The Phoenix training academy

When I first decided to get started into trucking this very forum gave me a lot of very helpful information. I am not an experienced driver. I only have 8 months of driving experience, so the only helpful information I can give is what the training process was like when I got hired on with Swift Transportation.

I will break it into two parts. The first will be the training academy, and the second will be my experience with my mentor.

First and Foremost You Must Realize The Following:
Most people who go to the swift academy are sent home the very first day. Be honest on your application. Do Bring:
Unlaminated Social Security Card,
Long Form Birth Certificate,
H6
Be able to pee into a cup and pass a drug test
A physical will need to be performed. Blood pressure is a big killer. Abstain from coffee and cigarettes before the physical.

The recruiter:
My recruiters name was Carina S. She was helpful and very honest as was I. I put everything possible in that application. I put in tickets that had been removed from my record. I wanted to make sure I did not get sent home. Getting in contact with my recruiter was difficult. She ignored my emails and phone calls for three weeks. I was sure that I was not an acceptable fit by swift policy. I even went so far as to apply and schedule training with C.R. England. I finally got into contact with my recruiter. She let me know that she had not contacted me because they were going through some sort of system change and she proceceeded to get all my info and sent me through an online course to prepare me for my CDL. I ended up finding this course extremely helpful and would recommend that anyone going through this process to ask there recruiter for the Swift University Course online to prepare for the exam.

Phoenix Training Academy:
To tell the truth I can't say to many good things about this school. I'm sure it's not the worst school out there, and I suppose the negative attitude from some of the instructors was good preparation for the trucking industry. I still feel for the cost of $3900 the training I recieved was abysmal at best.


The first three days was spent in the classroom with a guy named Jerry. Jerry is a very nice man who really cared about getting the students ready for the school and for life on the road. The first day was spent doing the physical, peeing in a cup, and filling out so much paperwork I wonder where it must all be stored. The second and third day was spent watching videos of truck drivers doing deadly things, and doing practice tests for the written CDL exam. My class lost 6 people who could not pass the exam on the second try. I was greatful my recruiter put me into the swift university course.

Once we passed the exam we immediately began practicing our "straight line backing". All we did was back up 100 feet and then pull forward. We would do this 3 times and then it would be the next persons turn and we would go back to the end of the line. It began as fun and turned boring real quick. I would say we backed up and pulled forward somewhere around 50 times a day.

While practicing straight line backing we were also studying for the "pretrip test." And here is where as an experienced rookie I have an issue with this school. The pretrip is important. Loose nuts on the fifth wheel could result in a lost trailer. What is a locking pin? What does an unsafe tire look like? Nothing was explained. The test was pure memorization. We had to point in a direction of whatever it was we were describing and that was it. I learned absoloutely nothing, but I only lost two points on my test.

After the test we began learning other forms of backing. These were "offset backing" and "parellel backing." Once again I learned nothing. They had us turn at angles, while matching up lights to cones and paying attention to the "pizza." They should've had us practice by backing using the rear of the trailer, and looking at the last axle of wheels on the trailer like real truck drivers do. Then we would've really learned something and been prepared for training with our mentors. That being said there was a mexican instructor and russian instructor teaching this class. Both were really friendly and were just teaching us what they were told to do.

Once the backing test was over, and we only had 1 week left of school, we got the weekend off so that we could rest and reset our schedule because for the next three days we were going to be waking up at 2 AM! While harsh, there reasoning was solid. Trucks are not cars. The learning curve is steeper, and we were going to be a nuisance. Much better to learn with fewer cars on the road.

There were four students and one instructor per truck. On monday we were taken to a country road where we practiced upshifting and down shifting. Each student had one hour of training time and then it would move on to the next student. By the end of the day one of us drove into the city and we did some practice in the city streets of Phoenix.

Day two and Day three were spent driving around in a figure 8 around Phoenix and the surrounding cities. Phoenix has some of the dumbest drivers known to existance. Not one hour passed that we did not see an accident. One of our drivers actually got hit by some idiot who wasn't paying attention.

Day Four was a practice test for the final test. The instructor had us drive around in the same figure 8. He did not speak at all. We had to constantly talk about what we were doing. The scoring system was similar to golf. Every time we made a mistake we got a point. We needed less than 13 points to pass.

Day five was the real test. We began we the pretrip, moved on to the backing, and finally did the driving test. From the 54 people who started the class,to the 21 who made it to the second day, to the 15 who made it to week 3, 6 passed the first day. Those who didn't pass retook the test on saturday. Those who didn't pass on saturday went back to the start of week three. From what i'm told everyone eventually passed the final test.

So my final evaluation of the school was that the driving instructors did a very good job, but the backing program needs to be completely reworked. A snake course where students back up through cones in a snake pattern would've really taught a lot. Also really getting into detail of what a pretrip really is rather than just memorizing what a book tells us to do should've been a requirement. I really felt that I paid 3900 bucks for a piece of plastic.

The mentor:
Ah. The mentor. This was one of the most craziest experiences of my life. After training you go to orientation at your "home terminal" It will be boring. You may consider jumping in front of a moving truck to end the horrible torment. Students who graduate swift academy will not have to take a test there first day, but all other applicants will. I was out with my mentor for 2 weeks. He took a week off for the superbowl, which landed on his birthday, and then we went out for another 2 weeks. I'm greatful I got the mentor I got. He taught me how to do a real pretrip. He also taught me how a real trucker does backing. He could also be rude and a real pain in the butt. I like to pretend he was just preparing me for the trucking industry. Sleeping in a moving truck is difficult. I always felt sleep deprived.

After the five weeks I spent with my mentor we had both grown to loathe one another, but at the same time we new we would miss each other. We drove to the terminal and I took my final driving test. By the end of the test I had 17 minutes left on my 70 hour clock so I went home for the weekend. When I came back I was assigned a truck, comchecks, seals, and logs. A few hours later I was dispatched for my very first solo load.

 

Same here. I felt real lucky for the mentor I got. He refused to let me speed, made sure I drove legal to avoid tickets, and taught me to be careful with down grades and braking. I can't imagine being able to sleep soundly while a newbie behind the wheel.