kevbo

I believe that's true for pilots. The LCD for military MX is a decent worker with below average IQ. In the civilian ranks, it includes the mentally retarded. I have known people who could not function in fast food or anywhere outside of a carwash get an A&P. An insider like a pilot can get one with a wink and nudge.

galaxy flyer

You truly need to resting you’re disrespect for maintenance workers; it isn’t justified by the record. You still haven’t produced evidence one or your reason for thinking maintenance is so horrid. I’ve been pretty close to it at the OEM, 121, 135, military both AD and Reserve forces, so I’m pretty confident your opinions are not justified.

GF

kevbo

I'll lay off maintenance, its not going to improve just because I know better. Be thankful our planes have so much built in redundancy. The state of maintenance personell have always been low and is currently spiralng down because of this booming economy. Any mechanic with a brain will not stand for the low wages and lack of career progression. They either get picked up right away by a major or find another line of work.

galaxy flyer

OK, but how do you know better? 45 years in a variety of operations and pure maintenance failures, as opposed to materiel failure, can be counted on one hand with two fingers unused. There was a screw-up in not connecting two cannon plugs on a C-5, a reluctance somewhat understandable, in diagnosing a landing gear problem on a C-5 and pilot heat switch jury-rig on a Ciatation when Reagan was new as President. That’s it in 15,000 hours.

GF

kevbo

The standards are purely subjective. No One can objectively assess the quality of a mechanic or quality of his workmanship unless it causes a failure. Even then it matters only if the boss doesn't like the guy. It is a "Lord of the flys" environment. Pilots aren't much different in that respect.

AirBear

I flew with low time F/O's when I was at Mesa. They had some kind of Flight Academy there and we'd sometimes get F/O's with 300 hours or so.

Now when I was taking Sim checkrides I loved having those pilots with me because they knew how to do things by the book. But put them into normal daily operations and they struggled. Very little "Air Sense", no feel for the energy state of the Jet. Many times when on downwind and cleared for the visual I had to stop them from turning base because I knew we'd never get down in time in the CRJ. And they had trouble with non-standard approaches, like when ATC said "170 to the marker, cleared ILS".

I had never done any Flight Instructing since I went from a 1 airplane Military Squadron straight to a major airline. When I upgraded to Captain at Mesa I was asking all my buddies how you knew when to take the jet away from the F/O. I was worried I'd over react and take the controls when I didn't need to. They all told me "don't worry, you'll know". I'm like "but how", and again they said "don't worry you'll know".
A few months later I'm flying with a 22 year old F/O just off of IOE. She had done all but 2 IOE legs in the CRJ700/900 and was now in the 200 which has a hard wing, no slats like it's big brothers. Quite a different landing picture. We were landing 18R in CLT, everything was fine until she flared about 50 feet too high . As I watched the airspeed pass downward thru Ref I just automatically said "my controls" and salvaged the landing. My buddies were right, there was no thought process, it was purely automatic. Luckily that was the only time I had to do that. I felt bad for her, she should have had more IOE legs in the 200.

The point of this is the 1500 requirement makes sense. You've had a lot more time to develop "Air Sense" and had more time to see a lot of different stuff (hopefully).

757HI

Reading this gave me a headache....

Tip for those "stagnating" in this environment; get off your lazy butt and get at it!! Jeez!

If a pilot can't figure it out in times like these, then by golly they have no business manning an airliner. Good riddance.

rickair7777

I would argue that compared to steam gauges, glass is more reliable and easier to use. Glass *should* result in better safety, although I think it's now known that "glass-induced over-confidence" kills people also.

Failures of vacuum pumps and electric/mechanical gauges are quite common, and typically leave physical evidence pointing at the mfg.

JohnBurke

He's a troll with a short, failed career in aviation maintenance, and a one-trick pony at that. He's detailed it here before, his mission to **** on pilots and mechanics. His problem is that aside from the utter stupidity and ignorance of his comments, he hasn't a leg to stand on. He doesn't have the knowledge, experience, or skill to speak with any measure of authority, so he posts puffed up ridiculous comments which only underlie his own insecurity and lack of credibility.

There is no question that his comments are unjustified, but he will go on making them until the cows come home, speaking from the wrong end of his troubled gastrointestinal tract. It's why he's on the ignore list.

You're wasting your time.

kevbo

I made it to the top level of airline maintenance. There was no more money to be made without starting my own business. Pilots, management, and all of society look down on maintenance with good reason. It became obvious to me as soon as I got out. I'm just letting all you pilots know how poor maintenance is, and especially its personell. I think there is something seriously wrong with anyone who stays in it.