After a Training Fail, What Comes Next?

Depending on how you handle it, this can become your biggest stumbling block or an unexpected asset.

Friday, April 05, 2024 at 10:27 AM ET

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Compared to primary and secondary instruction, most airline training is much less spoon fed and should be treated seriously. [Credit: Shutterstock]

Key Takeaways:

Regional airlines are experiencing an uptick in new-hire training failures due to a surplus of qualified applicants, leading to much stricter, less forgiving training policies.
An airline training failure, while a significant setback that effectively closes the "rocket ship" career path, is not career-ending.
To recover from a training failure, pilots must immediately pass other check rides or training programs, build a strong post-failure record, and prepare a mature, non-blaming explanation for future interviews.

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There’s been a pronounced uptick over the past few months in online conversations about failing out of new hire airline training—usually at a regional airline. Part 121 carriers keep their training statistics pretty private, so there’s no way to know if the surge is real and to what extent. But anecdotal evidence suggests that it is, and when you think about it, it makes sense.

Before COVID-19 and for a bit afterward, there was a real shortage of qualified regional applicants—to the extent that many pilot groups saw raises of 100 percent or more. And there was a great deal of pressure to push new hires through training and onto the line.