I’m 1 to 2 flights away from my private pilot stage 1 stage check. I’ve been studying and studying and preparing myself for my first stage check. If I pass I solo! Watching your videos are a big help and an inspiration to me. My dream airline is Southwest. Great video
Another great video Ern. Love your professionalism. SWA pilots are the best. I really enjoyed the highlights of what you go through to be a successful pilot.
...way to go Big Ern..practice makes perfect..and still working really hard every day..with 18k loyal followers..now strapped in and sitting just behind you..and looking right over your shoulders..keep em coming..and even more continued success..
This is a very good thing for people to see. Because there are many people out there that are afraid to fly and seeing videos like this that show people that they are training for situations can ease that fear. Great stuff, good video.
G,day from Sydney Australia. Very nice training facilities, thankyou for the look around. When the chips are down! Best way to find a person's strengths and weaknesses for the job. 🥧🍵
Cool sim centre! Always a great feeling getting those 6 months sims done. I have my first 787 sims coming up already….came around fast. 100 percent correct on attitude….when I was training on the A320/A321 it always made my job much easier if the student FO/Captain had a good attitude
The learning never stops Ern. When I did engine maintenance runs I went in the sim for emergency procedures annually. Pretty nerve wracking and it seemed no matter how well I did the Instructors still felt obliged to "destroy the aircraft" and me with it! LOL. Best of luck to the newly hired pilots, FAs, maintainers and support staff!
Nice video, it was really interesting to see how Southwest invest in quality training. Suggestion, a video on how you prepare yourself for the checkride, the study rutine. Safe landings!!
This training center and training modules are very state of the art. I really appreciate the food for thought you give regarding nutrition, sleep, etc. Random: I watched a check airman at ORD recently and knew exactly what he was doing after watching a few of your videos.
Thank you for helping us ern! I’m watching this mentally preparing myself for the future. You are helping me and so many others and I greatly appreciate your videos!!
Long time Corporate Pilot here… I am always amazed at how many guys do not understand that nobody cares where you were before and how you used to do something. Learn what your company at the time does.
Excellent topic. Thanks for showing us this behind the scenes part of your job. This is what makes you guys so good at what you do. Take care and blue skies and tailwinds always.
Really like your mentoring area of focus within your videos - attitude, sleep/nutrition, accepting criticism/correction. Great lessons for all forms of aviation and beyond.
Hi Monte! Upgrade changes all the time honestly. Depends on retirements and growth. We have a fairly young pilot group so upgrade ran 6-10 yours typically. Thanks for your business my friend! Cheers!
Just found your channel a few days ago, and love it already! I'm an Ops and Ramp Agent here in BZN (we're contractors out here) and we'd love to have you in one day! Bid for a BZN overnight sometime and a beautiful visit to our town will await you!
Loved the insight, and loved seeing all that goes into the annual review process! Just moved to PHX and will start Destination 225 in two weeks and I couldn’t be more excited! Looking forward to stopping by HQ for a touchpoint in the future! Thanks for all the videos, Ernie, as they’ve been instrumental in my decision to pursue aviation and Southwest.
I can’t say I miss the sims from my training lol! Key to all that training was having a great sim partner, staying disciplined with flows and studying, and having a good attitude for sure.
Big Ern! I’m one of your Simulator Techs there at SWA LEADS. Great video! Glad you had a great experience at the training center, we sim techs take pride in our simulators and our training center. We will see you next year!
You guys are the best! It’s amazing to me the operation we have there. When I got here we had 7 sims. Now 24!😲. I’m so appreciative of what you guys do to give us the best training. Cheers!
Hi Ern, I have a two part question I hope you can answer first where can I get a cool American flag tie like you where? Second do you think you could do a video on how to read approach plates like the HYDDAR THREE arriving into PHX? I appreciate all you and every other pilot out there and stay safe. ❤
Hi Erik! Our pilot lounges have them for sale. Not sure if they sell them online or not however. You bet and thanks for the idea. I’ll work that in an upcoming video. Cheers!
Thank you so much for this video. I am truly, as well as others Grateful for your attitude pertaining to your training. I always try to Fly Southwest when I can. Thanks again :):)
We live just a few miles north and east of Love Field and Southwest’s headquarters, and my daughter works for American based out of DFW. Love that Dallas is home to two mega airlines. Do your parents fly non-rev? To me, that’s the greatest perk ever!
Ernie, as someone about to get out of the Air Force and considering becoming a professional pilot; do you enjoy these trainings? It is annoying to go to? I know you seem happy there! How long is the initial training from when you hit your hours to learning to fly your first regional jet? How does the pay work for when you’re doing your refresher training? Hope to hear back from you sir. Thanks
Great video Ern, I am w/ UPS went through my checks last week, 25 yrs w/ the company. Its so good to not see your 73-Max sitting idle anymore on the tarmacs.....nice rental
Great post Ern! That first sim was awesome! I will be vacationing in Honolulu January 21 to February 20, 2022. Let me know if you might be flying into PHNL and I will be out near the Reef runway to video you! Cheers from CYYB North Bay Ontario Canada.
Nice Ern! What software do you use to SIM fly? In the full SIM or non moving SIM? P3D? X-Plane 11? I love flying the MAX on XPlane 11. Very nice! Unfortunately while beautiful scenery, Microsoft Flight Sim 20 still needs work but getting there slowly. There’s a mod you can use on MSFS20 which greatly improves the default 787X Dreamliner, as the 737NG is supposedly coming in 2022 which should be very nice from what I’ve read. I’d love to fly in a motion SIM. Can you pay to fly in a SIM like that without having to work for an airline?
Hi Greg! Great question I’m not entirely sure what they use. Maybe a custom one for the airlines but not sure. I’ll ask next month. You could fly a sim without being at an airline. There are several sim providers out there. They might be able to do a demo with you. Doesn’t hurt to ask👍🏽. Best of luck!
Thanks Ern for the video!! If you ever get to fly to Hawaii, it'll be nice to get a sense of the differences in operations between ETOPS and normal continental flights.
Hey Ern! Love the vids. Binging your vids since I just applied to ATP at 42. At the end of the video. I was wondering if you could tell me where the shelves came from. My wife would love them. Thanks! Fly safe!!
Absolutely love your videos! As an older private pilot with advanced ratings, it’s exciting to see how things work in your industry. Extremely inspiring!
After a35 year career in law enforcement, I see quite a contrast between the always poor, badly organized, on the cheap annual training, and the professionalism and quality of SW Airlines annual training. What a great facility! Municipal law enforcement is like run I g a tire show in a restaurant. Airlines are in the business of flying.
I buddy it's philip.philip is only interested in learning the cirrus sr22t and the small planes. Philip will leave the big planes to you guys you are awesome at what you do. Philip is not intelligent enough I am one person that struggles on in life. But what I have learnt I am very proud of.i can only learn a bit at a time because I think I am dislecksick but I still want to enjoy life to the full.take care my pal philip.
Lol. The "good attitude" thing and my airline dream went out the window before I even have my student/private license. 😬😬😬 The idea of a large corporation (and FAA) breathing down my neck, having to constantly study almost daily, and follow so many rules to the T makes me cringe. Not to mention the threat of your license or possible jail time if you screw up! Maybe I'm wrong, but the airline world seems so sophisticated and intimidating! I tell ya what, flying southwest or even other airlines....I never see the pilots smiling. Always in a rush or look to stressed. On the plus side....it means the pilots are very talented and safe. I think passengers who fear flying need to look into this kind of stuff to understand just how skilled, knowledgeable, and prepared the pilots are.
The guys that make 200k + a year smile when they are buying a sr 22 off the show room floor. at the end of the day, what Big Ern does is a JOB and not a hobby. Everything must be done with precision because if you screw up bad enough or too many times, you will be on the chopping block
@@MattCampbelification Yup. Definitely not worth it for me. Ain't selling my soul for money to be spent on material crap that doesn't satisfy. Thanks to the pilots who do it for us. As long as they keep chugging the bottle to keep the suicide level down.....would hate to be the passenger of that plane. 🥴
Hi Adam! Well I would say that attitude is everything in life not just a job or hobby. In my mind it’s what defines you as a human when the chips are down. Depth of character is what tends to emerge, and trust me I’m not boasting that I have it all figured out. I’ve had my share of spectacular failures that have tested and broken that attitude. Stress…mmmm I tend to seek it out sadisticly😁 I love the saying “be comfortable with being uncomfortable”. Comes in handy when you’re about to be choked out on the jujitsu mat. It took a long time to develop the resilience to stress, but when you do it’s a superpower. I’ve always recommended being in a setting which test both your physical and mental capabilities, whether it’s marital arts, CrossFit or some other sport. Always go past the “first quit” as David Goggins says in his books. Over time stress momentarily spikes the quickly subsides, because of course you got this😉 Sorry to be so long winded. I hope you got some value out of it or anyone else reading it. It’s what I would tell my younger self if I could👍🏽. Cheers!
@@FlyingwithBigErn well said. Sitting around and not doing it kinda makes me wanna do it more. Character building is worth it....and being able to say "I fly the jets everyone else is a passenger on" is pretty cool. Some day I'll be getting the front row seat. ✌👍
Excellent video on the sim training. As a non pilot but aviation enthusiast it was very neat to learn about pilots training and see it visually. Your a great role model for new future hires . Keep the good work
Was on a couple of swa flights from Vegas to midland then to hobby then home to sat all landings where rough omg hard landings I know they we’re running late but is that normal
