Resigning before hitting the line?

[EatSleepFly]

Honest question for you all. I just finished training at a regional. Its been a bit of a rough road. I did great in ground school. Best grades in the class on all of the written tests. Oral went great as well, didn't miss a beat. When I got to the sims, I managed to piss off an instructor early on, and it seems like since then they've been especially critical and short with me. I passed the sim PC with no problems, but I have two unsats. One I got for the disagreement with the sim instructor early on. He said I didn't run an abnormal checklist properly, and showed how I "should have" done it. I told him that I thought that was what I did (and it was what I did, according to my sim partner) and he tore me a new one. Learned my lesson there to keep my mouth shut and smile and nod even if I'm right. The higher ups that I went to talk to didn't really agree with the reason for the unsat, but it couldn't be undone. Went on to finish sim training with no problems. Last night, during aircraft training in the middle of the night, we were doing an ILS with the GS out. Autopilot was on, left initial altitude at the marker to go down to MDA. Approaching MDA, the rate of descent (around 1000fpm) looked like it was going to be too high for the AP to capture without going below, so I initially set the AP to slow the rate of descent. It was immediatlely clear that this wasn't going to work in time, so I clicked it off and recovered. Went about 20' below MDA but immediately got back up, finished the approach with no problems. Went around again, and the same thing happened. Don't ask me why I let it...if I had just hand-flown the darn thing from the get-go, it would've been fine. But anyways, 20' below again. Instructor said I was "slow," and gave me another unsat for my collection. I know better than to let the AP fly me, I don't know why I let it happen. I'm not going to try to make excuses. I f*cked up, simple as that. I think getting an unsat for that was a little harsh, but the point is I screwed up, so it doesn't matter what I think.

So anyways, I'm pretty fed up here. Morale here is low, upgrade times are insane, contract and pay sucks. I never particularly wanted to fly for an airline, I just applied for the heck of it, interviewed and got hired. I was happy flying charter and have always been more interested in going the charter/fractional route anyways.

I guess my main question is: Is it going to be a big bruise on my career if I just say screw this and leave with no place to go (except Home Depot, until I find something else)?

Any advice would be appreciated. And please keep the flames to yourselves, I feel like a big enough tool as it is. Thanks.

 

[I.P. Freley]

Calm down and give it some time. You aren't the only pilot in the history of the world to have trouble with a sim instructor, nor the first to have an unsat on your record, and not the first to wonder if you did the right thing.

Sit it out for a few months, then make a decision. Punching out right now might cause more eyebrows to be raised, too... Even resigning may make it look like you had the "resign or you're fired" kind of thing and might make you look like a problem child. If you stay a few months and then decide it STILL stinks there, then at least you will have given it a proper chance.

 

[English]

I guess my main question is: Is it going to be a big bruise on my career if I just say screw this and leave with no place to go (except Home Depot, until I find something else)?

Yes, it will be a big bruise to your career if you just quit now. With two unsats, it will appear that you asked to resign instead of being fired after one more strike (I know which regional you are referring to.)

Look, you are bummed right now - now is not the time to make any life-changing decisions. Go do IOE (BE PREPARED!) and don't make the same mistakes you made during AC training. Make a deal with yourself to stick it out two months or so, then re-evaluate your situation and whether you want to leave or not.

While I've never had any unsats, I've been in your shoes in terms of wondering whether I've made the wrong decisions career-wise. I've always been able to see the situation more clearly with some distance.


Good luck and don't make any rash decisions until you've had a chance to fly the line a while.

 

[BRA]

I agree with what the others said. If you could get online and log a few hundred hours...you could probably get to a point where you feel a lot better about your abilities to fly the plane. After hearing that you are doing great from a few captains your psyche might be better off. Then quit and go back to charter if you want to. Happy Halloween.

 

[Heavy Set]

Stay positive and don't make any rash decisions when you are emotional. After many, many years of flying, I have learned that you need to be calm and rational in these decisions. Stay positive.

 

[EatSleepFly]

Thanks for the help so far, its much appreciated.

I think my main concern is which is worse: resigning now, or somehow screwing up something else and getting the boot? I'm between a rock and a hard place, and that was made clear to me by the director of training on the phone a few minutes ago.

I have until around noon tomorrow to make a go/no-go decision. I believe that I'm being as positive as can be expected, and rational. I am concerned that I'll be so pressured to not get another unsat that I'll screw something up and in fact get one. Then its all over and I'll have to explain how I failed out of training. On the other hand, leaving now would give me the option of telling future interviewers the truth: I'm young, and although I've had a variety of different flying experience, I'm relatively low-time, I decided the regionals weren't for me, and left to persue something more in-line with my ultimate goal. Would that really be so bad?

Thanks again for the replies so far.

 

[TonyC]

On the other hand, QUITing now would give me the option of telling future interviewers A LIE: I'm young, and although I've had a variety of different flying experience, I'm relatively low-time, I GOT SCARED OF the regionals, and QUIT to LICK MY WOUNDS BEFORE I ATTEMPTED TO persue my ultimate goal. Would that really be so bad?

Yepp. (I edited it a little to show you how it will appear to an interviewer, if you should ever get that far again.)

Don't let 'em scare ya - - don't quit. Rise to the challenge.

 

[USCtrojan]

Thanks for the help so far, its much appreciated.

I think my main concern is which is worse: resigning now, or somehow screwing up something else and getting the boot? I'm between a rock and a hard place, and that was made clear to me by the director of training on the phone a few minutes ago.

I have until around noon tomorrow to make a go/no-go decision. I believe that I'm being as positive as can be expected, and rational. I am concerned that I'll be so pressured to not get another unsat that I'll screw something up and in fact get one. Then its all over and I'll have to explain how I failed out of training. On the other hand, leaving now would give me the option of telling future interviewers the truth: I'm young, and although I've had a variety of different flying experience, I'm relatively low-time, I decided the regionals weren't for me, and left to persue something more in-line with my ultimate goal. Would that really be so bad?

Thanks again for the replies so far.

Grin and bear it bro!! It sucks, everytime I get in the sim I get nitpicked in some way or another (unless I have a senior instructor--THEY'RE COOL!). It's just how it is. Once you get on-line you'll learn a lot more at your own pace, plus everyone you fly with (mostly) will be really cool. Everyone makes mistakes here and there. Best thing to do is chalk it up to experience and move on. If it's that bad, it can only get better! I go through stages where I'll have a bad Pro Check and think, "That's it, I've had it!!" But then I realize I'm focusing on the negatives and not positives. There are so many great things about the job, I just forget about or don't think about it! Don't worry man, balance, it's all about balance!! Keep your chin up, all is well, keep plugging away and it soon will be waaaaay behind you!!

Also man, I don't mean to sound like a parent, it will haunt you the rest of your life if you let it get the best of you!! Fight on man!!

Trojan

 

[WhiteCloud]

Yepp. (I edited it a little to show you how it will appear to an interviewer, if you should ever get that far again.)

Don't let 'em scare ya - - don't quit. Rise to the challenge.

Good point! Get as much as you can out of training and go there to learn. If you don't make it through you got a lot of free training that will make the next time go better. Hopefully you'll make it through, fly the line for a while to learn to do the job well and then be better prepared to make a decision about this particular company and your future. Look at it this way....you got some free sim time and flight time coming to better your skills. Sure beats paying $200/hr to fly around in a Seminole.

 

[kilroy]

Here is some advice "F()CK them !!!!" Don,t let them get to you . I,m sure your super sim instructor has never screwed up before. Bottom line is you acknowledged your mistakes and will learn from them which is all part of aviation. Take what you can from them hours, experience etc etc and use it to your advantage down the line.. " You,ve made it this far don,t throw in the towel it will get better..