How do you upgrade?
I was very fortunate in that my company became part of a growing regional airline. With that, we merged our pilot groups into one seniority list. After that, the company needed to conduct re-alignment bids to ensure that company staffing levels were met for pilot positions on the various aircraft types the company operates. Being about middle of the pack, I was not suspecting that I would be upgrading (what we call become a Captain) for a few more years. However, due to the re-alignment bid and several other factors dealing with company specific pilot positions, I found I was on the list to upgrade when they published the list in late October. Initially, they said my class date was Nov 21, but after a revision to the bid package (all positions available for pilots to "bid" on), they placed me in the Dec 14th class. My company requires pilots to have a minimum of 2500 total time and a minimum of 1,000 hrs in the Saab (the time in type varies by aircraft - insurance driven). The hours make you eligible for upgrade, but what it boils down to is your seniority position. You can bid on any base and any aircraft and any seat (Captain or First Officer) that you would like to hold. Based on your order of preference, other pilot's bids, and the number of available positions you may or may not get your first choice. I happened to get my first choice, but it was due to the fact that we had so many Saab Captains bid for and awarded Captain positions on the Q400. So that opened up enough positions for me to be awarded my first base of choice and seat of choice (Houston, Captain). The next thing is you continue to fly until a few days before your training starts. This may vary by company, but our Union contract stipulates we must be guaranteed two days off prior to starting long term training.
What is the training process like?
The process they are training us by is different than just a year ago. Due to the realignment bid, they training department is swamped under with new hire training, upgrades, and transitions (people changing from one aircraft type to another). In an effort to alleviate some of the stress on the training department, my class was combined with upgrades and new hires. So we went through the full 4 week ground school. Just a year ago, upgrades were going through a 1 week ground school. This extra time is helpful, but for some of the upgrades some of the information is to detailed for what we see as a simple system. So, we had to remind ourselves that we had new hires in the class who had never even touched the plane before. When we went over aircraft door operations, many of us struggled to stay awake, LOL. As you go through the ground school there are several tests you take along the way. We upgrades had to take the hazmat and security tests along the way. The new hires had one extra week of ground school before joining us. That extra week they covered basic indoc, which covers company operations, procedures, policies, and general operating rules. Basically, its a crash course in 121 operations. At the end of those 4 weeks (5 for the new hires) we had our big systems test. This is a make or break test, anyone not passing must go through retraining and they are given the opportunity to take the test one last time. Fail a second time and you are fired from the company. Today was the day that we took that test. I can proudly say that no one in our class failed, and as a matter of fact no one scored less than a 93 on the test. It was 100 questions long, one point each.
After the systems test, everyone goes through 3 days of systems integration classes. This basically is designed to seal the gap between learning what the systems do and their practical application during operations. We cover our checklists and profiles (specific call-outs and techniques for flying various types of approaches). This is also designed to get you ready for the flight simulator.
The next phase is simulator training. We have 9 sim sessions with 7 of those being for training and 1 a testing event and the last one is a LOFT - Line Oriented Flight Training. The test is a jeopardy event, meaning if you mess up enough you may require re-training and you have one more opportunity to pass or be fired. The LOFT is designed to be the bridge between flying the sim and flying the plane on the line. Simulator training is scheduled for a total of 2 weeks. Prior to our testing event (Proficiency check = PC) we have our oral exams.
After sim training comes OE training. Since we are becoming Captains, this is not IOE, but rather just operational experience (OE) training. New hires go through initial operating experience (IOE) and their required flight hours vary by their total time upon being hired. Upgrades are required to do 20 hours of OE where we fly with Checkairmen who make sure we are doing all procedures correctly, and assist with any deficiencies we may have. At the end of that training, someone from the FAA comes and joines us for a flight. We call that our Fed Ride..... it's similar to doing your initial CFI. The Feds must ride with us and conduct a checkride if it is our first type rating. If the FAA is happy with our performance we are issued a temporary airmen's certificate!
After all of that, we are released back to the line as Captains, and for the new hires, they have a few less requirements but they too will join us on the line.
Hope you enjoyed reading that, and as always feel free to leave any questions or comments. Any and all are welcome.
Bob
P.S. Here are a few pictures:
I'm about to blow it up :-D
I think this plugs in somewhere, LOL
Darth Vader is gonna be so envious of me:
Our Doors Trainer:
From inside the doors trainer:
Fire training:
The center of the old Pan Am HQ (Which is our training facility)
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