Re: Senate Passes FAA Reauthorization Bill, 800 hr rule incl
You're right. There will be people who are discouraged to pursue the career, particularly if they know ahead of time that it's a long haul to get into the right seat of an airliner. 90-days from zero to RJ pilot will be a thing of the past, and that's the way it should be. And, when supply of pilots goes down, price of pilots goes up if conventional economic theory holds up.
.. and this is where the safety aspect comes in.
Time and time again, I'd heard stories about the low-timers getting their real-world experience the hard way. The only thing keeping many of them from creating those hypothetical 'smoking holes' were the Captains next to them.
Such testimonies- later gleaned from said Captains- are proof that things like ultra-low time FOs, Multi-crew pilot licenses (or whatever) are all akin to the 'trained pilot and a trained monkey to assist him' mentality.
Even automation, in all its technical glory, is only as good as the program that runs it, which often as not was written by people who don't use the end product.
By raising the cost of a pilot somewhat, we raise the price an airline is willing to pay.
When a pilot is suitable compensated and duly regarded as valuable by his or her employer, they bring that to the work place. The end effect on the psychology of a pilot is apparent. The constant, lingering fear that a pilot can be readily replaced upon termination should not be the first thing a pilot thinks of when they have to make "an unpopular business decision", ie, act in the name of safety in opposition to the profit margin.
When a pilot is harassed for calling in sick, or fatigued, or continuously extended, or asked to do things questionable or even downright illegal, the last thing that should cross his or her mind is that they don't know if they're worth the trouble they might make for the company by saying 'no'.
A pilot who cannot refuse a situation beyond his or her limits is no longer a pilot- they're just a marginally better informed passenger along on a test flight.
The airlines get away with this all too often.
Sometimes, however, they don't, and the pilots are goaded into situations they shouldn't go into. The need to 'get there' or 'get it done' or as one Captain put it, 'move the rig' exists.
This is not combat. Nobody dies if we don't get it there.
... but they just might if we're trying to do things beyond our limits and encounter the unexpected.
That's why we have to know our value.
It starts with drawing a line. Not a damned inch more.
), but really let's take a look at this from an objective standpoint; if a DC-9 driver screws up and doesn't put the flaps down he kills everybody while dragging the plane across I-94.
