The problem
Regarding: spin training, stall tng vs speed awareness, Gulfstream, PFT, commuting, pilot pay, and whatever other current topics have been offered to explain the reason Colgan 3407 fell out of the sky. All are valid topics, but they don't address the real problem. That problem is actually very simple. It's a two part problem, but it IS simple.

Part One. Pilots who have not learned their craft have been allowed to sit in the seat of an airliner. More later.
Part Two. The airline pilot certification system is not capable of catching the pilots who don't YET belong in the seat of an airplane carrying people for hire.

About my first point. For decades, a pilot spent many years as a civilian actually flying airplanes. Either as an instructor, or freight dawg flying checks, or any one of hundreds of other positions that allowed/forced the pilot to gain real stick and rudder time. Military pilots accelerated the process, but the large majority of their time was spent either training, or being trained. Either way, both backgrounds allowed a pilot to learn real flying skills and build real world experience. These pilots had the experiences that allowed flying to become somewhat instinctive. Flying, just as driving, becomes somewhat instinctive after many miles and hours.

Over the last fifteen (or so) years, the industry exploited the intent of the certification system and started putting people into airliners that just didn't belong in an airliner at that stage of their career. Management justified this because it met the letter of the law. But the rules were written in a time when the only pilots being hired into an airliner with less than 1000 hours were highly trained military pilots. (I'm civilian trained, but I recognize that a Navy trained F18 guy with 250 hours is better trained than the average civilian commercial pilot applicant)

Thinking back to when Pinnacle had an empty leg crash and on this Colgan crash, it is obvious that the aeronautical knowledge, decision making and skills of pilots who go straight to an airliner with only a few hundred hours are potentially lacking when a situation arises that demands good flying instincts.


When one thinks about it, the airline environment is sheltered. We never overbank, over pitch, underpitch etc. We always keep everything in the middle of the envelope. If a pilot didn't develop skills necessary to deal with the edge of the envelope BEFORE entering the 121 world, he/she WILL NOT develop those skills in the airline training environment. If the industry and the FAA insist on allowing 250 hour pilots in transport category aircraft, they must also insist that these pilots demonstrate the ability to recognize and recover from operations near or at the edge of the envelope.
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Defending airline pilots against skyhigh's attacks since 2005.