Originally Posted by
PeezDog
I've been in airline systems classes where people had no clue about high altitude aerodymaics, jet systems, high altitude weather. Some didn't know why most jets have a swept wing. How they got threw the interview I don't know. At this level you should have some knowledge of those things. I just don't think your initial training course at an airline is the place to be exposed to that for the first time. Courses at an accredited school prepare you for that. Knowledge is power.
I'm not saying that I was ready to fly for the airlines right out of the box, I wasn't, that's why I CFI'd and did some 135 stuff. I'm also not saying that I know it all because I went to Riddle, or that I'm the greatest pilot ever because I went to Riddle, or that Riddle is the greatest school ever. We definitely should have a much higher time requirement. I agree, that real world experience is everything. But if your real world experience consists of single-engine flight time over a beach for 1500hrs, I don't think that makes the cut. Another problem is how to make it fair as well.
End rant. Rebuttals?
Do you think 1500 hours is it? Dragging a banner up and down the street for a couple of summers wont get you the ATP or even meet the requirements.
THIS IS WHAT SHOULD BE REQUIRED FOR EVERY AIRLINE PILOT!
NO NEGOTIATIONS PERIOD!
- Be at least 23 years of age.
- Be able to read, speak, write, and understand the English language.
- Be of good moral character.
- Meet at least one of the following:
- Hold at least a commercial pilot certificate and an instrument rating.
- Meet the military experience requirements (listed in FAR 61.73) to qualify for a commercial pilot certificate and an instrument rating.
- Hold either a foreign ATP or a foreign commercial pilot license and an instrument rating, without limitations, issued by a member nation of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
- Hold at least a current FAA third-class medical certificate. Later, if your flying requires an ATP certificate, you must hold a first-class medical certificate.
- Receive and log ground training from an authorized instructor, or complete a home-study course (such as studying Airline Transport Pilot FAA Knowledge Test and Aviation Weather and Weather Services) to learn (61.155)
- Applicable Federal Aviation Regulations . . . that relate to airline transport pilot privileges, limitations, and flight operations.
- Meteorology, including knowledge of and effects of fronts, frontal characteristics, cloud formations, icing, and upper-air data.
- General systems of weather and NOTAM collection, dissemination, interpretation, and use.
- Interpretation and use of weather charts, maps, forecasts, sequence reports, abbreviations, and symbols.
- National Weather Service functions as they pertain to operations in the National Airspace System.
- Windshear and microburst awareness, identification, and avoidance.
- Principles of air navigation under instrument meteorological conditions in the National Airspace System.
- Air traffic control procedures and pilot responsibilities as they relate to en route operations, terminal area and radar operations, and instrument departure and approach procedures.
- Aircraft loading, weight and balance, use of charts, graphs, tables, formulas, and computations, and their effect on aircraft performance.
- Aerodynamics relating to an aircraft's flight characteristics and performance in normal and abnormal flight regimes.
- Human factors.
- Aeronautical decision making and judgment.
- Crew resource management to include crew communication and coordination.
- Pass a pilot knowledge test with a score of 70% or better.
- A knowledge test is not required for you to add another aircraft type rating to your ATP certificate if your ATP certificate lists the aircraft category and class rating that is appropriate to the type rating sought.
- Accumulate flight experience (FAR 61.159).
- Except as provided in b. and c. on the next page, you must log at least 1,500 hr. of total time as a pilot that includes at least
- 500 hr. of cross-country flight time
- 100 hr. of night flight time
- A person who has performed at least 20 night takeoffs and landings to a full stop may substitute each additional night takeoff and landing to a full stop for 1 hr. of night flight time, limited to not more than 25 hr. of night flight time.
- 75 hr. of actual or simulated instrument flight time
- The maximum time that may be accumulated in a flight simulator or flight training device, representing an airplane, is either
- 25 hr., if the training is not conducted under FAR Part 142, or
- 50 hr., if the training is conducted under FAR Part 142.
- 250 hr. of flight time as PIC of an airplane, or as SIC performing the duties and functions of a PIC under the supervision of a PIC, or by any combination of the two. This requirement must include
- 100 hr. of cross-country time
- 25 hr. of night flight time
NOTE: Not more than 100 hr. of the total aeronautical experience requirements may be obtained in a flight simulator or a flight training device that represents an airplane, provided the experience was obtained in a course conducted under FAR Part 142.