C130driver

Good! I’m glad there are forces in this country that realize that unlike an “ordinary office worker,” pilots are responsible for numerous lives and that both quality and experience matter. It has little to do with “high social status.” It troubles me that there are pilots out there that view their job just like an ordinary office job. I hope you aren’t flying my family.

Fifty50

Amen!
........

kevbo

I think Airbus and modern cockpits in general have detached the crew enough to make their role redundant. Im seeing really bad pilots with very little experience get by well enough these days. Some of these guys wouldnt make it in a 1960s cockpit. The rest of the world sees this and acts accordingly. The US makes a big deal out of flying because its the most exciting thing that they can use to lure kids into military service. The status that pilots are given is what attracts 99% of the people who become professional pilots in the US. I fell for it for a while. There is a lot more to aviation than flying but everyone wants to be a pilot.

aiir

I'm just starting my training but stick and rudder skills are going to be my number one priority because without them I won't have a basis for understanding the automation and I have enough respect for the profession and the people that I'll be transporting to know that if that automation ever fails, I'll be the last line of defense between wherever we are and terrain, terrain. Not to mention that my personal work ethic doesn't allow me to half-ass things, and half understand things...but to each their own.

kevbo

BTW, that little video game controller in the Airbus does nothing but make suggestions to the computer. When automation fails, you'll be the first on the scene.

FraxAvi8tor

Sounds like ALPA is already prepared to compromise on the 500 hour requirement with a recommendation for 750 for 4-year grads:

"ALPA supported more moderate credits of 250 hours across the board for aspiring pilots who complete the proposed airline-run training module. Under that proposal, military pilots could get an ATP license with 500 hours of flight time, four-year aviation school graduates would need 750 hours and two-year graduates would need 1,000 hours."

So basically ALPA supports Method 1 for EQP (enhanced qualification program), table 2 in the FAA (ACT ARC) recommendation.

Duesenflieger

This isn't too terribly shocking. Money is the energy that lets the FAA and U.S. government function. It was only a matter of time before the Colgan crash became a thing of distant memory and regional lobbyists paid Congressmen enough so that they would be more open in watering down the ATP original qualifications. It will be sad, should it pass. The recent raises in compensation and quality of life being realized all across the regional airline arena will soon see a reversal as regional airline ground schools everywhere are able to fill classes to their heart's content, and bonus schemes are retracted.

One must wonder though how this will affect part 135 certificated operators. Most of them hire SICs according to Wyvern/Argus minimums of 1000 hours total time. If the regionals begin to hire at 500 hrs/750 hrs, these 135s will struggle hard to find interested pilots. It does not end there either way. Flight schools in the USA will suffer just as hard. A flight instructor will work at a flight school for perhaps a couple of months and then be gone for the regionals upon reaching 500 hours. Who will then train the next generation of professional pilots?

I do not foresee good things emerging out of the airline first officer minimum qualifications reduction. The regionals are doing whatever they can to stay alive even for a few years more, if they can manage it. It will come at the cost of general aviation as we have known it for decades metamorphosing into some new quantity unrecognizable to us. Instead of protecting the regionals, we should be protecting our national aviation system.

Planepirate

You are so far off I don’t know where to start haha. Maybe you should actually read that second link you posted?

This is basically a document of recommendations to the FAA.

There are 2 different methods being proposed to the FAA to allow the reduction of flight hours for those who are:
1: Military,
2: 4-year aviation degrees,
3: 2-year Aviation degrees.

The three groups above will be able to take an Enhanced Qualification Program (EQP) to reduce the number of hours required to obtain a Restricted ATP.

(METHOD 1)
ALPA recommendation
Reduction of flight hours with completion of EQP to
500 hours for military
750 hours for 4-year aviation degrees
1000 hours with 2-year aviation degrees

(METHOD 2)
Delta Airlines, Regional Airline Association, Flight Safety, and the Nationa Air Cartier Association recommendation:
Reduction of flight hours with completion of EQP

Military: 500 hours
4 year aviation degree: 500 hours
2 year aviation degree: 500 hours.

The second method is ridiculous in my opinion. It gives more credit for the EQP to those who have a 2 year degree than the other two groups.

Planepirate

In your defense, the first link to the Travel Weekley article is misleading. I don’t think he read that 88 page document either.

FraxAvi8tor

The OP you're shouting at here states "500 hours through aviation college programs" which is the same thing you referenced in your reply under "Method 2", so I'm not sure why you're getting wound up.

Either way, thanks for summarizing the 88 pages here.