As a professional flight educator I take umbrage with your statement regarding experience and education. The required EDUCATION is plainly set forth by the FAA in FAR part 61 or 141. Just because the flight training hasn't been conducted through an academic institution of higher learning doesn't mean the part 61 pilot didn't receive an education.

The difference between a Pilot and an Aviator isn't where they learned to fly. It's in the way they approach their vocation. In my mind these are the pilots that are always striving to learn new things and better themselves as pilots and individuals. These Aviators can be found on both sides of the isle.
In a perfect aviation world we need a blend of people from different backgrounds who can contribute with different skill sets. If everyone trained at a pilot mill we'd reduce ourselves to being just another drone in the sky.

 

So tell me where is the jetstream right know. Oh and managing a older jet on descent is not monkey see monkey do as I have seen a pilot from a so called prestigious university have no idea how to calculate how to make a crossing restriction. And by the way I went to a well respected part 141 flight program, am I better then the pt 61 guy, no not at all.

 

Oh and a 400hz inverter, seriously who cares. It is an inverter and that's what you need to know. What is your plan when weather goes below minimums and you have to divert with minimum fuel. Or how about getting up in the middle of the night and going to an airport you have never been too or even really know we're it's at. I guess that doesn't prepare you like a class on how an inverter works. This is how you gain the experience necessary to safely guide my family and many others families through the air. I really don't care that you can tell me the inner workings of an inverter, and I believe that is the idea behind this law.

 

As a professional flight educator you take umbrage...

That made me chuckle a bit. Is that how you talk?

Flyhayes, the CFI who takes offense. What you do is the meat and potatoes of flying. An extremely valuable service. I am a fellow instructor and know the value of a good CFI.

However, it isn't enough. The minimum requirements set forth by the FAA for training, proficiency, and rest are clearly not sufficient. Hence the call for improvement in various government bills. The theoretical part of an ATP can be passed in one day with help from a fast track training institution and is not an acceptable academic background for a professional dealing with life and death.

To answer the second part of your reply, we do not need a diverse collection of different skill sets. The airline industry cannot rely on individual desire to excel. The airline industry requires ONE LEVEL OF SAFETY and a collection of highly educated, highly experienced pilots. Different backgrounds are fine, lack of knowledge is not.

 

One level of safety, the only way to achieve that is good pay. You are not going to get your highly educated highly skilled pilots any other way. Also I know a retired United 747 captain who has a high school diploma, so explain to me again how having a college degree really helps, other then making a barrier to entry into the majors so they don't get overrun by applications.

 

Listen, i'm not saying that the university wonderkid with 350 hours is better than you. I'm saying that we need to combine a requirement for experience as well as education rather than rely solely on experience. The current FAA requirements to operate an airliner are laughable. I'm suggesting increases in both experience and education.

By the way, the Jetstream is located along the polar front between the tropical airmass and the neighboring westerlies. Its the Flower looking blob in the middle waving in and out around the two continental lows of 520 and 524 MB. Its called a zonal system because of its erratic north and south movement. If you cross that front, beware of CAT and turn the sign on to avoid potential turbulence related accidents.

 

I agree, but I just don't think you will ever get the people with that experience or education for what the pay is right know, you may get the education part but you will not get the experience necessary. By the way honestly thanks for the jetstream lesson, you do know it well and I applaud you for that.

 

Depends how many hours you have. If you flew freight and and only have 600hrs than yeah you should. Again no one with less than 1500 hrs should even be allowed to look at a jet let alone fly one. a newly rated commercial pilot should not be allowed to fly passengers in a 121 operation because they do not have the experience. And if a pilot tells you that he has the experience and has less than 1500hrs he has just proved to you hes not ready. A pilot alone should recognize that 1500hrs is nowhere near the experience required to fly a jet in a 121 operation.

 

I'll take the 600 hour freight guy over the 1200 hour day VFR pattern CFI any day...and over the 350 hour (insert university here)

generally speaking, btw

 

Yep I will never forget an F/O I was flying with that had 1100 hours telling me to pull back the motors as the said F/O headed towards a hill at 200+ knots and a pitch angle of like 4 degrees up. This F/O was very book smart and could probably quote you VNE right before hitting the ground