Originally Posted by FlyingPirate (Post 2552524)

Ok. I'll bite. I instructed for the premiere ab initio flight school in Europe for a few years, so here are my thoughts.

All of the pilots to through a very stringent selection process before being admitted to the flight schools (something the civilian side of flying neglects, unfortunately) then spend over a year in classrooms before touching an airplane. Then they would send them to the U.S. to complete primary flight training up through their multi commercial license. They would typically finish the program with just over 200 hours of flight time then proceed to new hire training at pretty much any European airline (Ryan Air, KLM, Lufthansa, Air Lingus, British Airways, you name it) flying an Airbus or Boeing. The airlines based much of who they hired on the student's training record among other things. The thing is... these guys were incredibly sharp and some of the best pilots I have ever seen, even at a the very elementary level I trained them at. I would put them up against 75% of the pilots at majors right now (both military and civilian trained); myself included.

I am all for ab initio training here in the U.S., I think it provides the best of both worlds; A very selective applicant pool and demanding training standards with a specific focus on airline ops.

Originally Posted by Burton78 (Post 2552611)

When you think about it, UPT (Military pilot training) is somewhat of a "premier ab initio flight school" in it's own right. The soon to be military pilots also go through a stringent selection process. Then, after ground training and a couple hundred flying hours, military pilots (if they graduate) are then dispersed to learn to fly anything from F-15's B-2's, F-16's, C-5's, F-18's, KC-10's, KC-135's, etc. So in that respect, if it's vetted enough, I tend to agree and don't see why a true ab initio program couldn't work in the USA as well. However, not particularly pointing at you, but to compare a 2000 hour F-15 pilot with a 2000 hour civilian pilot is a completely different conversation.

Originally Posted by BoilerUP (Post 2552632)

Doug Masters didn’t seem to have a problem going from a Cessna 150 to a Viper....

Originally Posted by BoilerUP (Post 2552632)

Doug Masters didn’t seem to have a problem going from a Cessna 150 to a Viper....

Originally Posted by Psycho18th (Post 2552717)

All it takes to fly a Viper well is 80’s rock music on a cassette player. All it takes to fly 121 well is Barry Manilow over a Bluetooth Bose A20.

Originally Posted by RJSAviator76 (Post 2552379)

but humility goes a long way.