Originally Posted by 2dotslow
In the first place, I said if one (an AFA grad) were qualified, he had a ... Not "qualified above all others." Secondly, if those skills you speak of now are in any way similar to the cockpit management skills of today's newer-generation equipment, more power to ya. Old fashioned dive-bombing and strafing took certain skills as well, but I digress. The Falcon 900 EXs we fly are truly state-of-the-art machines, but the complexity of the systems and the resultant mission integration isn't that tough of a nut to crack, even for old troops like me. Finally, your posts here, and like that in your tete-a-tete with the FedEx guy, appear a little condescending, and twinged with a hint of jealousy. That may not be the intent, they just come across that way. FWIW, the more important aspect of which I wrote, is the post-career networking opportunities offered in professions far more lucrative, and even more satisfying, than flying the proverbial line...
Wow, condescending is not what I was going for. I write mostly in jest, I went to Washington State and as you may know already we were voted one of the top party schools for many a year. So, you may be right about me, I am uneducated compared to others. Again, my main point is that there are alternatives.
Networking IS the key. I agree whole-heartedly, but I've found that most of your contacts come from a time when you have finished pilot training and "proved" yourself, not from college. But I may be wrong.
The "skills" I was referring to was supposed to be a sarcastic remark about the massive amount of people the Air Force has firehosed into the system to produce more pilots since the 1999 "We are in a critical shortage of pilots" line that was given to Congress. In fact, that is what I'm writing my masters paper on.....that it is actually harder now to wash out of pilot training than at any other time in our history, and that there are more than a few that are slipping through the cracks that should not have wings. I truly believe that over the next five to ten years, we will see a dramatic rise in Class A accidents. I hope I'm wrong.