Originally Posted by
Trip7
I remember listening to the tapes as a United 757 taxied in PVD during low vis and the crew sounding like rookies having no clue where they are. How much experience was in the cockpit that night? This can happen to any pilot or controller with any amount of experience. It would be a shame if this thread boiled into the low time vs. high time usual banter that doesn't do anyone or this profession any good. Now dicussing creative ways to improve safety and pay would be much more productive IMO.
Yea the United Captain sounded foreign and the FO was a woman. The controller (who was as if not more stupid than the crew, in fact she probably should never have been allowed to control aircraft again, it was that bad. "hey aircraft saying your on the active runway in 1200 RVR, shut up I'm trying to take some planes off here" I'm paraphrasing but that's pretty close. No joke) was a woman as well. (True Story) Not that there's anything wrong with that.
In all seriousness though the controllers are doing a lot of training of brand new folks as well. If you listen it's pretty easy to pick up on which ones are new. The media never gets this stuff right. Neither does our rumor mill. I'll wait for the final report to pass judgment.