Originally Posted by
ksatflyer
No, not yet, Academy in February. No I just want to know why low time pilots are getting bashed when theyre not the cause of any major crashes? I mean if the most recent crash was that of a regional RJ with a low time FO at the controls who started flipping out and didnt know what to do when there was some sort of problem causing the plane to go down and kill all onboard then I think we could possibly discuss this but I dont think any low time FO's have been the reason behind anyone dying yet. Im not saying theyre perfect, every pilot has an occasional screw up.
It's mitigating the risk.
I wish I still had a copy of the form, and it's been a few years so I might not get this 100% right. Our unit had a risk assessment matrix that was completed before every flight. Aside from the amount of crew rest, flight conditions, and recency of experience, one of the factors was flight crew experience. All of the factors were scored 1-4 or 5. I think it was like golf: the lower score is better. If the score was too high, you had to get special approval to conduct the flight. That higher authority had to review the details and sign-off on it. It might seem like a paper chase, but it got another set of eyes on the mission. The point is that the experience level of the crew members was a contributing factor to the level of risk.