I would say the same of Marine Corps style buzzcuts......just as unbecoming as frosted spiked hair.

 

Speaking of intensity of training...one could probaly make an easy argument that the firehouse in the mouth method employed by the military is not the most inducive to learning way of doing things.

DISCLAIMER, I am in no way saying that i know how to better train a military pilot than the military. They have been doing it a long time with great success.

In my civilian training the pace was what i wanted it to be. I was allowed time to injest and dijest. I get the feeling that luxory is not always there in military training.

I would bet money...not a lot 'cause i aint that confident in the vager...that at 250 hours as a civilian I had more chance to learn more at the correlation level than a military pilot with the same hours.

Miliage varies obviously. Some guys i'm sure really rocket up in a military environment. The method just isn't for everyone.

 

Working hard on some of these. I don't think my wife would like the trophy wife idea so much. And if I told her I was looking for one because she is only aging me 1.5 times faster rather than 3 times faster she would probably then try very hard to age me 3 times faster.

Great ideas though I will have to try harder.

 

I totally agree with your assessment of the "not in uniform" clause to your post. No one is trying to squasg someone's individualism, but when in uniform you need to look professional. That can hard to swallow sometimes. The Marines right now have made it against regulations to walk and talk on a cell phone in uniform right now( I still wonder how a General's aide gets his job done. There must be exceptions) I'm lucky though. I've been flying commercially a lot recently and I haven't come across the pilots described above. I do remember once 20 years ago picking up a southwest crew in OKC. I took them to the hotel and an hour later or so the crew came down and asked to be taken to a local restaurant. That is when I noticed that the FO had extremely long hair an airline pilot. Obviously it was within company regs - but it was the longest hair I had ever seen on an airline pilot. He looked like the poster child for the California Surfer dude in his jams (yes - it was that long ago) and beach shirt. He look professional in uniform but obviously had a flair to his style when on "liberty"

USMCFLYR

 

The long haired pilot wasn't Steve Morse was it? He's a pretty famous guitarist (the Dixie Dregs, and Deep Purple) who also flew commercially for a while.

 

[QUOTE]It absolutely isn't for everyone and that is why the process is fairly selective and not everyone can do it. The program isn't learn at you own pace training. This isn't - oh well you didn't get it on that flight - just pay another $150 for another lesson and we'll get it this time. The program doesn't have the mentality of it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get your license - it is your money and your time.

The firehose effect is ever present. It doesn't stop in training. The first tour in a fleet squadron is usually one of your busiest. You aren't just concentrating on flying anymore - you have a full time ground job and possibly people to lead on top of the continued firehose of further tactical training. The process is somewhat designed to weed those unable to learn quickly out of the job. You had better be able to assimilate large amounts of information quickly and accurately or else you won't succeed in the tactical environment.

From what I have heard about the firehose type of teaching it isn't just reserved for the military. Nearly every post I read about intial airline training or Flight Safety training comments on the firehose effect during the ground school and systems portion of the syllabus. It seems to be generalized across aviation training EXCEPT at an FBO or flight training school where it could actually be better business practice to slow down the training and draw the timeline out.

In the end one saying use to be.......'nearly everyone could learn to fly a Navy airplane; but not everyone can learn to fly a Navy airplane on the Navy's timeline.' There is a limited amount of training time to get a person up to speed. If you don't make it - then a change of jobs is in your future. Some would remember that as being - 3 downs and your out.

USMCFLYR

 

The way this industry is going, it might be in doubt whether or not they will EVER be a wide body CA.

 

As to be expected the lawsuits for flight 3407 have begun (hxxp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090227/ap_on_bi_ge/plane_into_home_lawsuit). Those named in the suit include Continental, Pinnacle, Colgan and Bombardier.

Commuter Hell is not the half of it; it's just Aviation Hell! Anyone have the fast forward button for 2009 because I'm ready for 2010.

 

I think your opinion on this is a little inaccurate. I was in the Marines and I still have my haircut. I think a Marine style haircut is way more professional than having longer hair close to a mullet. Whenever I see someone with a Marine style haircut they are always standing up straight. So should you.

 

Hooah!
Sorry, Oorah! (is that how you spell it?)
SGT K.T. (I need a haircut though)