Originally Posted by
BoilerUP
Since you work for the FAA in a flight check capacity, I'm sure you know "the GA pilot" IS trained and then checked to the 'same uniform standards' - the FAA Practical Test Standards - from PVT checkride right through 121 proficiency check.
Then you must have missed the many posts on the forum about the differences people have encountered between the varying FSDOs and DPEs across the country. Actually - one of the things that I have found to be as true as taxes is the fact that the more *examiners* you have, the less standardization you are able to maintain throughout the system. Secondly - as I'm sure you know - Flight Check and the FSDO are opposite ends of the spectrum. Except for my brief stint with civilian flying prior to the military, I don't have any experience with the civilian testing standards; though I am becoming familiar with them in the recent past with my second type rating (one experimental so not sure that really counts) and an upcoming -297 ride
As such, I don't think its realistic or necessary for "GA pilot" to be held to the same standards as guys who get taxpayer-funded training worth millions of dollars.
Didn't say that the GA should be held to the same standards. I was addressing the often used - look at the military and how those guys are allowed to fly in this or that aircraft after only so much experience - argument. If you want to compare duties then you must compare selection and training.
That said, I do think experience matters more than anything else in one's logbook, and the measure of experience doesn't begin and end in a Total Time column.
And I believe that it is a combination of the two. Experience is subjective. How do you measure it? The ATP was supposedly designed to take into account a certain level of experience (x/c time, PIC time, night time, etc...).
USMCFLYR