Whacker77

I was part of the May 16 class at Chautauqua. Originally, there were 30 of us and we were split into two groups. Twenty went to Houston and the other ten went to St. Louis. As I've mentioned earlier, I left the class due to my Mother's battle with cancer. After I departed, 6 of 19 left in Houston failed the training program. Two were previous 121 guys typed in the 145.

Flight Safety in Houston wasn't the greatest experience. The schedule was always in flux, the systems teacher told us he didn't want to be doing it, and Chautauqua procedures were tossed to the side. None of the instructors, systems or simulator, were Chautauqua employees. They were all employees of Flight Safety. The only interaction with a Chautauqua employee was the check airman.

The experience in Houston was a souring one for me, but it can't all be laid at the feet of Chautauqua or Flight Safety. Some of the new hires couldn't cut it and it was obvious from the start. Still, an airline the size of Republic should at the least invest in company sim instructors and probably an in house systems course. Everything shouldn't be farmed out. JMO.

MoonShot

In my opinion you should go into the sim KNOWING the SOPs and callouts. Its all in the book. The instructor shouldn't have to be "teaching" these things to you.

That being said, I would like to see company instructors.

ToiletDuck

That's easier said than done. Some people were literally hired then started the next day. There isn't any time. You spend all your time prior to sim learning the 32 memory items, systems, and the GOM.

They can lower their hiring mins and be bashed on it all they want but they aren't lowering their hiring standards. You aren't officially hired until you get past the checkride and Horne doesn't give any breaks.

Whacker77

Mr. Horne's reputation isn't a good one. The only contact I had with him was his 30 minute introduction to our class. Regardless of his pass/fail rate, not many people came away with a positive view of him.

ToiletDuck

Too many softies out there. I think very highly of him. He jumps someone's case easily but you have to look at his motivation to do so. That explains a lot. His job is to push your buttons and put you under pressure. Sees how you really perform. After our sim we grabbed lunch and had a great time. He reminded me of my father a lot so it wasn't hard for me to put up with him lol.

TXTECHKA

I haven't heard any of these rumors so far. I'm in the last part of sim on the CRJ in STL and no problems at all with the training, the FSI instructors here have been just fine. The majority of my class is already done, I think there is only my crew and one other one that aren't finished yet. Of all the people in my class, every one has passed so far. We get 8 sim sessions before the checkride and my group as well as the other crew is finished with sim 5. Its not bad if you know the your stuff beforehand, it's actually pretty fun.

Rightseat Ballast

The time between interview and hire date makes no difference. At RAH, you do not receive any company materials until the first day of class. Every pilot has the same amount of time to learn the material, call outs and SOPs included.
And I must agree with the poster above who said that a candidate should walk into the sim knowing the call outs and profiles. When I went through training, I had some disagreements with how the Flight Safety instructor taught us. But, I knew my books and I kept doing what I knew was correct. When checkride day came around, and IOE for that matter, I had absolutely no problems and I received lots of positive feedback. I still paid attention to my Flight Safety instructor on general topics and techniques...there are lots of tips that work in every airplane, and for someone like myself who had no prior jet experience the instruction I received was invaluable.
Those candidates who don't learn on their own time and don't use their sim time as a chance to practice what they already know are shooting themselves in the foot. Be a professional and take pride in coming to sim training as prepared as you can be. You don't need SOPs before your class start date to succeed... SOPs will just get in the way of learning INDOC and FARs anyway.

Whacker77

Different strokes for different folks.

shackone

What were those disagreements?

CHQ Pilot

S. Horne gave me both my initial FO PC and my type ride during upgrade. Both the rides were very fair; tough, but fair. He doesn't give any free passes when it comes to procedures/callouts. I think a lot of people expect to have an annual PC type of ride, which his aren't. I never heard of him arbitralily failing someone; they were all legit. He isn't going to send anyone online that isn't ready. Outside of checkrides, I found him like any other line pilot; although he does carry some weight which I think intimidates people.

I know he rubs people the wrong way, but I found him to be a very strict, fair person which during checkride and training times translates into some personality conflicts. Sometimes it is what people need to get motivated.

CHQ (and RAH) have been using FSI outsourced instructors for all initial training since before 2000. I never had a CHQ instructor except for the classroom during upgrade (1 week). All the check rides were done by Check Airmen, though I've heard they've even been using FSI guys for new-hire PCs and types on the 170 because they don't have enough Check Pilots yet. I'm not there anymore, but that is what I heard from pilots that are still there.