Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
I didn't point out jet stream knowledge as an example of penny knowledge did I?
Btw - define "general knowledge".
What do I want to know about ILSs or Rho Thetas? Well right now I'm struggling with understanding when to apply the flight inspection tolerances to localizer course width and glide slope angle measurements vice maintenance reference (initial) tolerances and remembering the numbers for Equality in Normal between a dual transmitter (non-USAF facility) is driving me insane! I don't feel like I've ever had such a hard time remembering a set of numbers. On Rho Thetas, do I have to apply the 1 degree tolerance of the Airborne Reference Radial during the alignment orbit to the last reported alignment average of the orbit itself or do I use the regular 2.5 degrees of alignment?
USMCFLYR
Note: None of this penny knowledge (to an airline pilot) will make a bit of difference of how well s/he executes the approach down to mins on that ILS, and I don't need to know the inner workings of my inverter either. It does what it is suppose to do. If it fails - I switch to inverter #2. If it goes further than that I do some of that pilot 'stuff' and get the plane on deck safely.
A lot of this sounds like what some foreign authorities have their ATP candidates focus on. Sometimes I get the feeling that *some* of those guys would be better at building an ILS than actually flying one.
Point taken though. As professionals, we should have a solid foundation of knowledge about the stuff we use every day, but ILS Rho's and Theta's are the equivalent of intellectual masturbation to an airline pilot. It either works or it doesn't.
Re. the military time, I didn't realize you sometimes did so little flying, but it is what it is. I think the saying is that you're an officer first, and a pilot second?
I agree with you that 2500/500 may be a bit steep. Not because it would hinder the military folks, or because you can have "too much" experience. Instead, I think if we're going to take somebody from a light piston to a CRJ, the extra thousand hours spent at 100kt isn't going to make a 250kt downwind in ORD any easier.