jcountry

Here you go:

Peter Garrison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I thought he was an engineer. I used to read his articles a long time ago. They seemed pretty technical.

I think the point of the article was to pretty much say pilots are human too and sometimes human failures occur. Can't design that out of any manned vehicle.

I am not a particular Garrison fan, but the above link kind of gives an overview.

I doubt he meant some of those things quite as literally as they are being taken.

cardiomd

I agree and would add that shouldn't throw out the baby with bathwater - if a passenger wants to critique regarding the passenger experience it is legit. Or if the lifeguard says his cardiothoracic surgeon had poor "bedside manner" that too is legit. As professionals we pay attention to that sort of stuff and improve the system when we can, well, at least I do and we should.

But when he says "all cardiothoracic surgeons don't care about you and only care about golf and buying that porsche" then that is just ignorant, not true, and coming from a med-school dropout makes him sound bitter.

This guy's quote regarding pilots:

is horrifically inaccurate and offensive. It is being discussed in another thread too.

This is correct - I also ascribe a good intent to the article but it comes across as crass.

ShyGuy

I agree with the OP but what can SW do about this in regards to PG's article?

Grumble

Yet he's feeding the sweeping drama with crap like this spewing from his keyboard. And because the flying public doesn't know any better they'll read was he has to say as if it means something only fueling the fire further.

Nice work PG. I hope someone sends you this link so you may find out what real professionals think of this garbage you published.

I have half a mind to cancel my Flying subscription and never look back.

Andy

I understand that he was trying to convey that pilots are human, but it was horribly written; he makes it sound like pilots are all sociopaths. Is he REALLY a professional journalist? Maybe they need to have a mandatory retirement age for writers.

Or perhaps it was simply an autobiographical commentary written by a sociopath who happens to be a private pilot.

LIOG41

With the exception of a few off the mark comments, I don't think it was too far from the truth. We as pilots need to step it up professionally. Despite the pay and sub-average working conditions once in awhile, maintain your integrity and dedication to the craft.

ERflyer

It also thought it was well written and not too far off the mark. Pilots are human and when we fly we focus on what's in front of us not what's behind us. When you're flying you're concentrating on making that crossing fix, being safe and attempting to be as perfect as you can be. Even with only one person in the airplane or 250 we do it the same way. It's because we're professionals, we're proud and it's an "art". We value perfection in our craft because it defines us.

The other side of the coin is that there is never true perfection in what we do even as we strive for it. And if you cannot find multiple mistakes every time you fly, no matter how small, then you're not looking and will never come close to "perfection".

The author's point is we need to recognize that perfection in pilots does not exist, even though the public thinks it does, and that more can be done to bring it closer to that ideal.

And to start with we need to understand why this tragic accident happened and do what can be done to prevent it from happening again. This is not an isolated incident. Silk Air, Air Egypt and Malaysian (most likely) are but a few of our profession's "imperfections."

Carl Spackler

Again, if you really are an airline pilot, you are one of the very few problem children. Which tells me you're likely not an airline pilot.

Garrison said airline pilots don't care about the presence of passengers any more than flying an empty airplane. He says this while never having acted as an airline pilot. That's an issue. You agreeing is another.

I feel the presence of my passengers on every flight. I think about them every time I study an upper air chart and/or query ATC about where the smooth air is. I think about them every time I try to make up time enroute to ensure an on-time arrival and they all make their connections, etc., etc. Almost every airline pilot I've ever flown with in the last 36 years felt and acted exactly the same. My fellow airline pilots and myself are already consistently operating at the highest level of professionalism that we know how. Thus your admonition to airline pilots needing to step up the professionalism is simply a gratuitous attack on a profession you likely know nothing about. We're used to it, but it's still annoying.

I don't know where people like you come up with this stuff.

Carl

Purple Drank

Right on, brother Carl.
Can I get an "amen" from the congregation!

thefoxsays

Amen Carl!