SWA Quality of Life

[chase]

To all,


Please remember that everyone who says they work at SWA may not necessarily work at SWA. Their comments shouldn't be viewed as representing the views of the majority of SWA pilots no more than mine should. Just my $.02,

 

[SWAdude]

It still amazes me how many are still bent about this type rating requirement that SWA has had for the last 30 plus years. I can't count how many jobs I couldn't get because I didn't meet the minimum qualifications while pursuing my career. In another thread it appears North American is requiring a 767/757 type rating with recent experience. Why haven't these same people cry foul just the same?

And in general I find the quality of life at SWA better than the other five airlines i've been with.

SWAdude

 

[Tripower455]

The $8k or so I spent on my type back in '94 has paid for itself many, many times over. And to think I almost didn't do it!

 

[akanodoz]

Slam-bam Types vs. quality Part 142 schools

[Just getting a type from a slam-bam-thankyouma'am school doesn't make you better trained or safer. That comes from a highly organized, structured and monitored training organization. [/QUOTE]
AA717driver,
I think I see your point regarding the "buy the rating" prep courses and schools, and guess a case could be made that two weeks at such a school might not necessarily make one better trained or safer ("more dedicated" probably still applies).

My sample size for the better/safer assertion is one - a Part 142 operation that was one of the two best aviation training experiences I've ever gone through...and the other one was Top Gun, no kidding.

I would do better in Southwest's training because I have this solid foundation, and I would absorb more because I'm not starting from a 737 knowledge base of zero. I learned things at the Type course that may not be covered by SWA, or may not be taught in the same way. In other words, I'm a better and safer pilot for having gone through the experience and the training.

But that's just my take on it; maybe some people pay the bucks and don't get anything out of it but a resume bullet, either because the school is a factory or because they view it as merely a block to be checked vice a legitimate opportunity to become better at their profession - even prior to starting the airline chapter of it.

(Don't want to spill the beans, but the name of the company which made me better for having gone through the training has the words "Higher" and "Power" in it. This...ahem...unnamed school is indeed highly structured, organized, and closely monitored. I think the folks in my class are better trained and safer now than the day we all met for the first time.)

Long-winded way of saying that I think Southwest's Type Rating preference/de facto requirement is a legitimate and smart move. I have no visceral problem with it, and want to work for the company even more in part because they can still ask for it all and skim the cream.

Cheers,
akanodoz