Sure, there were a ton of challenges to overcome and the company was not as prepared to take them on as they could've been. Additionally, unforeseen problems emerged after the jet program and transition were underway, causing us to go back and reevaluate processes and procedures. Would you not agree this sounds like our woes as an organization are from an inability to meet demand in addition growing pains?

How you arrived at a conclusion blaming the FAA and their alleged nefarious intentions to limit our growth still has me pretty confused. By all means, if there really are examples I would love to hear them because this would be news to me and i think most people I've flown with. From my perspective, it sounds like the FAA is signing off on a lot of our wishes by blessing a new simulator (and possibly a 3rd), qualifying new instructor pilots, and consistently moving forward on our EFB program.

PDTFlyer

Ok so we aren't the only one, still messed up but at least we aren't singled out per say.

Wink

I believe this is the process to get any Line Check Airman signed off at any airline, but I could be very wrong.

Jersdawg

Nope. It's a hassle getting new check airmen on the line. Envoy upped the override to $40/hr back in April or May so it's certainly helped with staffing, but the flow and off the street hiring have both made a good dent, helping to cause quite a few training delays.