These never ending PFJ and PFT threads are sad. My read on this is as follows:
Is it the 250 hour wonder kid, or in this case 190 hour kid - fault that they are inflicted with SJS and want to skip all the "traditional" ways of gaining experience/time? Not really.
Is it the regional airline's fault that they will allow a wet ticket commercial student (for accuracy that's the best word to describe them) into their training program and onto the line? Not really.
Is it these cheesy "RJ Course" places that provide pre RJ ground school and some sim time to these kids fault? Not really.
Personally, I think the fault lies within the antiquated system - namely the FAA. The 250 hour requirement for a commercial is outdated as the world is a very different place today than it was when many of the FAR's were written. Many regulations, including the licensing of pilots, were the result of the Air Commerce Act in 1926. Flying was still in a relative infancy stage compared to where it is today. I doubt anyone back then would have imagined there would be tubes flying around at 35,000' and 500 miles an hour with a bunch of people in them. The problem lies with the fact many of the rules have not evolved hand in hand with the times.
Personally, I think with the type of equipment flown today vs. what was flown back then - the time requirement should be raised. 250 hours to become a CFI is fine. I think that while a student is learning the basics from a CFI, the CFI is learning a considerable amount while CFI'ing. I think the ME rating should only be available after someone has flown 500 hours total time - and to be able to fly a turbine powered a/c should require a minimum of 1,000 hours TT and 200 hours multi.
The fault doesn't lie with Cherokee Cruiser, he's just a product of the system. I view JET U and all the other "RJ schools" as pay for training / pay for job enterprises. And to see the amount of money spent on these "schools" to get a 20k/year job is staggering.
What is most concerning to me, is the impact of those types of folks on the flying industry as a whole. If your willing to give up 35k on an RJ school to start your career - what will you be willing to give up/sell out during your career, and what effect will that have on those not willing to sell out?
I completely agree that the FAA's system for pilot licensing is antiquated, however I see it having different effects on its practicality in the modern aviation world.
I think the problem lies in the type of experience required for certain levels of employment. It always baffled me to look at the differences between 121 mins and 135 mins for example (and yes I do realize the factor of who is really in charge in a 121 situation, and him needing 1500 hours at minimum, but still, I question the dripping wet ticket multi comm guy sitting right seat in a passenger carrying jet).
I think the total time requirements are largely useless in today's world. For instance, what good does it do to fly 100 hours of cross country time building in VFR conditions, going point A to point B by means of GPS direct navigation, flying by autopilot in terms of pilot development (sure, you get experience in the system, if flying IFR, you should be using sectionals and en routes, but plenty of guys don't and just throw point B into the 430 and go)? Days like that Joe Blow logs 8 hours, hand flew for half an hour, and made 2 landings, all in visual conditions. Sure, I may be describing a best case scenario, but how often does time building go something like that? I'd argue, "quite often." Its also why I strongly feel students at CPS have a distinct advantage over guys flying in Florida or other "perfect flying" locales, with our weather in KS. Our students get a decent chunk of actual IFR experience, make gusty, crosswind landings frequently, have to study weather forecasts for severe weather which we actually get, etc. Now, 50 years ago, those cross country requirements ensured you were actually learning something during your time boring holes in the sky, today it may or may not.
I'd like to see time requirements, sure, but time requirements that ensure the student is actually learning. Say, for a commercial certificate, combine the requirement of single and multi engine into one requirement for a commercial rating, have total hour requirements for experience, but spell out the kind of experience required (other than say, 50 hours X-C greater than 50 miles PIC)- i.e. X many hours of flight within the IFR system, X many hours of actual IFR experience, combine training into the total time requirements- essentially distill the time requirements into sections that ensure continued progress.
Also, pointing out how antiquated the system is, 99% of new pilots do all their training on light, single and multi engine piston airplanes. They get lots of time in them, but the step up into a turbine powered, transport class aircraft is a completely different world. This is where training for a jet cockpit environment comes into play. (Obviously I realize its simply not possible to give a student pilot 50 hours of time actually flying a light jet, let alone a CRJ or ERJ- heck its practically impossible to give actual flight time in a small turboprop)
To me, this is where the MPL does hold some water. Just about every hour logged under those programs is structured training. I'd like to see a system that combines the structured training of an MPL environment, with the real world experience of actual cross country flying, where the pilot flying has to make real world, time critical decisions.
I would say to look toward the military for inspiration on how a modern pilot training operation should work.
What I'd really like to see, is a structured, progressive way of getting new pilots into ever increasingly complex (and larger) aircraft, step by step. While there are some people who move from a flight instructor to flying SIC on a charter operation, and then move up from there, the supply and demand just doesn't allow that kind of progression for most new pilots. The supply and demand does, however, provide plenty of new jobs in jet powered, transport class aircraft, and thats where a lot of new pilots go, right or wrong. So, to me, the question becomes how to best deal with the reality of the situation, and put the most qualified new pilots into the front of the aircraft that need pilots to fly them.
:cwm27:
anic:
