For the uniformed...

What exactly is an IOE trip? Well, IOE stands for Initial Operating Experience. Before they place you in the general pool with everyone, they send you through about 35-50 hours of experience on the flight line. They place you with a special captain who is basically your teacher to make sure you get down a general flow of things, so that way, when you get out with everyone else, you are all on the same page. They can do their best to teach you everything they can in groundschool, sims and stuff, but there are some things you just have to get out there and experience it. So that's what IOE is. It's kinda like on the job training.