Originally Posted by
145Driver
The problem with this statement is that there will be a point of diminishing returns. The learning curve will never continue exponentially upward. While we are all indeed still learning, no matter our experience level, an individual can only be so good, and only retain so much knowledge.
One way to look at this is to put a whole bunch of pilots on paper, in a line-up in order of experience (hours) relative to a particular operation. For this case, let's say a flight from A to B in your typical regional jet. Would you put your wife and kids on the plane with a captain who just upgraded at ATP mins and the FO has 600 TT, or would you pick the most experienced people to fly your family? (if you fit in either of those categories, don't take this personally)
The way training is in the US is very different to that of other countries. The FAA at ATP level, doesn't prepare you for overwater international ops because they assume your first gig will be domestic overland ops only. International flying is a different ballgame and a lot of guys in the US won't see it until they've already logged thousands of hours in regional jets, if at all. My point here is that the learning curve is much steeper in the early days for pilots overseas. I logged 1350 hours piston time in Florida before I got a regional job. It would have been beneficial for me to trade in the light trainers a lot sooner for something bigger with more sophisticated ops. Any industrial psychologist will tell you, you should be proficient after a few hundred hours of the same operation.
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