ACA CRJ Training

[pilotboy]

I was a new hire at ACA from an interview in July. I was appauled at the training at the airline. Nothing was organized and the tone was not conducive to learning , specially for a new hire with no jet time. Im an bitter about the program and i know many many many FO's and Capts who also share my feelings on the subject. As a matter a fact many of them told me to change airplanes as soon as i told them i was in the CRJ for training. They admited that the program had many shortcomings. One shortcoming repeatedly heard from others in the airline was the treatment of the trainees from the Senior CRJ instructors. I personally was not taught just evaluated time and time again. What is a training program if they don't teach? And for my final sim ride i was put with 2 instructors one of which was my capt. When i was flying i would ask the captain to do something and he purposly comitted errors and then i was blamed. Have any of you ever gone though this experience??? I can say i had a terrible experience. Please tell me theres hope in the regionals.

 

[Sabre60]

I was a new hire at ACA from an interview in July. I was appauled at the training at the airline. Nothing was organized and the tone was not conducive to learning , specially for a new hire with no jet time. Im an bitter about the program and i know many many many FO's and Capts who also share my feelings on the subject. As a matter a fact many of them told me to change airplanes as soon as i told them i was in the CRJ for training. They admited that the program had many shortcomings. One shortcoming repeatedly heard from others in the airline was the treatment of the trainees from the Senior CRJ instructors. I personally was not taught just evaluated time and time again. What is a training program if they don't teach? And for my final sim ride i was put with 2 instructors one of which was my capt. When i was flying i would ask the captain to do something and he purposly comitted errors and then i was blamed. Have any of you ever gone though this experience??? I can say i had a terrible experience. Please tell me theres hope in the regionals.

By all means you are NOT alone. Check out my post in the thread ACA vs. ASA career advice. Some of my MIDWAY buddies had experiences similar to what you are describing.

 

[terryhfly]

I have just got done with the ground school and CPT for the CRJ at Air Wisconsin and I thought it was the best ground school I have been through. It was all computer based with a review with the instructor in the morning. I feel well prepared for the sim. Sorry to here about your bad training program.

Terry
AWAC RJ FO

 

[Timebuilder]

Thanks for the heads up, pilotboy. I was about to take a position with a school that allegedly feeds pilot applicants to ACA from an aiport just north of Dulles. I wasn't able to find a place to live for under 1200 dollars a month. Maybe it's good that I didn't.

I'm sorry to hear of your bad experience, and we all owe a debt to those who share that kind of info here.

 

[Cornelius]

Unfortunately, during eval flights, proficiency checks, and the like for an FO. The IP and/or check airman will always try to do something wrong, like deviating from altitude etc when you are briefing approach or shutting the wrong engine down.

Its standard practice. But if you experienced situations where your IP or checkairman was constantly screwing things up, then that may be a little overboard.

 

[pilotboy]

Thanks for the replys guys!! im glad i could be a source of information to you aswell. To all of you good luck and keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down.

 

[Andy Neill]

May I ask what your employment plans are now. As grim as it was, it seems you have let go of the bird in the hand during some thin economic times after successfully completing training. You DID successfully complete training didn't you?

 

[AZaviator]

similar experience

Pilotboy, I had a very similar experience as you did, however mine was in ground school at a different regional. The instructor I had was cool as a person, but horrible as a teacher. Being only his 2nd ground school class to teach and being pulled offline flying a completely different aircraft, his knowledge was very weak. Our class was lucky in that we had 5 Captain upgrades in class which really helped teaching the class. It got to the point that students would ask the Captain upgrades questions and wouldn't ask the instructor becuase he would either give a bogus answer, or just didn't know the material too well. The end result, 4 people ended up resigning, one washed out. I decided to resign the same day I would have been furloughed. On a side note, a friend of mine began class two weeks earlier than me, and had a great experience with a teacher who had over 20 years teaching experience on the same aircraft. Everyone in his class made it through ground school without any problems. Ofcourse its ultimately up to you to put forth the effort during training, however I've also learned your instructors can make a HUGE difference in ground school and sim training.

As Andy Neill asked, I'd also like to know what did you do? Did you finish training at ACA or do something else?
Best of luck

 

[pilotboy]

Well to anwser your question.. There are 11 sim modules and then the checkride. I got to the 11 sim and then i decided to quit because it just seemed that everything i did was wrong to them. I know im a good pilot and i was told that i was going pretty good from other people but i thought they were going to let me go so i quit instead. I didn't see any other way out. thanks for your resposes guys! goodluck

 

[pilotboy]

azaviator

hey azaviator, thanks for the response and also i'd like to know what your up to these days. Are you working ? Did you get on with another regional?? please let me know thanks