I am glad we are having great conversation about the training levels and requirements, a lot of good ideas are being bounced around.

There were a couple of things I saw that I have to disagree with though.

Currently, there is no shortage of pilots. 18 months ago there was absolutely a shortage of applicants. And although I agree with the argument that many are not willing to work for $20k a year it unfortunately is a means to an end for many and certainly goes a lot further toward experience then working 3 jobs while flight instructing trying to make $20k a year. So while their are pilots available, airlines are not going to simply revamp negotiated contracts to attract more applicants.

I also read something about the Colgan pilot stating this was her first experience in icing. I believe that was the USA Today version of the story. I believe what she had said was that “she had seen more icing on IOE then she ever say flying in Phoenix“. Which of course makes sense. But where does one see icing unless in an aircraft certified to fly into icing conditions. Again, where do we get the experience?

135 jobs are going away and it is quickly becoming a rich mans game to even become a pilot. An ATP is a great idea because at the very least it thins the heard of applicants but if that stance is taken there will be a lot of very good pilots eliminated from the pool and a lot of very poor ATP qualified applicants getting hired because they have seats to fill.

Some of you had mentioned training and IMHO I think that is huge. At my regional we take things to the shaker and do unusual attitudes but I will fly along at FL370 with 15 year captains asking me questions about high altitude aero dynamics because they don't know the answers. Frankly neither do I. These should be the things taught and stressed in initial. Not breezed over to get through the course on schedule. I also don’t think its fair to spend the entire training session fearing for your lively hood in the crunch to learn/pass/fail environment.

I was telling my wife we carry defibulators on the plane but our flight attendants are not given first aid training. Most of them couldn't handle it, others will just freeze if something happens and there are others that will handle every situation like a true professional.

Bottom line the training falls short because its expensive. The American public and most certainly the media have demanded cut rate cost on air travel. And only when a disaster happens do they demand higher standards of safety. That mentality needs to change. Good luck with that one, if you‘ve got the answer NASA needs to speak to you about your thoughts on destroying this asteroid coming our way..

I say, charge what needs charged, pay what needs to be paid and by all means and train what needs trained. The traffic will fall off, the strong will survive and the weak will move on. But, until the money is there and the public is no longer willing to take a calculated risk for $79 dollar flights nothing will change.