Originally Posted by
CBreezy
While I appreciate what this guy was trying to do, he did it incredibly poorly. Scaring people into action by claiming that their lives are in imminent danger is irresponsible, at best. His writing is full of half truths and poorly drawn conclusions. If I were not in the industry, I would take away the folowing from this article:
CBREEZY, you are forgetting the context of the article. It was published in the NY Post, a rag whose mission is to scare people with irresponsible half truths....very much like your job in these forums.
Actually, this article was far closer to the truth than what you typically read in this tabloid.
Originally Posted by
CBreezy
1) New First Officers are woefully unprepared to fly because their previous jobs had them flying inferior aircraft. They are dangerous. Look at Colgan.
2) Colgan happened because of a pilot shortage. If there are less pilots, more people will die.
3) "Studies" have shown young pilots are less experienced than older pilots and there are a lot of young pilots around right now making twice as likely that you will crash. So, if young people are flying your airplane, you're going to crash.
4) State-owned foreign carriers' pilots make "astronomically" more than the most experienced pilots in the US and therefore the most senior pilots at even Delta are leaving to go to the Middle East.
5) This is one of the dumbest things I've ever read "The most dangerous time at an airline is when they’re hiring new first officers and upgrading first officers to captains, and some airlines are perpetually locked in this cycle just trying to keep up with attrition."
I'm just going to stop. I give this article a D. His writing was full of hyperbole. He rambled and really made no point other than, "public be afraid of flying."
Also, there's a sweet link in the article to him saying TWA800 was shot down. Nothing like a little conspiracy to finish out this well thought-out exposé.
Again, the context of the rag it was published in...besides, I'm sure he didn't write it and was probably severely misquoted by those who did.
For the most part the facts are pretty accurate in this case, it's just the way the story is presented that makes it dramatic.
I'm guessing Bedford forgot to pay his monthly "pilot shortage" Press Release payment to the NYPost and this is their response.
Keep in mind, however, sometimes you need a little sensationalism when going up against the massive PR campaigns by guys who literally claim that increasing the minimum flight time requirements for airlines reduces safety because pilots spend too much time flying airplanes and forgetting what they learned in college before going to an airline...yes....this was said out loud by a regional airline CEO.
And in fact the crew of that Colgan Air flight was not highly experienced even though they had over 1500 hours each. The fact remains they crashed a perfectly good airplane on a routine flight due to a severe brain fart....a typical low time private pilot type of mistake.