Think about it.

Part 141 schools and the university system is the perfect assembly line for punching out automatons for the airlines. No room for creativity or discovery. Stay on the path. Force fed facts. Regurgitate memory items. Stand in line. We have been heading towards this future for a long time now.

If you want to become an airline pilot it is better not to know what it is like to fly off syllabus. Sully is right but he also is wrong. Experienced lifelong aviators who have built their long careers over many steps before reaching the airlines are leaving the flight deck however overall safety is not.

The airlines do not need to pay for experience anymore. Automation is safer than hand flying. The pride of Airbus is that their planes are (largely) pilot proof. Take away the pay and satisfaction that comes from the sensation of really being in control and there is nothing left to hold the seasoned pilot. Modern aviation needs mindless automatons.

Skyhigh