You obviously need to get your head out of your a$$. Learning to fly that Arrow under FITS doesn't make you a better jet pilot. You still have no depth.

There is no substitute for experience.

-- A FITS instuctor.

I agree that FITS appears to be a much better way to train a pilot, yet you still need to get some real world experience on your own without a CFI sitting in the other seat. Many of the current FOs will be in charge of an airplane for the very first time on their own when they make captain (aside from their solo time). The critical aeronautical decision making experience will NOT be there with these pilots.

Decision making
 

Just how much does 1000 more hours of touch and gos in a 152 really do to help someone prepare for airline command anyway? In my estimation it does nothing.

Plenty of low time pilots have been given command over the years and planes are not raining out of the sky. Almost always it is the crusty "know it all" old timer who drives it into the ground.

SkyHigh

Total time is nothing more than a number. During the 60’s eastern airlines hired pilots right out of training with something like 180 hours, and the same kind of thing with United. There were the good and the bad pilots. Regional’s used to have 1000 hours as a mark, but times are changing. When a sim instructors says most of the new hires, and upgrade captains can’t figure out simple holding entries it says more about the pilot than how much time you have. Just as you can sit right seat in a 152 and do about nothin, you can do the exact same thing in a jet. Its more on the pilot and how prepared they are, and how they stay proficient. Yeah you can probably get through a 121 training with low time, but then what happens when you get out to ioe, and go from operating at mostly class d and c airports, to nothing but class b airports. With more time in any aircraft you start to understand atc more, and how to conduct yourself professionally. But anyone can just sit in plane and do nothing, it depends on the person…just my newby 2 cents

Well............. Im heding to CLE today, and by the looks of the TAF/METARS, Gusting to 35kts, LLWS, +RA, , I am glad I had 1,000 more hours doing touch & Goes, landing a 172/152 in gusty conditions makes a better pilot, I could care less what anybody has to say:rolleyes:

Captains leg then ;)

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Its not that doing thousands of touch and goes in a 172 makes you a better pilot or not...its what you see while your doing that. I could have left my instructor job last summer but I didnt cause I wanted to get more real world expierence. After dealing with thunderstorms, ice, mechanical failures, and some lower cielings that I flew in this past summer and fall have made me a much better pilot and Im glad i got that expierence.

flew with a member of my not so beautiful company's management the other day, who was explaining part of his hiring practice. While we'll basically hire anyone with a commercial/multi, he'd much prefer to hire a CFI, CFII, or MEI over just a standard 250 hr pilot, or even a 400-600 hr pilot if he hasn't been doing a flying job. So, even if the companies are willing to hire guys with bare mins, they'd still expect to see a little work experience in the related field before they come to the regionals.

No, FITS hasn't caught on because the FAA has done an absolutely horrendous job in promoting it.