You know, I was just catching up on the ALPA boards, scrolling thru all the guys in training out in PHX for Mesa,they were all talking about hotel this, transportation that, lack of ground school quality, unorganized scheduling of training etc......and it dawned on me that these guys are scabbing their own jobs!!!!!!!! THEY are the ones who are taking THEIR jobs!
Judging by what they are saying the whole CRJ 700/900 training structure is a mess, and the CRJ 50 class is not much better. I spoke with one who just finished, and is waiting on I.O.E. and he told me that for the most part they taught themselves the airplane from the manuals and that the instruction was useless due to the massive overloading of the training schedule. He said the training was geared to the brand new airline pilot and was tediously slow for a long time pilot. To make matters worse he said he was paired with a 400 hr F/O straight out of Mesa Academy (I dont remember the official name) in the simulator, so most of the time was spent trying to get the F/O to be anywhere remotely near being caught up with the airplane since prior to that the fastest thing he ever flew was a King Air for a few hours in school. So he ended up taking a type ride with next to no actual stick time in the sim. since the F/O needed it to be able to stay right side up.
I doubt Mesa could get Freedom or all the other RJ's up so quickly if it were not for the 15000 hr guys in effect training themselves. If ALPA had held their ground we should have at least been able to get all the RJ's at ML and the W/O's. I know if they get to my number I would much rather have an experienced W/O F/O beside me than a 400 hour guy who is just now experiencing the sensation of being over 18000 feet and 200 knots for the first time in his life!
Just some observations.