Career after washing out of 121 training

[Golden Falcon]

I look at my trainees as my customer, and if they are unsuccessful, then I have failed, not them...sounds like Eagle just lost a good pilot...someone will be lucky to have you in their flight deck in the future..

 

[johnsonrod]

Dude,

Do your best to steer clear of the airline industry. There are plenty of good non-121 jobs out there. Flying freight could be a good start to continue to build some time. I would look for a target number (maybe 2000 hours) and then start to apply to the fractionals and "reputable" 135 operators.

There are new operators popping up all the time (some good and some bad) but you can get some great experience. Here's an example that popped up on my radar recently:

http://www.jetsuite.com/index.php

I agree that things happen for a reason. I fly the ERJ for a regional and I am trying to get out. Keep your head up and try again...

Good luck!

 

[acaTerry]

You suck. Go to McDonalds. Just kidding! A washout in today's desperate market is not the kiss of death that it used to be. That being said, get some training before going to another airline or even an interview. The interviewer is going to "go after you" over the washout and you'd better be able to convince them that it won't happen at their airline too.
The guy who recommended flytheline.com and Lori Clark was on the money. Not just Lori, but her staff, all of whom are airline pilots, know their stuff and how to get you through this. They aint cheap, but in your position, consider it an investment in your career. It would be money well spent. Good luck.

 

[regionalhell]

No Worries

I know you are in a stressful place right now, but you're going to be just fine. All this means is that you're human. Stay focused and keep trying if you are really passionate about flying. You will always get a second chance. Someday when you are interviewing at a major you will have a great story about how you overcame adversity early in your career.

 

[filejw]

Lots of good advise here but the main thing I would stress after 30 years is Your Scan... make sure its more than up to snuff..

 

[Bjammin]

Great stuff on this thread!

I went from single seat military to the 747-400 and almost washed out. (Needed 3 checkrides to get me through.) I found I was focused way too much on studying the company policys and systems and not enough on the actual day to day line flying.
I went to www.precisionmanuals.com, downloaded my aircraft, and went through flows and normal flight procedures many times a day for a week. It got my focus back on the meat and potatoes of flying, which is what checkers are looking for.

Don't give up if aviation is your passion. Get some more experience then focus on what's important.

 

[realmanofgenius]

it would appear that many of the guys here would be the ones you'd want to fly on the line with.
this is that bump in the road some like to call it. the fact is we have all had one. tom brady can throw an interception. look at the story of Eli manning last year. They tried to run him out of town and now he is the star of the greatest play in superbowl history. and the game winner.

the point is this is small potatoes for you. just like a stall recovery , Max power, hold atlitude and clean up .... and go forward. learn from this because failure is a great teacher. no one in life that accomplished anything didn't fail many times...

you'll the love the story of these guys. IN 1953 Rockland chemical tried to create a rust preventive chemical for the aerospace industry. After 40 attempts, it succeeded...WD40 stands for water displacement 40th attempt..

so start smiling and get back out there and go for it...

 

[ponder]

Your instructor probably sucked.

 

[CoolSidePillow]

Awwwww, there is so much love in the air. You suck and should go work at McD's. There are plenty of qualified pilots who do not fail punk azz regional training who are or will be out of a job for reasons they have nothing to do with. Yeah, I said it. So what?

 

[BigPappa]

CoolsidePillow,

You have a bad and selfish character (probably a bad moral charachter too, usually goes hand in hand). That makes you a blow to man kind, with that attitude that you have it is just a matter of time before things don't work out for ya! Hope to never have to fly with a punk azz like YOU!

 

[SKYBOUND]

Successful people never fail because they always learn from their mistakes. You should print this thread and save it. Someday you will look back on it and remember when times were tough you were persistent and overcame adversity. Anything is possible. CFI to Jet is a big jump dude. Get some experience and bring some judgment to the cockpit. It will come. Passing a 121 check is not just about learning the lines and acting like you know what you are doing. This set back will be a good follow through in the future and you will be better for it. You'll probably even become a check airman some day.

Good luck

 

[MINIME]

To the original poster, sorry to hear about your experience. I busted part of my checkride at my first 121 gig straight out of CFIing and can somewhat sympathize with what you're feeling. The good news is that it's not the end of the world! If nothing else, remember this, attitude is everything. You seem to have a good one. That is priceless going forward.

Like others have mentioned, 135 might be a good route for you to sharpen your skills. Especially your instrument skills from what I hear. This will be very helpful for your next try. I think that one of the keys to flying a sim is to not have any questions when it comes to instruments. The only task you want to have is that of flying the box. Your mind should only be concerned with Flows, Profiles and Callouts.

That being said, I'm confident that if you got hired by another regional today, you'd have no problem passing the course. You actually learned alot more than you think from that experience. Give it a shot you got nothing to loose by trying. When you do get an opportunity, invest in some sim time somewhere. It'll better prepare you and will do wonders for your confidence. Very best of luck to you. It's not the end of the world.

 

[flyboyzii]

Single pilot freight taught me alot in the 5.5 years I did it. You will scare the crap out of yourself a few times but will learn alot....my .02 cents. "Keep diggin'

 

[belchfire]

I don't know you at all so I can't say if you should just go call the truck driving school or not.

I can say that I approve of the attitude that you have and wish you the best of luck. Personally I think that some of that luck came into play in not being involved with AMR!

In a former job I was called on from time to time to "evaluate" pilots-which pissed me off because I wasn't getting a check airman override or anything but I was trusted to make some tough calls-calls that most often should have been made far sooner by the training department. Having said that, the only people that I ever had trouble with were the ones that said "Uh, huh, okay" and kept doing the same stupid stuff and the ones that thought they already knew it all...

My guess is that you will be okay.

 

[AWACO]

HA HA HA HA HA. You do suck, you should go work at McDonald's or something. Seriously a SIC ride! Was it the steep turns that got ya? Or the two engine no auto-pilot ILS?

 

[av8tor4239]

I found a video of AWACO at his last oral...

Sorry you have to wear a hockey helmet to work and cant be near a microwave without a diaper....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqtr_RvR3sY

 

[Chuck Steak]

Fall down 7 times, Get up 8!!!!

 

[flytheblue]

Steve,
Never give up, there is a way to get through if you really want to. It might take some time, but in the end things can work out if you perservere.

You aren't perfect and you have your limitations but you can always improve. Airline training is sink or swim and some people sink, but the next time they will swim if they learn from their previous mistakes.

Someone out there will give you another chance, so don't worry about that right now- just pick yourself up and figure out Plan B.

 

[oceandude]

I remember when I got hired at Eagle with 3000 hours (different times)LOL! CFI to Jet is not easy deal. No microwave pilot course can replace experience. Go get some and you will be fine!! in the end you will be a much better pilot! Good luck and no worries!

 

[on autopilot]

Awwwww, there is so much love in the air. You suck and should go work at McD's. There are plenty of qualified pilots who do not fail punk azz regional training who are or will be out of a job for reasons they have nothing to do with. Yeah, I said it. So what?

People like you should never be allowed to procreate.
You must be one of those old school eagle instructors they haven't gotten rid of yet.

 

[flyboyike]

To say the last few weeks have been depressing would be the understatement of the century.

I washed out of training last month with Eagle. Training was challenging after CFI'ing for the last 2 years in Texas but I made it to the checkride with a few bumps along the way, and Busted. I was completely tense and knew it. No excuses, I F'ed up. Was given 1 sessions of retraining after which the instructor recommending 1 more before send me for the retest. I got word the next day to report to the office of the Director of training and was given an option to resign or i'd be let go.

I came to training with a good attitude,"hat in my hands" approach, ready to be a sponge and give it my all. Did well during ground school and really loved studying with the guys, practicing flows, keeping ahead of the material with my study groups (not so much to burn out, we had our time to cool off with a cold one). I feel I gave it my all. I find myself looking back thinking "what could I have done differently" . I had some trouble getting adjusted to the glass in the ERJ (never flew any glass before) and seemed to start off struggling in the sim.

I'd considered myself very focused on my career and now find myself thinking its FUBR. Any advice you guys/gals can share would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

I'm sure i'll get some replys along the lines of "you suck go work at mcdonalds" and I thank you guys for it in advance. If nothing else it'll help keep me as humble.

It's not your successes that show what you're truly made of. It's how you handle your failures.

 

[kamikaize]

Finally a post on FI where people are actually giving good advice!!! If you fail you first 121/135 checkride it's not the end of the world at all. especially with an attitude like yours. People make all kinds of mistakes coming out of being a cfi all the time. My first job after 2 years of teaching in sunny fl was flying a seneca 2 in the middle of winter in mn,sd and nd. I damn near killed myself on a daily basis but I learned more about myself and about flying than anyone sitting in those rj's ever will. Go send your resumes to the 121 jobs if thats what you really want but until you get hired go get yourself a 135 job flying freight. It will make your flying skills alot better and could save your life someday. remember You can make someone a better pilot but you cant make them a better person.

Fly safe,
Anthony B

If your interested in some 135 companies pm me and ill help ya out

 

[CDHannah]

It's definately not the end of the world. Free advice is worth every penny you pay for it; but support from your peers is priceless. Get back in the air as soon as you can. Currency is huge.

 

[fly4surf]

Try skydive ops.

You'd be suprised.

And I just heard of a cat who didn't make it in 121 regional and was at a 121 major. Anything is possible.

You can always try Management......I KID!

 

[414Flyer]

Finally a post on FI where people are actually giving good advice!!! If you fail you first 121/135 checkride it's not the end of the world at all. especially with an attitude like yours. People make all kinds of mistakes coming out of being a cfi all the time. My first job after 2 years of teaching in sunny fl was flying a seneca 2 in the middle of winter in mn,sd and nd. I damn near killed myself on a daily basis but I learned more about myself and about flying than anyone sitting in those rj's ever will.

Thats was exactly my first twin job, a Seneca 2, going between FAR, MSP, DLH back to FAR every morning.

Learn a lot doing that too

 

[Oakum_Boy]

you suck go work at mcdonalds

 

[Dubya]

HA HA HA HA HA. You do suck, you should go work at McDonald's or something. Seriously a SIC ride! Was it the steep turns that got ya? Or the two engine no auto-pilot ILS?[/quot


Phew. For two pages there I thought i'd wandered onto Oprah or Dr. Phil's site.

W

 

[BoilerUP]

Phew. For two pages there I thought i'd wandered onto Oprah or Dr. Phil's site.

I forgot how chic it was on the FI Regionals board to kick a guy when he's down...

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Sheeesh. A fellow pilot with the right attitude needs some support and he should be kicked down?!

...and what purpose does that serve? I'm sure everyone here had some difficulty in their aviation career and felt subjectively horrible about themselves. If you read his post, he CFI'ed for 2 years prior, which I respect immensely. Unlike some lousy 300 hr. kid out of a cheesy RJ program who passes his so-called "ride" at a regional desperate for pilots.

My gues is that if it were somewhere besides AE, he'd be scheduling IOE.

 

[oceandude]

Everything happens for a reason.. the reason might not be clear to you now, but you will be 65 someday sittinging on your porch with a big fat bob marley doobie looking back laughing at the fact that you "almost went to eagle".. you will be glad you did not go there

AMEN BROTHER!!! LOL!

You might want to check this out:

http://www.airnet.com/Careers/careersFrame.htm