Originally Posted by
AirWillie
Exactly. The 1500 idea came because of the captain from 3407. The fact that he had 3500 at the time of the crash, and the fact that he only had 100 hours in the plane doesn't come up much. I wouldn't throw low timers under the bus now that we got ours.
Anyways the real interest for everyone is not the experience level, because a 3000 hour cessna driver will not know much from a 800 hour cessna driver when you put him in an RJ. Yes they will be able to pull out of a stall at 800 hours, even at 500 hours. But they both start from 0 at an airline. This is where airline training comes in. Well actually the FO had more than atp mins as a CFI when she was hired and she still raised the flaps at 20 degre pitch up. 1500 is just a band aid.
The interest is money.
Better QOL because someone spent an extra weekend around the pattern with a DE in a Seminole. And hopefully there will be people that won't take low paying jobs because they have 1500.
That has worked really well the last 50 years hasn't it? What they should be doing is going after management and the numerous problems with training. I think airline training is lacking.
I was hired with 320 hours total and 50 multi back in 2007 to fly a DHC8. Systems training and FMS lab were easy if you studied and they were interesting. If you studied you were fine no matter what your experience level was. If you didn’t study, you shouldn’t have accepted the job.
The sim training and 121 checkride were very challenging for me. I passed first time but spent all of my free time practicing with my assigned CA who had zero time in the DHC8. He was moving from a 1900. He had never seen the flows or touched an a/c that he was to be PIC of just 10 days later.
The cockpit posters were pretty torn up by the end of my sim training.
My sim CA had over 2000 total and 1200 in the 1900. Over a year of experience flying 121 and is a smart guy. He had trouble as well as I and by the third sim session we decided to devote all of our efforts to becoming successful.
We did it, but I was left feeling that the airlines have a lot to improve in how they train pilots for aircraft that are new to them. I also think it’s a bad idea to have a CA with zero hours become PIC (IOE and line checks should not be a CA’s first hours in an a/c).
121 needs to train ABOVE the minimum standards set forth by the FAA, more time to practice emergencies, landing in strong winds, etc. Total time in your a/c (your office) is what will make a safer pilot. Pilot pay should be a combination of time in type and seniority in the system.
As far as pilot mins, quality is much more important than total time to me. Number of approaches, landings and a grading system by CFIs or your safety pilots should be logged to build a proper history of a pilot’s abilities.
121 crew pairing also needs to be addressed. Pair the CA’s with more hours with the lower hour FO and vise-versa. Safe crew pairing should come before seniority when the schedule is created.
The public wants to be safe but raising the hiring hours won’t create safety. The airlines attitude towards training needs to change.