SW and the 37 type

[dkwid]

Did anybody else not notice, as I did not, that SW requires a type rating in the 37 prior to being invited for an interview once again. An unfortunate turn of events that once again places me in the lower class and financially unqualified for gainfull employment as an airline pilot for said company. I don't want to sound like a weenie here crying over my ill fortunes but I find it difficult to grasp the savings for the company as everybody must still complete their FAA approved training program. For a couple years SW allowed you to get the job first and than shell out the money. This I could somewhat justify doing, at least knowing the debt I would acrue would truly take me somewhere. Oh well their company and they presently hold the bulk of the marbles in the airline industry.

Regardless, best of luck to those of you with the type that find yourself unemployed at the moment and also for those of you with the cash or the parents to front it.

Any bets who will be the first regional to return to similiar practices?

 

[350DRIVER]

I do not agree with this "practice" of having to go buy a type, especially after all of the years that it took one to get to this level. I do however see the SWA reasoning behind it, I guess SWA will never be an option for me unless this is dropped. Some will agree with me and I am sure many more will disagree with me. Just my opinion...... Fortunately this is definitely not the norm within the industry and I cannot see any other carriers following step. One must keep in mind that SWA is very unique in every sense of the word and they have not been so profitable year after year after year by "luck". I definitely respect there business platform and there accomplishments over the years. I am just not a fan of this requirement.


c h e e r s & g o o d l u c k

3 5 0

 

[azpilot]

From Southwest's standpoint it helps them weed out a lot of candidates right away. A friend of mine didn't buy his type rating. He flew for another smaller airline and after just over a year he upgraded and received his type rating. So there are other ways than buying the rating. If you want to fly there bad enough then it is a choice you might have to make. Based on the stability of the company I personally think it's worth it. I wouldn't do it unless I knew people at Southwest and had LOA's.

However, I completely understand the pocket book factor and that fact that it may seem unfair to buy the type. That's why I know quite a few people at America West.

I heard Frontier had received 4000 applications for 16 positions recently. You wonder how many they would have received if they required a type in the Airbus.

I also hear in 2004 SW plans to hire 600 pilots a year.

 

[jtf]

I have heard that the reason SW requires the type before the interview is that the type of employees they are looking for are those that are willing to go out of their way to get the job. They want the entrepeneur type who is willing to shell out the money for the type even though they have a high percentage of failure. That is how the airline was founded and that is what they want in their employees. They aren't really able to save much on training by requiring the type first since they have to do all the required 121 training anyway, but having the type should cut down on the washout rate and avoid retraining and people are likely to stick around if they put the effort in to get the job in the first place.

 

[Midnight Mike]

Having all pilots rated on the 737, saves the company money in training cost.

1. Failure rate is at an all time low.
2. They probably went to the FAA to get a shortened transition course.
3. After spending 6 grand to get a 737 type, good chances that you are going to hang around for a while.

To show you the flip side, when Vanguard was in operation, pilots would join Vanguard, go through the ground school & simulator training, apply for a jobs with Delta, complete IOE training, if hired, gone months later. It cost Vanguard about $24,000 a crew to train.

We had a joke that Delta was going to take Vanguard to court, for not training the pilots fast enough...

I think you can apply to Southwest, get the interview, but you will still need to aquire the 737 type before joining.

Max out the credit card, apply for WIA training, sell blood to the Red Cross, do whatever it takes.

Mike

 

[Av8trxx]

I think you can apply to Southwest, get the interview, but you will still need to aquire the 737 type before joining.

Nope. They slipped the requirement in again last fall, rather quietly it seems.

"The following items must be included in each package:

1. Resume
2. Fully completed Southwest Airlines Supplemental Pilot
Information form. (PDF file format)
3. Copy of Airman Certificate (U.S. FAA Airline Transport Pilot Certificate. U.S. Type.)

* U.S. TypeRating on a B-737 required for interview effective 11/1/2002

4. Copy of current First Class Medical Certificate.
5. At least three (3) letters of recommendation. The letters need to be from any individuals who can attest to the pilot’s flying skills, by having observed them over a sustained period of time."

 

[Old Crow]

This is like a passenger saying, "I'll pay you when I'm standing at the destination."

I would love to be a pilot for South West and I know that they would love to have me, I just can't take that kind of risk.

So, should I send in the update request that they just sent me?

 

[firstthird]

Old Crow -
If you had an application in during the time period where a type was not required, then YES, I would definitely update it. SWA is the kind of company where they told you what the standards were when you applied and when your number comes up (in the competitive process now, that won't necessarily be as soon as it would have before, or maybe with your experience it will be sooner) then they'll interview you. They interviewed a bunch of guys 2 Octobers ago that they had scheduled for interviews in September but had to postpone due to 9/11. They could easily have said, well, due to recent events we're not interviewing anymore, but instead they interviewed everyone that had been scheduled and I'm 95% certain that by the end of that January they had interviewed everyone that had been told to 'expect' an interview, which was by no means a binding contract. And that included lots of guys with no type, whereas by then there were tons of guys with types that had jumped into line. Heck, I interviewed Sept. 10th and the proverbial 1/4 got hired in my interview class 2 months later after the pilot board met; so even though they probably knew they'd have plenty of pilots to start classes for the forseeable future, they gave us a fair shot, for which I'm very thankful. (this camper probably needed all the help I could get)
Short story, if your app was in, I'd expect to be grandfathered. You'd probably get an interview much earlier if you go out and get a type, but I would be willing to bet you'll get an interview eventually regardless (provided your experience is competitive and it looks like it is to this rookie).

Av8trxx - "They slipped the requirement in again last fall, rather quietly it seems."
Well the type is definitely required now, I agree. But I'm not sure about how much it was 'slipped back in.'
The change might not have been announced on the front page of the WSJ but it was well known on this board. Do a search and I'm sure you'll come up with, wait, just did it for you. Here is a thread dated the 5th of October, so dedicated Flightinfo readers had plenty of warning to get an application in before the no type gravy train ended.

SWA Apps require type, 1 Nov start date

Just another poolie drinking the orange (or is it canyon blue now) cool aid of LUV and proud of it!

Disclaimer: I am not associated with the SWA People Department in any way (well besides the occasional call to LL to ask for additional floatation to get me through another couple months in the pool) and the above is based mainly on my careful reading of this board but, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. You want the real gouge, get in touch with SWA pilot recruiting, I'm sure they'll tell it to you straight.