Originally Posted by
Barley
Yeah.. Because watching a computer fly a plane from the left seat is a whole lot different than the right. TPIC is an arbitrary metric and is given importance by insecure folks. Airlines that have too many resumes and no need to smartly filter the applicant pool use it. I've sat in both seats with multiple jobs. Anyone that feels like one side of the plane is worth more than the other is living in fantasy land.
I disagree. I learned a lot being a captain. It changes the way you think about things and how you approach problem solving. I've been told by many captains at frontier that they can always tell if the FO was a captain themself or not. Note, that's not to say that an FO can't or won't make a great FO at a major, but I think a person with PIC time is more likely to be a better day to day line pilot. I believe someone who has sat in the left seat is going to be more helpful to the guy in that seat when he needs help.
The mindset is different between the captain and the FO. I think being a captain is a very valuable experience.