Originally Posted by
KC10 FATboy
Skyhigh, I don't know your personal situation, nor do I really care to be honest. But I find your remarks, especially for someone who is a monitor of an "airline pilot" forum, offensive if not down right degrading to the profession. Yes, I said profession.
Your comment that modern airliners don't need well experienced pilots anymore is reckless and ignorant. That is exactly the problem we have in this industry today. We have a few companies who allowed inexperienced people into the profession. And as such, we see this lack of experience show up when things don't go as planned.
If anything, I think the modern airliners are harder in that they allow you to become very complacent and ignorant all the while "making it look easy." But when something goes wrong, they expose your flaws.
Pilots still need to do math. They still need to hand fly. They still need to know how to enter holding. They still need to know the myriad of FARs and rules. They still need to be damn near experts in meteorology. They still need leadership skills in order to lead a crew and 150 passengers through a stressful emergecy or any other run-of-the-mill day-to-day situation that is an airline.
So please, cut with the "any idiot can fly" crap because they can't.
Brand new 300 hour pilots at the regionals have proven that hardly any experience is needed to fly a modern airliner. Just open the door and rush them into training. No apprenticeship or time building required.
In 10 minutes a 13 year old could be taught how to use the flight computer to enter a hold. Anyone with basic map skills will be able to find their position by looking at the little plane as it moves across the screen. Granted, to be completely accurate, not just
anyone can jump into an airliner and fly. There are also people who can never figure out how to drive a car too. My point is that it is does not require a lifetime of study and experience building anymore.
A lot of what the airlines paid for in the past is now done by computer. We can pat ourselves on the back as much as we like but the guys who crossed the nation in DC-3's or the Atlantic in DC-6's earned their money. Why would an airline pay when they can hire 300 hour wonders who will do the job for free anyway? Where is the value in our job skills? Gone....
I am not trying to hurt anyone's feelings but to make a point. What kind of a future do we have? Once the unions are completely gone and the free market has a complete choke hold on the airlines who is going to be able to pay much of anything? Why would they pay anything?
Skyhigh