Originally Posted by
mundo1
Not all 3,000 hours are equal… For example, a pilot who has been exposed (for 3, 000 hours) to the sheltered environment of FAR 121 flying ONLY, may not be prepared for the 1% of the time that can potentially expose him/her to a catastrophic event (e.g., dual engine failure after bird strikes on take-off, or a stall in night IMC at low altitude). On the other hand, a pilot who has flown 3,000 hours in many different environments, such as single pilot, CFi, night freight, charter, military – in several different airplanes, is more likely to be prepared to handle the demands of that 1% of the time. That’s what experience is all about.
Today, we fly very reliable airplanes; consequently, it’s very easy to fall into the complacency trap that makes us believe we are great pilots because we grease the landing after an uneventful flight. Lets do our profession a favor and don’t fall for that fallacy.
Lets face it, anybody can be a “good” pilot when everything is working properly or an “abnormal” is easily found in the QRH. In contrast, professionals excel when they are faced with exceptional situations.
+1 on this post too!
I've been reading the various threads on this crash, and wanted to post some thoughts, but Skybolt summed it up perfectly. Pilots need to have a solid background in airmanship
before they get into Part 121 ops. I've been flying 121 for 13 years now, and had 7 years of military flying before that. Most of my 121 time is exactly the same hour repeated a few thousand times. Still, the basic stick and rudder skills that I learned early on keep me right in the center of the envelope when flying passengers. Nice, safe, and comfortable.
When you look at the NTSB reenactment of the Colgan crash and see the airspeed drop 50 knots or so in a space of less than a minute, you have to ask yourself: What pilot could allow this to happen? I don't care how tired you are; when you're in the approach phase, your eyes are on the instruments whether you're the flying pilot or the pilot monitoring. Another example is the Pinnacle RJ crash. The pilots climbed to FL410 and the airspeed was what, a hundred and eighty knots indicated or something? No alarm bells going off here?
How much money is Colgan (and their insurers) going to lose in the lawsuits? Probably hundreds of millions. How much would it have cost them to pay their pilots more, thereby attracting much better pilot applicants? I dunno, maybe 2 or 3 million. I hope the lawyers stick it to them, and maybe, just maybe, the rest of the industry will wake up. Not holding my breath, though.