NWA and ERAU hiring program

[publisher]

Date

This program was officially signed at the ERAU Career Expo well after the 11th . Susan Blair and Capt Ed Davidson were at the school for the signing of the agreement/

 

[bobbysamd]

NWA/ERAU

I remember that when I instructed at Riddle there were always a few, shall we say, subpar students. These were students who should have been washed out of FA 104 but for their bigtime parents who bought them tons of XT and who had phone conversations with the Department Chairman and/or training managers. These same students were generally unmotivated and/or were terrible students and pilots but still graduated with their certificates, thanks to Captain Dad.

I guess these folks will get their next chance at NWA, because they wouldn't stand a chance in the real world. (sigh)

 

[Visceral]

Many people on these aviation boards are really hung up on people paying their dues. Just because thats the way it was done in the past doesn't mean it has to be or will continue to be that way in the future. Like Vik said, countless other airlines basically OJT their pilots and they aren't falling out of the sky at any faster rate than our own airlines. Another example is one near and dear to my heart, the USAF. Take some puke straight outta college who often has never been in a cockpit, and in a few months, hes soloing a twin engine jet trainer. After a year and some change, he's in his assigned aircraft, heavy or fighter, flying across the ocean with troops or bombs. Has he "paid his dues" in that short time of a year? You guys need to at least conceive of the notion that things can be done in ways that diverge from the past.

 

[Ty Webb]

This is an insult to the Industry in general, and to furloughed NWA pilots in particular.

I am sure that these "preferred" students think that they are ready for the big time, but they aren't even ready to fly cancelled checks in a C210!

NWA is an airline that should know better, yet here they are, apparently wanting to put these guys into a 480 Kt turbojet. Hmmnnnn

Sounds to me like someone at NWA wants to have a pipeline for "preferred" students . . . . . as in "preferred" by their parent (a high-ranking NWA pilot, no doubt) or "preferred" by the EEOC, or "preferred" by the Marketing Dept. at Riddle, but you can bet that these "pilots" will not be "preferred" by any of the Line Pilots at NWA.

 

[Beechnut]

Many people on these aviation boards are really hung up on people paying their dues. Just because thats the way it was done in the past doesn't mean it has to be or will continue to be that way in the future. Like Vik said, countless other airlines basically OJT their pilots and they aren't falling out of the sky at any faster rate than our own airlines. Another example is one near and dear to my heart, the USAF. Take some puke straight outta college who often has never been in a cockpit, and in a few months, hes soloing a twin engine jet trainer. After a year and some change, he's in his assigned aircraft, heavy or fighter, flying across the ocean with troops or bombs. Has he "paid his dues" in that short time of a year? You guys need to at least conceive of the notion that things can be done in ways that diverge from the past

Dues has nothing to do with it, and the discussion is NOT about military training or military folks going to the majors.

It's about a kid that hasn't scared himself in anything bigger than a 172 being put up for a job that he isn't ready for.

This argument can be summed up by experience. You can talk about teachability (that's from my G.W. Bush Dictionary) but when it comes down to it, the kid probably hasn't done anything yet. Hasn't shot an approach to mins, hasn't dealt with other crew members, hasn't operated a turbine engine of any kind. More strikes in the "have not" column than in the "yeah, I've done that" column. So with that being said, is that kid ready to handle that DC-9 into Detroit with a 100 ft ceiling and 1/4 mile vis and an unusually high ref speed due to icing onto the iced up runway?

Nope.

S.

 

[Vik]

I guess the difference between the foreign airlines having cadet programs and this ERAU-NWA deal is that NWA wants to let these kids actually FLY the plane while the foreign airlines make the cadets babysit the autopilot for a couple of years (if not more) while doing a lot of intense sim training. Also, even after they are ready to upgrade to actually touching the controls, the flights are in VFR situations with an experienced Captain by their side. Even they aren't crazy enough to put inexperienced pilots into a jet down to minimums.

 

[gnx99]

Strange stuff

What's NWA's reason for this? I can see for regionals, but a major?

Aren't there literally thousands of regional pilots with thousands of hours in t-props and jets that would love the chance to get hired by NWA or another major? Common sense would say, hire the regional pilots first.

 

[othello]

Wow, correct me if Iam wrong but the last I heard was that ERAU Instructors aern't even allowed to go IMC with their Ifr students? If they can't take there little c-172 in the clouds, I don't want to be sitting in the back of an A320 when one of these guys comes out of their18 mo sim deal and lines up for a snow covered 1600 RVR launch out of MSP.
I also heard that NWA offered Mesaba (xj) prefered hire deal something like 10 or 12% of new hires would be garunteed from XJ. We turned them down pre 9/11 18% of new hires were already XJ pilots.

Fly Safe, O.

 

[LITCHAT7]

Nothing new

Northwest has had this program for some time. Its not as great as it sounds (at least thats the way I viewed it). You dont have to be an ERAU grad to take advantage. I got all my ratings part 61, started instructing, and then happened on an opportunity to ground instruct at NWA.. Same program basically. Was told after 3 years (and certain other hoops to jump through) I would "most-likely" be offered a position on-line. Yet nothing is definite! I could invest (3) years there, ON THE GROUND, and the program may wash (like others they've had). I chose the sure way to a flight deck (went to the regionals). I am sure I made the right choice. Even if I dont make it to the majors as fast, make less money (pay is fairly decsent for ground instructors), etc., etc., I simply love flying the line more than staying on the ground teaching somthing I'd have no practical experience with. So far, not to many have made it through these programs. I think its a case of dangling a carrot to get low-cost ground instructors really! Not bad thinking on their part.

 

[bobbysamd]

Foreign airline training

Maybe Riddle-Daytona is different, but at Prescott we used to take students to the LA Basin so they could shoot approaches in safe actual. It was a great experience for all.

I just want to add a comment about foreign airline training. These programs use a building-block philosophy and are very strict. They produce well-trained pilots. I taught Alitalia students at FSI for a year and became familiar with its program. We received students who were selected by the airline to be trained and had earned their PPLs in Italy. We trained them for their Commercial-Multi-Instrument using Alitalia's line procedures and LOFT philosophy. An Alitalia training captain was always on site and scrutinized the students very closely. After earning their U.S. certificates they went back to Alitalia's Flight Academy in Alghero to fly Cheyennes for another couple hundred of hours. I believe this involved a great deal of enroute IFR training. Then, at about 500 hours, they trained for the line to fly DC-9s. Of course, all of this training was highly structured and no hours were wasted boring holes in the sky.

I know that Lufthansa's and ANA's programs are similar from a friend(s) who worked at their schools in Goodyear and Bakersfield.