Karl, These flights were only for the check airman, not every pilot on the line. Much of the training could, of course, be done in the classroom and much of the rest in the simulator. My guess is the APA weighed in heavily on this decision. AA and the APA have lagged the industry in qualifying all of their pilots for international duties. At some of the bases there are international and domestic statuses for the same airplane, New York for example. That base has both LGA/CA/737/D and LGA/737/CA/I. On the other hand all of the 320 and 737 pilots in Miami are international qualified. Together both the APA and AA consider the flying in some regions to be so different than domestic flying that they want extra qualifications. I realize that other airlines have moved away from this but they can do as they please. Consider that if everyone at the airline were qualified to fly to every region, you could have both a CA and FO who bid to stay with only CONUS flying suddenly thrust into some very complicated destinations with little experience. We've decided we want a greater consistency of experience in some regions and the FAA signs off to our training plan. That FAA agreement is an important part of the picture and I really don't know how to compare the training regimens of the other airlines with AA. While AA may incur additional training costs with these different bid statuses, other airlines may have their own costs with additional training during their yearly trip to the mother ship for their check rides. I don't know. Are there really pilots who don't want to fly outside the CONUS? Yes, lots. BORING!, but they've made me a bit more senior during the course of my career. God bless 'em. Eric
> On 09/26/2025 7:32 PM EDT Karl L. Swartz via Mifnet <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > Ok, Eric, but "training flights” still doesn’t explain why this requirement > seems to be unique to AA. > > This summer UA served three Atlantic destinations from EWR with the 737 MAX > and I’ve been told they did no such training flights for these Atlantic > destinations: > > * GOH (Nuuk, Greenland) > * PDL (Ponta Delgada, Azores) > * FNC (Funchal / Madeira) > > So far as I’ve been able to determine, JetBlue didn’t do this either when > they began flying the A321neo to Europe. > > Advisory Circular (AC) 120-42B, sent by Mike, is interesting but it’s from > 2008 so certainly applied to both the UA and B6 examples. Mike mentioned some > FAA discretion—is AA under some sort of extrAA FAA double secret scrutiny? > > -- Karl > > > > On Sep 26, 2025, at 2:52 AM, ERIC Smith via Mifnet <[email protected] > > mailto:[email protected]> wrote: > > > > AA has ETOPS already and uses it to fly 321 NEOs to Hawaii. The training > > flights to Europe are indeed empty and used for training instructors and > > check airmen for North Atlantic ops. Since we don't have XLRs yet AA is > > using the NEOs it already has. > > > > Eric > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Revised: 20250507 > > You are receiving The Mifnet because you requested to join this list. > > The Mifnet is largely a labor of love, however the infrastructure isn't > exactly cost-free. If you'd care to make a small contribution to the effort, > please know that it would be greatly appreciated: > https://wardell.us/url/mifbit > > All posts sent to the list should abide by these policies: > > 1) List members acknowledge that participation in Mifnet is a privilege--not > a right. > 2) Posts are always off the record, absent specific permission from the > author. > 3) The tone of discussions is collegial. > 4) Posts are expected to be in reasonably good taste. > 5) We discuss ideas and not personalities, and we don't speak ill of other > Mifnet members. > > * The Mifnet WEB SITE is: > https://www.mifnet.com/ > > * To UNSUBSCRIBE from this list at any time please visit: > https://lists.mifnet.com/ > OR: SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: [email protected]?subject=leave > > * Send Mifnet mailing list POSTS/SUBMISSIONS to: > [email protected] > > * You may reach the person managing The Mifnet at: > [email protected] > > * Please consider the DIGEST version of The Mifnet, which consolidates all > list traffic into 1-3 > messages daily. See instructions at: > https://lists.mifnet.com/ > > * Manage your personal Mifnet SUBSCRIPTION at: > https://lists.mifnet.com/ > > * For a list of all available Mifnet commands, SEND THIS MESSAGE via email: > [email protected]?subject=help > > * View The Mifnet LIST POLICIES and PRIVACY POLICY at: > https://mifnet.com/index.php/policies > > * View instructions for Mifnet DELIVERY PROBLEMS at: > https://mifnet.com/index.php/delivery-problems > > * View The Mifnet LIST ARCHIVE at: > https://lists.mifnet.com/hyperkitty/list/[email protected]/ >
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