JetBlue programme turning clerks into pilots

Dallas

WHAT do a supermarket clerk, an airline baggage handler and a heavy-equipment operator have in common? They're among the first participants in JetBlue's new programme to turn people with little or no flight experience into pilots.

The initial six recruits began the second phase of training on Monday, after three weeks studying meteorology, aerodynamics, aircraft systems and the like. They'll now spend about seven months in Arizona to begin flight training at CAE Oxford Aviation Academy. If successful - and if they can handle the US$125,000 price tag - they should become first officers at JetBlue Airways Corp in 2020.