Timbo

You are right... to a point.
Then there is that thing called "Experience".

Is a 200 hour pilot as good as a 2000 hour pilot?

Most Captains have more experience than their copilot, only because they got hired first, yes, but still, they have more experience. The numbers I saw in this crash were, the Capt. Had 6000+hrs. and also some military time, and the F/O only had 2000, only been on the jet for 3 years, vs. the Captain's 6 years on it. You don't think there is any value in more experience? You might want to talk to the insurance companies about that, because THEY KNOW that there is less risk with a more experienced pilot at the controls.

Now tell me why the Air France Airbus crashed, and who was flying it? The least experienced pilot of the 3 was holding the stick full back until it was too late to save it. Yes, I think that if the Captain had not been on break, it never would have crashed.

I don't care how good you think you are when you get hired, there is no substitute for experience.

captjns

And for AA1420 in Little Rock?

Delta in LGA tapping the lead in lights?

Fed Ex landing 1/4 miles short of the runway in TLH?

Southwest creating a nose dragger in LGA?

Flown by the current and qualified Skippers as I recall with greater experience than their F/Os?

Now a days.. It's not how good your are at the controls.... but how you manage the operation...

Take the psych. tests out of the equation, the airline has a better chance offilling seats with qualified airmen. It worked in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Timbo

Yeahbut....

None of those were Airbus'!

bedrock

Think about if this had happened with one of the 250 hour MPC's or in China, where the FO isn't allowed to even hand fly the plane. This a glaring good example of why you need well-trained, experienced people in the right seat too. This FO had probably been a captain at a regional somewhere else before, and probably had to make a few SHTF decisions in the past as a 121 PIC. So this didn't overwhelm him.

caravello121

needs to work on taxi skills but good job

prex8390

OH THE HUMANITY, THE FO ISNT EVEN A REAL PILOT!! ....anyways, the article said that they had to get a tug since the tiller was on the left, he couldnt slide over and taxi in himself?

maddogmax

You know the FA was in the left seat. Now she can apply to be a pilot!

Sink r8

...it's only a few weeks more in training anyway.

Sink r8

It gets worse...

I heard today on the news that over 10,000 American Airlines pilots decided to lock themselves IN their cockpits.

For five years.

John Carr

Or a single seat/tactical jet pilot, or a multi crew AC, or an IP/EP/NATOPS/Standeval, or combination of any of them...........

But who knows? The way this round of hiring is trending, the very very very small possibility that it was a 20 something RJ FO with NO PIC/demonstrated decision making record could have done it.

Which would just further prove the point, even a "copilot" can make an "unassisted" landing and not kill everybody. Oh the humanity.......

Heck, why does matter? These planes can fly and land themselves these days.