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If DC-3 pilot from the 1950's were able to take a look at a modern flight deck his assumption would be that the pilot had been removed from the airplane long ago. Moving map GPS, TCAS, live weather radar, autopilots that can land the plane and flight computers that can managed the entire flight would have blown their minds.
Technological advancements are perpetually removing the pilot from the equation. As a result airlines do not have to hire a pilot based upon his/her skills and experience anymore. Today airlines are staffed according to other criteria. They can lower minimums instead of raising wages to attract more experienced pilots. The regionals have proven that pilots with 300 hours total time can effectively serve as first officers on modern jetliners.
As a professional pilot I agree that the world should treat us better, but they will not. And no amount of professionalism or wishful thinking will change that. Airlines will choose to invest in new technology over paying more for better pilots. New technology is an asset that adds to the companies net worth. Paying more for better trained and experienced pilots is a drain on the balance sheet. Managements motivation is to continually find ways to reduce costs.
It hurts me too to come to these realizations, but to me putting a head in the sand is not going to help. Like it or not ground control is on its way. If a new pilot were to start today at 21 then they could have as much as 44 years of career ahead of them. 44 years is a long time. Undoubtedly aviation will not hardly resemble what it is today by then. Just think of how far we have come since 1965. It is totally realistic to think that over the next 20 years ground controlled airliners will be the norm.
It does not make me happy to consider the future of aviation either. I too wish things were different and that we all could be well respected and well compensated professionals again however I believe in trying to take an honest view and adapt to change rather than to resist the obvious. Sometimes that means changing your game plan and other times it means getting out of the way entirely. The heyday of the professional pilot is passing. Pilots in the future will not have it as good as they do today.
Unless of course they are former military UAV pilots. I hear those guys will be in huge demand.
Skyhigh
The DC-3 pilot you speak of, flew around in a very different time period/environment. Technological advancements have helped improve situational awareness and safety, however they have not removed the pilot from the airplane. The different advancements that your speak of are all just tools the pilot uses. Originally Posted by SkyHigh
One of the benefits of not having to rely on this profession as a source of income anymore is that I am free to see things as they are and not as how I would wish them to be. If DC-3 pilot from the 1950's were able to take a look at a modern flight deck his assumption would be that the pilot had been removed from the airplane long ago. Moving map GPS, TCAS, live weather radar, autopilots that can land the plane and flight computers that can managed the entire flight would have blown their minds.
Technological advancements are perpetually removing the pilot from the equation. As a result airlines do not have to hire a pilot based upon his/her skills and experience anymore. Today airlines are staffed according to other criteria. They can lower minimums instead of raising wages to attract more experienced pilots. The regionals have proven that pilots with 300 hours total time can effectively serve as first officers on modern jetliners.
As a professional pilot I agree that the world should treat us better, but they will not. And no amount of professionalism or wishful thinking will change that. Airlines will choose to invest in new technology over paying more for better pilots. New technology is an asset that adds to the companies net worth. Paying more for better trained and experienced pilots is a drain on the balance sheet. Managements motivation is to continually find ways to reduce costs.
It hurts me too to come to these realizations, but to me putting a head in the sand is not going to help. Like it or not ground control is on its way. If a new pilot were to start today at 21 then they could have as much as 44 years of career ahead of them. 44 years is a long time. Undoubtedly aviation will not hardly resemble what it is today by then. Just think of how far we have come since 1965. It is totally realistic to think that over the next 20 years ground controlled airliners will be the norm.
It does not make me happy to consider the future of aviation either. I too wish things were different and that we all could be well respected and well compensated professionals again however I believe in trying to take an honest view and adapt to change rather than to resist the obvious. Sometimes that means changing your game plan and other times it means getting out of the way entirely. The heyday of the professional pilot is passing. Pilots in the future will not have it as good as they do today.
Unless of course they are former military UAV pilots. I hear those guys will be in huge demand.
Skyhigh
Not sure if you've seen this, but here is the FIRST fully-automated, pilot-less aircraft in flight.
YouTube - Airbus Crash
Saying that technological advancements have made it feasible for a 300 wonder pilot to work at regional is a heinous disrespect towards, any and all, current airline pilots.
If you're content about the career decisions you've made in life, then great, you should show some humility and cease with the constant barrage of negativity towards aviation as a career.