Couldn’t agree more and unfortunately I think it will go lower.

Part 135 and 121 in Alaska for 10 years and a 121 instructor and check airman for 2 of those years.

I know this happens already, but again I think it will make the problem worse. Private pilot training is the base upon which all further knowledge and skills will be built upon. If a student receives and accepts only the bare minimum in training, they in my opinion will be weak pilot for the rest of their career. It is up to the student to demand quality training and it is the CFI's responsibility to provide it.

This is part of the reason why I left the company I worked for ten years when we got new owners again. They threw out many of the policies and procedures that where above FAA minimum requirements and made it very clear long term employees were of no value to the company. I have always tried to remind myself that just because it is legal, it doesn’t make it safe. I too hope this new regulation forces companies with “bottom line” policies to step up to the plate and make much needed corrections to their policies and procedures. IMHO it all starts with the training provided to the new hire and how that company treats their employees.


I feel that way as well. No matter who my FO was (experienced or inexperienced) if I failed to teach them something when we were flying the line, I failed in my duties as a captain. Also If I failed to learn something or evaluate my performance in regards to something I could have done better flying that day, I failed. I am by no means a perfect pilot, nor will I ever become one, but it doesn’t stop me from trying. The day I quit learning or think I know everything is the day I better quit flying.

1500 hours minumum is a great start to fixing the industry. But we shouldn't stop there. The industry as a whole is in dire need of a major overhaul. Start with training...

It was the airline's policies that allowed a subpar captain to pilot the aircraft in the first place. In my opinion it is not all about the low time FO in the right seat as much is it is about a subpar captain with a history of deficiencies who was still allowed to progress through the system. He too started out as a low time FO, but if the correct standards where applied he should not have made captain when he did. As a captain I made a couple trips to the Chief Pilot's office to report a subpar FO and/or recommend a pilot not be upgraded yet because they were not ready. Before I made that trip, I also shared my opinion directly with the FO and suggested to them they areas in which they needed to improve. As a captain and instructor I felt it was one of my duties. I also briefed every FO to uphold me to the same standard. Every pilot should be capable of handling constructive critism.

R1830 - It sounds like you and I are in conceptual agreement about much of this. You are completely correct - the industry is a complete mess and needs a total overhaul.

The previous poster mentioned that this new 1500 rule might be smoke and mirrors because low time pilots can be turned into successful military or foreign airline pilots. Hence, given the right training, we wouldn't need 1500 hours. Which is true, when you look at other operations (military / foreign).

Just because your military class had washouts due to them not being able to maintain uncle sam's rigid schedule, doesn't change the fact that in the military you receive the best training that money can buy. And it is a testament to that training that our military has young pilots flying amazingly complex machines in complex airspace and are operationally safe.

When hell freezes over or the FAA quits bowing to the whims of the airline managements.

Some folks are easy to impress and entertain.

That said, your opinion is duly noted.

Unfortunately one of the FAA's charter bullets, is to help promote commercial aviation. Those changes aren't going to happen without pressure from your elected representatives.

Perhaps the FAA(Congress) should change that bullet to read "help promote SAFE commercial aviation."

Well there is a reason that the JAA won't accept a US FAA ATP as valid to transfer into a European ATP certificate.

Have you ever seen the amount of books required to pass a JAA ATP course?

Not sure I'd be at a major airline now if the standards in the US were the same as over there, it would have taken an extra year or two. (Would have probably stayed in the military and flown there instead of getting out).


We need to adopt much more stringent ATP standards, that will be equivalent to JAA standards......
(Though I'll take a grandfather clause, thank you!)

The "Proposal" is due out "this Spring" according to the FAA Fact sheet dated Jan. 27th, 2010. So, without being too cynical, May perhaps?

The whole "1500 hours" qualification is a straw man anyway. The military takes guys with zero time, gives them 450 hours of standardized instruction and puts them in the right seat of C-17s, C-130s, etc. There are foreign airlines that run the same kind of ab initio program and plug low time guys in the right seat of 737s.

This does not show that these folks who have this 450 hours are doing a great job in their position. They are likely all better pilots after they have flown 1500 hours and better yet after 3000 hours.


Neither of these operations suffer inordinate accident rates.[/quote]

I beg to disagree, the military writes off aircraft in accidents on a regular basis.
I also remember a foriegn aircraft crew who could not tell the difference between a takeoff warning horn and the 10000 foot cabin warning.
Major US airlines display and accident rate substantially lower than these two examples.

Expirience is a good thing and things done before airline flying are often much more outside the box and therefor develop more stick and rudder skills and judgement than the daily flying by the numbers airline environment can.