Originally Posted by
A10crewdawg
Playing devil's advocate on this, because I agree with what I think you're trying to say.....but what kind of real leadership and management experience would a 21 year old 300 hour pilot have that would make him/her stand out that much against a multiple thousand hour pilot? Many would argue that the multiple thousand hour pilot has experience and leadership just on their flight time, regardless of the quality of it. Again, KC10, just playing the advocate here.......not trying to burn any bridges with anyone. I was one of those guys who got hired in the boom of 2007, but I wasn't a 21 year old.....I got on with a regional and am now furloughed but I got some time flying in a 121 environment and still haven't quite hit 1000 hours..........does that make me any less qualified now than a 1200 hour CFI?
Good post and I welcome the debate. It is what makes this website so good.
I wasn't very clear in what I was trying to say. What I meant to say was not all flight time is created equal
and just because you have flight time DOES NOT make you experienced.
We all know this, or we should, but being an airline pilot just isn't flying the plane. You are a leader and the final decision maker in the realm of safety. This is why I say I would hire a low time pilot with good customer service and leadership abilities over a high time pilot. Let's face it, Mathew Broderick proved you can teach a monkey to fly an airplane. But teaching them how to lead a crew and passengers through a stressful situation is another story.
Also, as I am a Part 121 pilot, Part 121 time (in my opinion) isn't all it's cracked up to be. The pilot doesn't plan the flight and most of the flying is conducted with the autopilot on. Automation also makes it very easy and your skills deminish because you end up relying on the automation so much. Then, for example, when the ACARs is dead, just getting ATIS suddenly becomes and emergency procedure. Ok, I'm kidding, but I think you get the point.
Sure, there's experience to be gained there, but only if the pilot learns from those experiences. A big problem the high time pilot has is complacency whereas the low time pilot has ignorance. The high time pilot is going to get interviews but it will be the HR interview that determines if he's an experienced pilot and a seasoned leader.
Call my company crazy but on day one of training, we were all told that we were hired for our leadership ability first. The fact that we all had X amount of flying time with no violations etc., showed that we were good pilots and that was a "given".
-Fatty