Originally Posted by
HighFlight
No one is *gasp* trying to say a military pilot with zero 121 experience will be a better pilot in the beginning than a 5,000 hour regional pilot. The point you seem to be missing is that the big boys and girls are less interested in your flying skills than they are in the professionalism, leadership skills, and ability to operate in very high demand situations. A monkey can be taught to fly. But a monkey cannot be expected to lead people, be a manager, etc. That is why I think the majors are more interested in military folks, regional pilots with degrees, those who volunteer, and particularly those who have held management positions.
If you're a pilot, you can fly an airplane. If you're a leader, you can bring more to the table. And that is by no means limited to military folks. But from my short time around this particular block, the ones I hear of getting the calls do more within the company than push hunks of metal around the skies.
But the "big boys and girls" are just fine with the "professionalism, leadership skills, and ability to operate in high demand situations" of regional pilots as long as we have fewer than 77 of THEIR passengers on board? It's embarrassing when I'm jumpseating on mainline and the guy in the right seat (who has been with the company over a year) hasn't figured out how to call for push, or that it's not a good idea to call ops while crossing active runways, or the boards don't need to be used for 20 knot reductions in level flight, or asks the captain if they need to deice after finishing the walkaround, or the box doesn't need to be reprogramed if your sidesteping on a visual approach to a parallel runway with the autopilot off. There is a place to get experience in the environment in which your operating and that place should not include a 75/76 type rating. Period.