Originally Posted by
The Dominican
Now, haven said that! Training is an area where it is much better in the US, training (Specially in Asia) it's a ridiculous culture game where the adjustment to their way is for more important than airmanship! How well you fly is of little relevance as long as you do their stupid calls and you do the theater performance as the little movie script dictates.
The training in the US is far superior and much more pragmatic and practical than what they think is training here in Asia!
In my experience, yes and no. Training in Asia was terrible when I was there.
In my current company, training is excellent. We have the same type of authorization (AQP) as the US has for once-a-year training, but we still do 2 days (8 hours of Sim) every 6 months, and everything is graded and goes into our permanent record. We do multiple LOFT type scenarios and they are very challenging. I continually feel "stretched" by our training, more so than I ever did in the USA.
Having said that, I will add that most of the pilots overseas come up through a "multi-pilot training program" where they get a "frozen ATP" and they are in the right seat of a narrow body jet right out of flight school. They have 2,000-3,000+ hours in a narrow body before my current company hires them, so they know how to operate a jet in the airline environment. BUT, these MPL training programs emphasize procedures as a compensation for low experience, and it just doesn't cut it in my view. Also, the foreign airlines emphasize use of automation and they download the flight data without any union oversight or de-identification of crew, so everyone lives in fear of making a mistake, which results in more dependency on automation. The result is a lack of stick and rudder skills, automation dependency, and emphasis on procedure over common sense or airmanship. The USA style system that brings a guy/gal up through flight instructing or flying night freight to build PIC experience is second to none in my view, but it is simply impossible in most of the world. It is only the USA, Australia and New Zealand that have a significant general aviation base to provide that kind of experience.