After toiling for months prepping for and being granted an interview with an airline, you’ve received the good news that you’ve been hired. Unfortunately, getting hired is the easy part. Clear your schedule because you’re about to get thousands of pages of material dumped into your head in a short period of time.
You’ll likely train using the FAA’s Advanced Qualification Program (AQP), a proficiency-based training plan in place at many airlines.
The first phase of the program, basic indoctrination, is where you’ll become familiar with the airline’s policies. In this phase, which lasts about two weeks, you will get intimate with the company operations manual. This manual outlines everything from the airline’s specific weather requirements for alternate airports to the types of shoes approved to wear with your uniform. You’ll also realize that airlines create abbreviations and acronyms for every possible title, phrase, and procedure. The classroom learning only scratches the surface of what you are required to know. Much of your time outside of class is spent in self-study. At the end of the course you’ll take a test to validate your knowledge of the material and if you pass, you move on.
Following “indoc,” students advance to systems training, where they begin to delve deeply into the many systems of the airplane they will learn to fly. Electrical, hydraulics, avionics, autoflight, anti-ice systems—you’ll learn it all at a very fast pace. In addition to the fat Flight Operations Manual, you get another manual (or two) detailing the systems and procedures by which the company wants you to operate its airplane. This phase of training typically takes a week or two and ends with another validation test.
It quickly becomes apparent that you’re drinking from a never-ending fire hose of material being blasted into your brain, and you wonder how you’ll ever soak it in. You spend nearly every moment of your conscious day studying. Remember that you’re not the only student who’s been in this position. Examiners know it’s practically impossible to memorize thousands of pages of material in six weeks. If you can’t remember everything, at least know where to find the answer.
Having been down this road before, I can offer some advice to those faced with a new airline job. First of all, clear your calendar. Training can be an all-consuming affair, so make as much effort as possible to avoid life’s distractions. In most cases, you’ll be traveling to a company’s training facilities and set up with a hotel room. While the thought of spending six weeks in a hotel room may sound awful, it’s actually an advantage because it provides a good study environment free from all of the distractions at home.
When I was first hired by a regional airline, I was training near my home, which seemed like an advantage. Between the two hours I spent on the road getting to/from training and finishing up projects from my old job, however, it was a disaster. I thought I knew what I was in for based on previous training at FlightSafety and SimCom for piston GA airplanes. I got my wake-up call after the systems test, where I got one of the lowest scores in the class—albeit a passing grade. When my instructor and classmates found out I was still completing projects from my old job, they set me straight and I dropped everything to hit the books—hard.
After systems class, it’s on to the flight training device (FTD), also known as a cockpit procedures trainer (CPT). Here, you are paired with another pilot to practice the flows, callouts, and procedures that the airline wants you to employ. It gets very specific. This is the only way two strangers can get into the cockpit and work fluidly. When I was first hired at a regional airline, I was floored by how specific the duties and callouts are. There’s no tolerance for “customized” jargon or procedures. The good part about the FTD phase is that you’re now spending at least some of your time outside of the manual and in a cockpit mockup, rather than yet another classroom session.
One hitch that may occur starting at the FTD phase is what’s known as an unpaired training assignment. For the most realistic experience, a new-hire pilot (first officer) is paired with a captain who is upgrading in the airplane. The veteran pilot in the left seat often is a valuable mentor to the new hire, and completes his or her own tasks in the cockpit. An unpaired crew consists of two new-hire first officers training as a “crew.” This is approved under AQP, and most airlines allow it because of the daunting logistics of scheduling all the training. Under AQP, the unpaired crew must learn all of the captain flows and duties, because one of them always will be occupying that seat. This adds a tremendous amount of workload to the new hire. And the unpaired crew is getting only half the “touches” in the proper seat that a paired crew gets—a paired crew performs both flying and nonflying duties from their own seats, instead of alternating positions, which makes training much easier. Three of my four initial training events have been unpaired, so consider it a likely occurrence.
As in all of the other training phases, the FTD ends with a test known as the Procedures Validation, which will advance you to the simulator phase. Simulator training brings together all of the previous phases, so remember that material from the first month of training. While stressful in its own right, simulator training is a pleasant break from the constant barrage of dry material from the manuals. At least you’re now doing some “flying.”
AQP training has two checkrides in the simulator phase—the Maneuvers Validation (MV) and the Line Oriented Evaluation (LOE). Your first week of sims will barrage you with maneuvers such as precision and nonprecision approaches in normal and single-engine configurations. You also get a look at stalls, unusual attitudes, and wind shear and terrain-avoidance recoveries.
After the MV you advance to the line-oriented flight training (LOFT) phase, where each simulator session is treated like a real flight. Of course, some abnormals and emergencies will be tossed in just so you don’t get too comfortable.
At the end of the LOFT stage, you’ll get validated on the LOE, which is an oral examination followed by a simulated line flight—again, expect an emergency or abnormal situation. As expected, the LOE will draw upon all of the knowledge you’ve learned since you set foot on the airline’s property.
You’re also being evaluated on your decision-making skills. Prior to the LOE, any of the validation exams could be passed or failed on an individual basis. But the LOE is considered a team effort. If it’s determined that the crew put the “passengers” at risk during the LOE, the crew fails together. This could be a simple mistake made by one pilot that isn't caught by the other. Once the LOE is complete, you’ve earned your type rating and are cleared to advance to Initial Operating Experience (IOE).
In IOE you fly regular multiday trips with actual passengers in the back of the airplane. Yes, you fly the real McCoy for the first time with paying passengers. It sounds scary—especially for the unknowing passengers—but you’re paired with a company check airman who likely has more time in type than you have total time. Length of IOE depends on the airline. Most will have you wrapped up in 25 hours of flight time. You can request more IOE hours for your own confidence or, if your check airman determines you need more, it will be assigned. In general, IOE is the most enjoyable experience of the whole training process. It brings together all of your knowledge up to this point, and it occurs in a real-world environment rather than the sterilized torture chamber that the simulator can be.
Once your IOE is done, you’re officially an airline pilot. Life after training will slowly calm down, although being at the bottom of the seniority list is bound to get you plenty of flying. You’ll likely be on call as a reserve pilot, which means your newfound knowledge will quickly be etched into your brain. But once the flying becomes second nature, you’re free to learn all of the many other features of this unique lifestyle. Seniority, crash pads, union contracts, upgrades, schedule and vacation bidding, quality of life versus pay—the list goes on. Soon, however, you’ll be spouting the acronyms and jargon just like your thousands of airline colleagues out there. Welcome aboard.
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