Dear Regional Airline New-Hire Pilot:

Dear Regional Airline New-Hire Pilot:

Congratulations! You’ve earned a flying job with an airline! You’ve beaten out 10,000 or more applicants for this coveted slot. Some of you may have started flying only a few years ago, some much longer. In any event, welcome! This flying job is the corner office with a much better view than any penthouse office.

Here are some tips to get you through the training and keep you out of the pitfalls that have cut many an aspiring pilot’s career prematurely short. This career can be fun and exciting, but it does take some hard work at times.

1.    Set three alarms a few minutes apart. Might as well get into that habit now. Don’t hit snooze, get up with the first alarm. Set the last alarm to give you enough time to get downstairs to the airport shuttle. Remember, cell phones can suddenly change time zones, front desk computers and reps forget or are not reminded to make the wakeup call, you could have set the alarm incorrectly, the alarm clock radio could lose power, or a variety of excuses for not alarming. You, on the other hand, have very little in the way of excuses for why you missed your show time. On probation, and for many companies, even after probation, being late is a firing offense. Don’t go there.

2.    Pack lightly. If you can’t carry it on, or gate check one bag (plus flight kit and/or lunch/computer bag), you’re taking too much stuff, even for a 7 day trip. For the two months of initial training, a second checked bag will be acceptable, but avoid it if you can.

3.    Smile, smile, smile. Your flight got delayed, cancelled, re-routed. Then the hotel didn’t have your reservation, and by the time everything got settled, you got four hours of sleep. When asked how was your trip, your trip was fine.

4.    Thank you. A thank you might be what got you the job. Remember to use the phrase generously once on the job. The gate agent with the key to a seat on the airplane home has only dealt with whiny, selfish, demanding, and usually unreasonable people all day. You might be the only ray of sunshine that day. The gate agent might not reciprocate, but you’ll avoid further irritating the gate agent, and avoid her desiring to take out her frustration on you. One call to your CP and you’ll not be in a pleasant place with respect to your job.

5.    Pack the night before. If by chance two of your three alarms failed, you’ll be able to absorb the lost time and still make your show time without panic.

6.    Keep you ID secure. Put your ID badge into the same spot every night, preferably into a pocket of a uniform item you never travel without. You don’t want to miss your flight nor want to experience the joy explaining to the CP and TSA about why someone attempted something nefarious with your badge.

7.    Stay out of the CP’s office. About 2% of the pilots cause the CP’s 80% or more of the work. Refrain from activities that would cause you to come to the CP’s attention in a negative fashion.

8.    Alcohol. Some guys can handle sipping one drink 12+ hours from show the night before. They can take it or leave it. If you can’t, avoid it. Avoid situations where the brews are cheap and easily refilled. One $1.50 special is not worth a career. If you need help, get it. Employee Assistance Programs are confidential until it is time to approach the employer, and the FAA, many airlines, and the rest of the pilot group would rather have you sober and working than on the streets after having caused an embarrassing incident. Because of the 24/7 news media, TSA, and passengers spring-loaded to assume the worst, many professional pilots avoid alcohol entirely while on trips.

9.    DUI/DWI can end your career. While you might consider a low-paying entry-level job to be just that, there are plenty of well-paying career flying jobs out there. You can’t get the time needed for those jobs if you’re sitting in jail.

10.  Build a bridge and get over it. If a personality conflict develops, stop it, even if the other guy is a Packers fan. Find agreement, agree to disagree, change the subject, let the other guy be right, put on your big boy pants and move on. This is not high school.

11.  Eliminate the “frat party” mentality. You might be just out of college, or even still attending online. Great! Enjoy the freedom of being an adult. But, as a professional pilot, you now have duties and responsibilities that require you to act like an adult, not a frat boy just off pledging. This means you will need to study, possibly harder than you’ve ever studied before. You will have plenty of late nights during new-hire school, but they’ll be from studying, not partying. Wait until you’re past probation to party.

12.  Be nice to everyone. The hotel staff knows you’re new-hire crew. The company may even ask them how you behaved. The Golden Rule Plus applies here. You have to take it, but you can’t give it.

13.  Flight plan the household for your absence. Create a QRH for the ones at home. If the water heater blows, there should be money and a number to call for a plumber. If a kid gets sick at school and the other parent is working, have a neighbor, friend, and/or baby-sitter to be the caretaker until the other parent gets home. You already have procedures for local weather events and fires, I hope…

14.  Tell life to wait. Pay bills early, stop paper delivery, have the post office hold your mail. Arrange your life so that you can dedicate a month or two to the learning process. If a hotel is offered, take it. Get away from the house and family and the problems they bring. Talking to the wife and kids is fine, but keep conversations short, and don’t be talking to friends about whatever when you need to be studying. As much as possible, instruct family members to handle situations themselves. You don’t need the distraction. They’ll need to do this while you’re away flying the line. In the same vein, it’s not fair for you to get mad if the situation wasn’t handled the way you wanted it to be. Use the CRM skills you’re learning and find agreement. It will take patience and understanding from all parties. When you’re in ground school, you need to be in ground school. Close the mental box labeled family and open the one labeled pilot until you’re done studying for the night. Then you can open the family box slightly and reconnect.

15.  If a true emergency develops at home, you may need to postpone training until the situation is resolved. Postpone before failing training. If the company is mad because you left to go to your wife’s hospital room after a nasty car accident, the company might not be where you want to work. A hangnail or a water heater explosion might not be an emergency needing your attention and permission to repair.

16.  Study. Study. Study. More tips in the next post.

17.  Take some time for yourself each day. It may only be 15 minutes, but not taking this time is a fast track to burnout.

Once on the line

1.    Respect your elders. The captain has more experience than you in that airplane. However, none of us are perfect, thus you need to catch the captain’s mistakes and prevent him from being embarrassed. Don’t worry, the captain will catch many more of your mistakes.

2.    Respect yourself. First year pay is low and you may qualify for food stamps. So, get them, but refrain from standing in line while in uniform. Pay might be embarrassingly low, but if you embarrass the airline, you may end up with no pay and be looking for another job. Keep yourself looking and behaving like a professional. Some things won’t go right, you’ll face delays, possibly training delays, early calls, crew scheduling, cancelled appointments, and so on. It does get better.

3.    Welcome to the seniority list. Your performance goal must be excellent or you should find another profession. However, while perfection is expected, it won’t get you upgraded faster than the other guy. Your time will come, eventually. Those that fret over every month’s move in the numbers burn out quickly. Those that relax and enjoy themselves, sheesh you’re flying and getting paid too, are far more pleasant to be around and seem to live longer.

4.    No slacking! Once you complete IOE, you’re released to the line. Keep observing your captains and learn their job as well as yours. When you get to upgrade initial, you don’t want to be cramming last minute. Upgrade teaches how the airline expects you to be a captain; it’s not new-hire systems ground. Some places find that around year three in the right seat, FOs start to slack. Don’t do that! Keep the elephant manageable and take it in small bites. Each month, pick a system and become an expert in that system.

5.    Studies show crews that follow policies and checklists are 85% less likely to have an incident. Why be one of the 15%? When on the line, continue to follow policies and checklists, then you won’t be sweating recurrent either.

6.    Jumpseating is a privilege. Ask the Captain of that flight for permission, no matter what the last crew’s response was. Be happy with anything received, even a seat at the gate to wait for the next flight. Show up early enough to have multiple flights to get back to base and have the funds to buy a ticket if the need arise. If the weather is turning sour, show up early enough to miss the weather as well, even if that means an extra day in the crashpad.

7.    Avoid the F/As. There are some wonderful people working as F/As. There are some that can’t wait to have a sugah-daddy or sugah-momma. Others are extremely jealous of your position for some strange reason and will do anything to destroy you.

8.    Jokes are fine and dandy, but know your audience before telling them. Also, know what time to tell them. Remember anything said with the beacon on is recorded and could be broadcast on the evening news. Remember too, anything said to the controllers is being recorded by thousands of wannabes and busy-bodies, anything juicy is bound to be broadcast on breaking news, which always seems to happen during the biggest Hail Mary play of the game. It sucks to have the game interrupted to hear your cheery voice telling a controller something best kept to the bedroom behind closed doors.

9.    The uniform. Polyester might seriously chaff, but if it is the company uniform, smile and enjoy. Remember there is a reason why there are Halloween costumes for folks to pretend they are police officers and pilots and why there are cautions to watch out for the F/As. Some gals just love a man in uniform (Change this as needed for your situation).

Congrats again on getting hired. We hope the above tips help you in training and beyond.

Fly SAFE!