Originally Posted by
bay982
Ahh, the good old days. No crappy CRM to deal with. Making all the sexist and racist jokes you wanted. Not having to share a cockpit with an "empty kitchen". Worse accident rates. Makes me feel warm inside just thinking about it.
The massive improvement in accident rates is largely due to technology, Glass cockpit being huge, GPS, (GPWS, TCAS, predictive windshear, etc). and the massive expansion of the radar airspace, ADS, etc.. CRM has also been a huge positive... none of this has anything to do with my point about hiring the best .. no failed check, college degree, PIC time, etc all being OBJECTIVE metrics..
As you trumpet your decades of superior experience, don't forget the simple fact: Flying today is not that difficult,
and on this we agree... pilots today with 0 mechanical aptitude get thru type ratings, and I've watched pilots fail out of 747 classic training because they had 0 situational awareness due to the lack of "screens" coming off RJ's and Glass cockpit cessnas..
You're right, it's not rocket science, and the market is reacting with lower wages, and people with multiple failed checks becoming captains (Colgan comes to mind)..
I guess I'll just ride out my last 15 and consider myself lucky to have come up in aviation when it was a respectable job.. even if I get to finish my career in a time when we're just over paid bus drivers (who frankly have a harder job).