A US pilot school has banned solo flights for trainees at one of the world's top airlines after a spate of incidents

Most of these schools now are about making money. Had a student years ago that I was brought in to observe in sim with a junior instructor. This guy was so bad that I don’t think he would survive an engine out while taxing the aircraft. I was shocked at how weak he was and how cocky he was. The school was intimidated in my opinion of his parents wealth and very manipulative individual. I stopped the sim because I could watch anymore and in his debrief with the other instructor I question his true intentions as to becoming an airline pilot. He threatened me and said that it’s the schools fault for his poor performance and his families representative would be contacting me and the the school…… AND … that I was discriminating him! I was in my 20th year at a major airline and I am still flying the 787 in the last few years of my career. That student left the program and finished with some program in Florida where he ended up with a 737 endorsement and the whisked off to his country in the Middle East. Schools that pump these foreign students through like cattle need to really look at what they are producing. They have a responsibility to vet the individuals and put through the ones that are truel,y meant to go back in as a cadet in their various nations airlines. I know I sound like an old goat but I’ve been around and have flown many different types and I’m not the best pilot in the world but I go to work and operate the best I can with the other pilots sitting next to me. There’s a lot of great foreign students and many are going to have great careers…… but not at the expense of putting out marginal or very weak pilots for money. It’s a huge problem in the industry.

I was a CFI at one of these schools. There is constant pressure to keep 2-3 students in lock-step through all of their ratings (PPL, ME, COMM) so that a graduation date set for the group (20-50 students) is met. PPL solo was the worst phase as an instructor for many reasons. The only relief is knowing that none of these students would ever fly any aircraft solo anywhere ever again (especially, in the US) once through this portion of their training.

I asked many times, but probably not the right people: Why can't we remove the solo requirement from their training and put a limitation on the certificate?

Some solo incidents I had: Student reporting to ATC 15 miles East-West of airport. (ATC handled well of course) Student declaring on practice area frequency he was headed to Scottsdale (SDL) and had not been trained there. (caught this one with handheld radio) Student observed by another instructor flying very low out of practice area. (he was a great stick but...later got sent home) Student being told by ATC to turn ON his transponder multiple times. I called tower to tell them to tell him to set transponder to ALT. This was a non-flying controller and 'thank you' squawk VFR.

These schools put way too much pressure on instructors as well as students who struggle with not only the rigors of flight training but often compounded with language barriers and home-sickness.
I'm surprised I don't hear of more incidents/accidents on a regular basis.

And then there was the 172 discovered on an undisclosed north TX. airport distant ramp tied down with no one aboard and engine running. The aircraft was managed by a local undisclosed Part 141 flight school and when the Fed. found the instructor and student having breakfast in the local bistro the explanation was "building time"! Can't make this merde up.

65 hours to solo? I think schools in general have missed an important point when they started requiring a certain number of hours to solo. Some are ready much sooner, wait too long and it can be a confidence buster if the student's ready but the instructor doesn't see it or is constrained by policy.
Then again, sometimes the student doesn't know they are ready but a good instructor can see it. That can be a HUGE benefit for the student's future learning.

Trying to push people to solo before they are ready seems to be an ongoing problem. Have seen too many problems with new pilots over the years. Quite often students dont understand enough about handling the aircraft but let it hand you. Started in 150s, 172s then changed operators and into the little two place Gruman trainers. Low power dropped like a rock no glide hot day climb was ponderous at the best. But taught me lots about how to handle airplanes.

From what I understand, the flight school was pushing to get these particular students signed off. And a particular CFI recognized this early on and refused to fly with them under these mandates. And then while flying with "regular" students, continued to report ground, and air incidents with the Cathay type trainees. My advice to all these young CFI's, hold your ground! Maintain your professionalism and if it doesn't seem right, don't do it!

"Ab initio" training is why so many international airlines have a worse safety record than we do in the U.S.,IMHO though the trend has started here now too. I don't agree with the 1,500 hour requirement either, but there's a happy medium. Flying small freight, or cropdusting, or aerial surveying, pipeline patrol, or just instructing, what have you... you learn "stick and rudder". It seems to me that with these training programs, it's all about using the automation, because that's what you'll be doing in 99% of flying an airliner. I know my comment is not *directly* related, since there's no excuse for a student pilot not to report an incident, other than financial or political pressure, but if they were actually going out and trying to make a living flying for someone else to pay the bills and earn a living, it might be different. Just my $0.02...

This reeks of "saving face". Anyone that has ever had to deal with this will know what I am talking about. I first ran into this while working in Dubai years ago dealing with Indian mechanics. I couldn't understand what was going on while troubleshooting an A340 until an English supervisor took me aside, explained it to me, and showed me how to get the information out of them without them admitting they had made a mistake. Ran into the same thing while interviewing a flight crew. They were telling me one thing, while the fault data was saying something else. It's real!

My sense is that this is about the sense of ethics and personal responsibility within the Chinese society rather than about anyone’s individual piloting skills.

Maybe the flight school should look at themselves...since THEY are the one's who actually TRAINED these students. Granted, flight training has nothing to do with non-reporting of accidents and incidents, but it SURELY has a great deal to do with poor pilotage.

You can functionally train new pilots but getting the right mental attitude can be impossible.

Funny how honesty is not a universal human trait?

How can a person receive a pilot's license, without the required number of hours of solo flight? Maybe this reflects as much the instructor's ability and judgement as it does the student's. I soloed in 7.2 hours, on June 21, 1974. Fifty years of incident-free flying. I have had many very gifted instructors.

If this wasn't so scary it would be hilarious

Amount of excellent training material and videos online from the FAA, Master Flight Instructors. Due diligence finding experienced instructors that teach you the reason and why an airplane flies. Enjoys their job. One example is learning to fly your airplane, learning pitch and power settings. Have a personality conflict, request another instructor. Negative events, deal with it. Do a reset at midnight. Start fresh, enjoy what being a pilot can be.

Well, about possible root causes. a) Whats the budgeted amount for hotel & living expenses for Hong-Kong based Cathay cadets. Is there pressure to solo early ( to maintain budget) ?

b) About the unreported damage to aircraft - While no cadet wants to damage the aircraft, probably not very forthcoming, to truthfully report the facts.

"In the statement, Cathay Pacific said, "Safety guides every decision we make, and we fully support the decision of the training school.""

Then on return to China, it's off the one of the slave labor factories for causing China to lose face. No rice for you, Wang.

Some of these CFIs are barely past being student pilots themselves.

I'm so glad my instructor soloed me at about 65 hours. It doesn't mean I was slow, it means that I knew how to fly the goddamn airplane, and could have confidently gone cross country that same day. Soloing early isn't a sign of being a natural-born stick and rudder man; it's more often some stupid competition among marginally-competent flight instructors.

They kept coming in Hue Tu Lo.