Originally Posted by
SkyHigh
Probably in the next ten years the multi-crew license will make it so that airlines can hire cadet pilots with zero time and train them exclusively in airline operations to attain a line ready first officer in less than 200 hours.
The FAA and insurance companies are the ones that set the actual minimums. Everyone would agree that they are low however it all seems to work out. I have never heard of an airliner that has crashed due to a low time FO but I have heard of plenty that have gone down due to complacent old captains.
No one likes to think that others can do the job so cheaply and with so little experience, but the facts indicate that all that is necessary is the current FAA mandated minimums. And, those minimums are due to get even lower.
Skyhigh
No doubt that the right training program can train pilots to high levels of proficency in say 1 year and 200ish hours. and NO I am not talking about flight schools where the students money is the factor. The military has for many many decades taken students with very little flight time.. some as little as 10 hours.... put them thru training programs that in 12-18 months produce pilots capable of flying multi-engine transport/bomber/tanker aircraft not to mention the guys selected for fighter tracks. the caviate that the student must ALWAYS be in constant jepardy. The mantra can not be... oh..I will get it tomorrow... or the next flight... or anything like that. Military flight training has very very detailed performance standards which have to be met on each and every flight. Not up to the required proficency on that flight... HOOK!!! Do that three or four flights in a row and you find your self on the outside looking in. Low time flight programs CAN NOT succed with out such consequences. THAT in a nutshell is the ONLY difference in military training and civilian training. In a civilian training program there is ALWAYS tomorrow... you can ALWAYS go up and do it again... not so in a military training system. That said I in NO way suggest that military pilots are better than civilian pilots. But I do believe that they are ready for much more complex aircraft quicker in their flying lifetime than the normally trained civilian guy. At some point the playing field levels .... wherer that is varies probably from person to person.
Yes... I do believe some american carriers might start true ab-into training programs in this country in the future. And I personally believe they can be succesful at it with the right training standards.