Originally Posted by
acl65pilot
If he is he is correct and dead wrong.
Stick and Rudder wise, both have complete basic flight school. The military guy can think geometrically, where the civvie generally has no close. There you go. Military guys are better, yeah! Lets stop that crud.
What they both lack the the ability and experience to operate in the 121 world. The Regional guys that come to mainline work in the system every day, understand RNAV RNP, CATI II III etc. They know the radios and FMC stuff. There are some military guys that have never seen it. It takes some spool up for that.
Military guys and gals are better employees. They follow orders, the are pro company and skeptical of unions when they are hired. Regional guys know the game and are not going to be sold on anything.
In the end if you make it to a major your flying abilities match. We are both rough around the edges on some level. Really who cares?
Some of the biggest pro scope restoration pilots are former military guys.
I have to take exception to a couple of things here, ACL. RNAV RNP is taught in pilot training. Any multi place airplane in the USAF now does Cat II and they all have FMC/FMS. Fighter guys, while not as well versed in weather landings, operate in weather using synthetic vision at low level at night in wx at 500Kts. Military guys routinely operate multiple radios on multiple frequencies both encrypted and not.
You're right, we don't know the specifics of ATL or ORD or JFK operations. I've often said the hardest part of learning this job was getting from the gate to the runway at ATL.
What the 500 hour military pilot has over the 500 hour civilian is depth and breadth of experience, command experience and weight of responsibility. Neither of the two are qualified for a Part 121 job however. By the time the two reach a Major interview, they are pretty much equal.