Originally Posted by
dera
...and still, the only checkride failures we had in our class were military guys.
Yet these guys will be at majors before anyone else with clean records. No. It has nothing to do with what you said. It's just a blind preference.
Funny how the only guys who crumbled under pressure were the military guys. Good people, but not great pilots. And not working well under stress.
Perhaps it was because actually a huge part of military aviators have never experienced the stuff you described. The stories we hear from them are nothing like what you are telling.
I would tend to agree with most of this. When I actually talk to mil pilots, they don't over embellish their time like some of the situations I have heard here. I will however admit, combat sucks and those that have been in it, my gratitude goes out to you. I simply don't think that, for the 121 world, should trump someone that has been doing 121 flying for 5+ years.
Listen, at the end of the day we want to all succeed and I think the issue non military pilots have is that we are put a rung down simply because we didn't fly for the military, while the military aviators are placed a rung higher simply because they did. It is an unfair advantage that in my opinion isn't justified anymore and is simply around due to the old way of doing things. This is one industry where it seems just being associated with the military automatically gets you a leg up regardless of who you are competing with for the same job.
For some of the examples listed about crappy situations, well they all happen in every single field of aviation. Engine failures, gear failures, given too little or too much fuel, diversions, sickness, check rides etc.
The ironic thing about this whole argument and that kinda makes my point for me is that we have a diverse set of pilots from all walks of life flying for the airlines and none of them are more safe or more prone to accident than another, at least in the jet world. So if being from the military was that much more of an advantage, why are planes not falling out of the sky every time an emergency happens and a civilian pilot is at the controls? Why isn't the FAA stepping in and mandating that there always needs to be a competent military pilot in the flight deck?
My guess, this whole thing goes back to the "good ole boys club" and practices from decades ago, when I admit, it mattered. In this day and age I think the gap has closed.