Hello everyone! I’m back 
It has been a wild two months going through an Initial 121 training program with SkyWest Airlines but I’m happy to say I made it! I can explain a little about the training footprint and if anyone has questions or wants more details feel free to send them my way!
Indoc
I started Indoc virtually on July 26th on the CRJ. I had 50 classmates (47 guys, me and 2 other girls) with all different stories of how they got to Skywest after a crazy pandemic year, but in short we were all happy to be there. In 4 short days we covered the whole FOM (Flight operations manual). One day was dedicated for leadership/CRM training and on day 6 was the first validation testing our knowledge on the FOM and the Op Specs. The validations are used as checkpoints. Pass and continue on. We finished on a Tuesday and had to the following Monday to finish all the System CBTs and get to Salt Lake City for ground training.
Ground School
Ground school was focused on the SOPM (Standard Operating Procedures Manual), basically how we operate all phases of flight from preflight to shutdown. In the morning session we had FMS lab and the Matrix (learning our flows on touch screen cockpits). In the afternoon was classroom sessions. One day was dedicated to emergency training, opening the overwing exits, using the fire extinguishers and going out the cockpit escape hatch… which was all was pretty fun. On days 8, 9 and 10 of ground school was three days of consecutive validations: FMS, Flows and ground validation (written exam). The FMS validation mirrored a typical day on the line providing 25 mins from receiving the pre-departure clearance and the weather to getting the cockpit ready: loading in frequencies, programming the “box” (FMS), computing a manual manifest and loading the takeoff data. The Flow validation consisted of a captain seat sub sitting in with you and asking for three randomized flows to perform from any phase of flight. The ground validation was a written exam covering all topics in the SOPM. It was a huge relief to graduate ground school and get my wings.
Procedures Training
My sim partner and I had one day off and we jumped right in to the next phase of training: Procedures. This included an upgraded version of the cockpit. Still all touch screen and fixed base but we had thrust levers, yokes and rudder pedals and we actually got to fly it. This phase was incredibly quick, just 3 days putting it all together in preparation for sims. We flew gate to gate trips with different kind of malfunctions from start malfunctions, MX items discovered at different phases of flight and abnormal ATC requests. This was more CRM, teaching us how to prioritize when to do things and how based on the SOPM. On day 4 we had… you guessed it, a procedures validation! Last one in Salt Lake City! After completion of that, my class split off into four locations for sim training: Salt Lake City, Denver, Cincinnati and Atlanta. I was lucky enough to get Atlanta and a few days off to rest before a short drive from Charlotte to start sims the following week.
SIMS
Sim training is broken down in to two stages: Maneuvers and LOFTS. Maneuvers is first and consists of 6, 4 hr sessions covering all sorts of things: Takeoffs and Landings, Crosswind takeoffs, Crosswind landings, Windshear, EGPWS escape maneuvers, TCAS RAs, Stalls to the shaker and the pusher, Upset Recovery, Engine failures at V1 and of course all the different kinds of approaches Cat I and Cat II ILS, GPS Non-precision, VOR circle to land and missed approaches in all sorts of configurations. Plus LOTS of malfunctions. On day 7 was the maneuvers validation (regarded as the most difficult and most notorious for failures). It consisted of a 2 hour session with a very efficient profile that covered pretty much everything I just explained above except a few things. When my sim partner and I came out of that victorious, that was a huge relief. We relaxed for one day before heading in to the final push: LOFTS. Lofts stand for Line Oriented Flight Training, basically putting it all together. Gate to gate flights with a few malfunctions sprinkled along the way. This is where my prior jet and 135 experience helped me quite a bit. Jet start malfunctions, MX write ups, deferrals and MEL procedures plus difficult SIDs and STARs with crossing restrictions and speed restrictions were all things I had seen and practiced doing the last year flying with Flyexclusive. My classmates coming from 1500 hours in a Cessna struggled a lot more. Many with little to no experience flying a departure or arrival procedure at all. I recommend for anyone who is reading this to try and get some right seat time in a jet before going to initial 121 training. Even if you can’t log it, the experience you receive flying in the flight levels, working the FMS and flying those SIDs and STARS will help you more than you realize. Anyway, after 3 days of LOFTS (standard day, hot wx ops and cold wx ops) the big day was finally here. The grand finale of a long 2 months of training: the LOE and KV (check ride).
CHECKRIDE DAY
The KV (knowledge validation) is the oral portion that happens before the flight. It was relatively quick and simple covering memory items, limitations and emergency procedures. After that I met the Captain seat sub I’d be flying with and we hopped in the sim. This was again, another gate to gate flight putting it all together. The scenario was a standard turn, so Point A->Point B. The captain flew the first leg so I was being evaluated on my Pilot monitoring duties. Then we switched and I was pilot flying from Point B->Point A. As you can imagine, the flights included a fair share of malfunctions and typically in the midst of already high work load environments. This was it, the time to prove to yourself and show the examiner that you have a mastery of the aircraft, understanding of its systems, applying the SOPM in all phases of flight and using CRM to make good timely decisions. Walking out of that sim session, I had such confidence in my ability in the aircraft and appreciation for all the training that molded me along the way.
Differences Training
After returning home with that newly minted type rating, I had 2 days off before Differences training. At Skywest on the CRJ, we train on the CRJ 200 and the type rating covers all variants including the 700 and 900. So I was legal to fly, however, Skywest adds an additional virtual ground school day and one additional sim session to cover the differences. So back to the books I went, covering systems, memory items and limitations of both the CRJ 700 and 900. The following week, I flew out to St. Louis for the differences sim. Just one maneuvers session covering crosswind takeoffs, crosswind landings, engine failures at v1, etc. The things that feel different with a bigger airplane with bigger engines.
September 21st, I was officially done with Skywest CRJ Initial Training. I am now home anxiously awaiting IOE. As you can imagine, with so much hiring, there is a back log of those who have finished training waiting to go out on IOE. A pretty cool note on the health of hiring at Skywest, I already have 512 people behind me on the seniority list! (*Thats approximately 125 FOs on the CRJ and 125 FOs on the ERJ each month)
I have all my travel benefits active on American, United and Delta and jumpsuit privileges. I’m staying busy doing observation flights from the jump seat and a little bit of fun travel.
I am back full time on the forum as of today, and look forward to hopping back in to the conversation with all of you!
-Hannah
