Originally Posted by
shanejj
Young kids straight out of high school don't belong in the cockpit?
Well...I'm not straight out of high school, I've been out a few years....am a college student and I'm a low timer....
Are you saying that I don't belong in the cockpit?
If I would do the CFI route for a few hundred hours....are you saying that my decision making skills are miraculously a lot better? Sure, because Mrs. Jones next to me helped me out in that department quite a lot.
The CFI ticket let's you build time and sure you learn a lot. But how much? How much do you learn that would be usefull flying in the airlines? Sure someone with a commercial ticket which all his 400 hours consisted of weekend buzzing shouldn't belong in the cockpit. But someone who comes from a professional flight school.....in which most of the hours are long x/c flights in some of the worst weathers....or how about 200 of those hours come from 135ops? Does that make a difference in being called "low time and in-experienced?"
So you needed 3000hours....Others needed a 0 less.
Becoming a figher pilot now versus becoming one during world war1.....
Do you think that was wrong also?
Would you rather have that young low time pilot sitting next to you or would you rather he finish college in aviation management or something and whoa! He's your boss now ;-) Now who's really getting screwed?
There is quite a bit be learned operating in the real system... no "professional flight school" is going to provide training that susbstitutes for that. Remember, the "high-end" (ie high priced) flight schools sell you a load of BS in order to justify that $90K student loan.
A private pilot with 1000 hours is usually better than a "professional flight school" graduate with 300. The 1000 hour cfi is even better, someone who has 1000 hours and a 135 checkout on advanced equipment is better still.
No one will argue that the US military has the best flight training program in the world (in part due to their ability to boot out those who don't excel). But the big airlines still require even US military pilots to have 1000+ hours.
There are lot's of folks out there who have more perspective on this than you do...when you have 2000 hours you'll know what I'm talking about.