Originally Posted by Excargodog

I disagree. This is not an attempt to disparage anyone of any gender. But I've looked up at (or flown in) too damn many missing man formations during my time as a backseater in tactical aviation, and sat on too damn many mishap boards. And it hurts, deep in your soul to see the folded flag handed to the spouse with the kids beside him or her trying desperately to be brave when their whole world has been shattered.

The onus is on the trainers and the commanders to keep junior aviators out of situations they can't handle, not on the newbie's to turn down what they can only perceive as a "golden opportunity."

Everyone, regardless of their gender, deserves better trainers and leaders than those that pushed people who weren't ready into a dangerous situation to further their own careers at the risk of their subordinates lives.

Originally Posted by Flyboy68

No one is blaming the female pilots for the obvious special treatment they received. This is all on the CO's and politicians that forced it.

Originally Posted by bh539

No one cares how hard you had it back when gas was a nickel and you walked uphill both ways to get to work. I wasn't an airline pilot then because it didn't make sense economically, and it barely does now.

Originally Posted by bh539

No one cares how hard you had it back when gas was a nickel and you walked uphill both ways to get to work. I wasn't an airline pilot then because it didn't make sense economically, and it barely does now.

Originally Posted by SonicFlyer

They pay what the market can bear. There is very little margin in the low end of aviation. One way to get around that is to get rid of anti-competitive regulations and allow more competition. This will allow higher profits with the smaller outfits and thus more wage competition too.

Originally Posted by Excargodog

I disagree. This is not an attempt to disparage anyone of any gender. But I've looked up at (or flown in) too damn many missing man formations during my time as a backseater in tactical aviation, and sat on too damn many mishap boards. And it hurts, deep in your soul to see the folded flag handed to the spouse with the kids beside him or her trying desperately to be brave when their whole world has been shattered.

The onus is on the trainers and the commanders to keep junior aviators out of situations they can't handle, not on the newbie's to turn down what they can only perceive as a "golden opportunity."

Everyone, regardless of their gender, deserves better trainers and leaders than those that pushed people who weren't ready into a dangerous situation to further their own careers at the risk of their subordinates lives.

Originally Posted by galaxy flyer

Many an admiral/general has had a hand in killing their son.

Originally Posted by Fixnem2Flyinem

Yeah that did come across a little dickish, my apologies. What I was trying to say, and let me try this again, is things are finally going the right direction for this career. For years, you were underpaid to do a job that although can be fun at times, comes with great responsibility. If a regional plane smokes a hole in the ground, the news covers it the same way they cover the major airlines. The level of responsibility is parallel, so the insane difference in payscales throughout the career has boggled my mind since the beginning of my career. I too had to take a low paying gig back in 2015 to get my time, I made 18k in 2015. My wife and I had to have a roommate to make rent, and we still managed to get into some debt in the 13 months my paychecks were 500 takehome. So maybe I was briefly part of the problem too, but my point was there shouldn’t be jobs paying that low. Yes one shouldn’t make 100k to fly a caravan or tech in a 172, but they shouldn’t have to starve either. So I have respect for those that refuse to take low paying jobs, they’re not being entitled babies, they just know the value of their training and job responsibilities.

Originally Posted by JohnBurke

No need to apologize for your lack of experience.

Those who can't shut up about how hard it is to make it to 1,500 hours, however, only hang a neon sign around their neck that says "inexperienced" on one side, and "idiot" on the other.

Yours appears to be showing both sides.

Originally Posted by rickair7777

What people don't get is that first 1500 hours in GA is a goldmine of experience...

- You're actually in charge.
- You get to lead/manage a crew (for most folks who do the CFI thing).
- You will experience some equipment failures (more significant than FADEC Channel 2a).
- You'll probably get nervous or even scared once or twice.
- You'll learn about complacency.
- You'll learn about competing economic and safety demands.

Zero-to-hero 121 FO's don't have any of that. Odds are very, very low that they'll have to make tough calls or get scared. They will get complacent as all hell, and won't get cured of that until they learn the hard way as a CA. They've had a babysitter for every or almost every hour they've flown.