Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueSideUp
There is a lot you can't feel in a transport category airplane. It's very different from flying a Cub. You can't even hear or sense the engines in the airplane I fly on takeoff.
There are those that "get it" as you say and unfortunately there are those that don't. No you can't just take anyone and make them a pilot. My wife can't drive a stick shift and probably never will, there are a large majority of people who could never figure out flying an airplane.
Every person sitting in the front of an airliner has been through a significant amount of training. It baffles me why the Colgan crew made those fundamental mistakes. There definitely are less people that "get it" than in the past. In the past pilots spent a significant amount of time flying freight, flight instructing, banner towing, etc. before getting into an airliner. Many airlines reduced their hiring minimums to fill classes and people were pushed through. The captain on the Colgan airplane apparently went through an ab initio training program. Basically you pay a bunch of money to a school and go from 0 hours to right seat of an airliner. According to the FAA rules a person like that has all the same certifications as any other airline pilot. Does that mean they are just as good? Maybe or maybe not. The maybe nots should be flushed out by the system.
Any pilot has felt the hair stand up on their neck as something didn't feel right. I know the deck angles and sounds my aircraft makes at each phase of flight, I know when something is wrong. I can tell with my eyes closed if the aircraft I'm flying is one of the oldest or one of the newest my airline operates. When flying a new aircraft I am especially vigilant to heed the advice of those more experienced whether it's the written word or advice passed down. It's my job to be good at what I do. Am I Chuck Yeager? No I just have paid attention to people smarter than myself.
The reality is that reduced benefits and compensation have driven a lot of the best away from the airline industry. I certainly didn't feel respected or properly compensated when I was earning less than $20K a year. Why do I do it? Because I love flying but for a lot of pilots that love isn't balanced by being able to lead a normal life.
For those that say pilots should just leave if they don't like where the industry has gone don't really understand what it takes to sit at the pointy end of an airplane. Years of training, years of commitment, and a lot of financial strain. There used to be a carrot at the end of all the effort but that's gone. At some point it makes sense to give up on all that commitment and training by leaving the industry, I just haven't reached it yet. Hopefully things will change to keep the good people in this industry. We need more Sullys and Skiles but they aren't going to stick around at this rate.
Because there aren't as many clues to speed in a jet as in a Piper Cub it would be pretty difficult to fly a 737 without instruments. There have been several accidents attributable to instrument failures in jets. These accidents usually happen when someone leaves the pitot covers on or tape on the static ports.
You've got to love the simplicity of the fuel gauge in a Piper Cub! I can't find a pic but the fuel tank sits in front of the cockpit. The fuel cap has a hole in the middle and a piece of wire bent at a 90 degree angle. The other end of the wire is attached to a float.
Learning is defined as a change in behavior as a result of experience. So when someone tells me how experienced they are I often wonder if they've learned anything from it.
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36 years; 21,770 hours; no accidents, no incidents, no violations, no scratched paint, no injuries...... and you have just distilled my career down in one post.
Could not have said it better. I thought I was the only one that could tell the new birds from the old by feel.....