Originally Posted by
leardriver
No he/she is not full of it. I hand flew lear 20's for over 5 years. Living on a pager. Flying time critical cargo. If you were lucky, the autopilot would hold altitude for awhile. Most of the time it didn't. Every airline pilot should be able to do the same in the equiptment they are flying. I am not suggesting this captain made a bad decision. On the contrary. If he/she is not comfortable. Then the Captain made the right choice in refusing the flight. The problem here is that Airlines are allowed to hire LOW time LOW EXPERIENCE pilots to fly under a Flag carrier name.
I suggest you tune into PBS on Feb 9th at 21:00.
Do you know the experience level of the Captain involved?
Maybe, just maybe, they are more experienced than you. Maybe a Lear is not a CRJ. Maybe the Captain flies differently than you because they've got humans in back rather than boxes. Maybe this Captain understands that their company is probably under a microscope.
Where does this idea that "Every airline pilot should be able to do the same in the equpment they are flying." come from?
Have you somehow determined this, objectively? For how many hours, to what minimums, flight after flight, with possibly a not very helpful person in the right seat?