Originally Posted by
ryane946
That was an excellent post. It is generally accepted that more experience = better pilot. Personally, I see no difference between 1000/100 and 500/100 if the trainee can pass a tough training course.
We complain about the degrading of our industry all the time. But if Trans States budges at all on the
quality of their training, we are going to have more boneheads flying in our profession. More and more people are trying to become pilots without college degrees
. Next thing you know there could be high school dropouts flying these planes. Training needs to be tough. If you can pass a tough, respectable training course, we shouldn't care so much about experience. Now if someone is lowering their mins and lowering their standards, we are going to have a problem, and nothing will be done about it until we have a crash that kills people!!!!
yeah i would not agree with your education statement. I guarantee you there are bush pilots up in Alaska who dropped out of school and have never had any training past private pilot, whos skills and experience level are FAR superior to that of your average pilot.
But i do stand by my point that experience and hours are two Totally different elements. As a CFI you learned that from students, some students could jump in the plane, and nail everything you threw at them in 10 hours. Some guys couldnt even solo up into the hundreds of hours. Thats just natural ability.
There is a huge difference in experience based on what kind of flying you are doing, when i left my first CFI job, i was primarily doing instrument and commercial training, my skills and profeciency were very high, then I changed flight schools and did exclusive primary training, and my IFR skills and scan went down. I had twice as much flight time than i did 6 months ago, but i felt my piloting skills were at a lower level then, than they were 500 hours ago. Then as i started preparing for Regional interviews, i started working really hard on IFR procedures and my skill level went back up. Went through some 121 training and started feeling really good about my proficiency level. Passed my checkride finished IOE and then got on line. Thats when i started using the autopilot and Flight director all the time and skills went back down again.
But during my first few months doing a lot of flying, i felt my experience level rising and I appreciate the fact that with time comes experience and it makes me respect the experience level of those who have more than I. So yeah at the early stages of flight instructing it doesnt matter how many "hours" you have. Its what you have done in those hours.
So i do believe that a 500 hour CFI with some natural ability, and a hard work ethic, can be just as successful as a 1500 hour cfi in a 121 training environment.
But you cant compare a CFI whos been doing repeated slow flight, stalls, steep turns and crashes and dashes in the pattern, To a guy thats been flying a night freight operation, single pilot night IFR is some of the best experience you will get. From what i have learned thus far, any monkey can get in these airplanes move the controls around and push the buttons. Its an experience level that makes or breaks the pilot, what decisions can the pilot make when things are abnormal. And until you have a lot of experience, 1000 hour CFIs are not, in my opinion, qualified. Thats why you usually get put in the right seat for a few years.
A piece of paper, (especially an expensive one) dont make a pilot, its the experience hes had and what hes learned from it, and how he will apply his experience to his decision making when it counts, is what counts. Sorry to get all Tom Skerrit in Top Gun on you, but it is a good statement. Just my 2 cents.