After retiring from the USAF and being hired at TWA, I was shooting the breeze with some of my new hire classmates.

We had several young guys...23 years old at the time...and one asked me how much time I had. Now, I was 44 then and probably seemed the ancient mariner to him. My answer was 'about 4000 hours, not counting pilot training'.

He said, 'Wow, I have 3500'. One of the advantages of 20 more years is the awareness to save one's ammo until needed...and so I smiled and congratulated him on his accomplishments.

Folks need to realize that there is a huge difference between accumulation and accomplishment. Maybe that young guy eventually came to this realization.

In my present job, I work with many young folks. I take great pride in their accomplishments and am always impressed by their capacity to learn. But, aside from their super attitudes and stellar study skills, they are still only 'x' days old...and have only seen 'y' takeoffs and landings. Some things in life are only learned by living. These lessons are not found in books...they can only be realized through participating in many sunrises and sunsets.

Are these relatively low time pilots qualified to 'do the job'? Yes...but that's a guarded answer. As long as we keep ourselves within the bell curve, things should be OK. But, let's not push these folks too near the edge. It wouldn't be fair. They need more seasoning time before they want to wander out near that edge. Out there, things aren't nearly so willing to accept error.