So...Does Experience Matter?

Does experience matter?

  • No. You're either born Bob Hoover or you're not. It's all about GENES!

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • Not really. Once you know how to fly an airplane, it's all about what you're trained to do,.

    Votes: 1 0.8%

  • Yeah, sorta. The more you've seen, the better you'll be in a tight spot, but training is paramount

    Votes: 51 42.9%

  • Obviously. You can take all the classes you like, but until you've pooped your Pampers...amateur

    Votes: 53 44.5%

  • I don't know what you're talking about, I'm a WARLORD!

    Votes: 13 10.9%
  • Total voters
    119
I'd like to know how many people who have really gained the experience would honestly say they haven't become a better pilot due to it. I think I thought I was ready to sit right seat in a RJ at 250 hours but now that I am at 800 hours I think I am less ready then I was then. Maybe experience is making me unlearn how to fly, either that or I just watch others fly too much...
 
Yeah, in a perfect world, I'd like for the poll to be guys who have >4000 hours who think they were just as poop hot at 250 hours as they are now. But there's no way to control who responds. I deeply suspect that there would be zero point zero people who think that they were Totally Awesome at 250 hours, but as I said, impossible to do.
 
I have just over 4G and I think that my training and discipline kept me out of trouble while my experiences have helped me to be better at command now...I still am an adolescent pilot as far as I'm concerned.. I have a LONG way to go.
 
In my personal estimation, I was 95% of the pilot I am now at 4000 hours. Maybe 80% of the pilot at 3000 hours. Prior to that, I wasn't exactly Hannibal Lector with a yoke, but I wasn't far from it. But that's just my opinion, and I'm told that those are like, uh, eliminatory orafices...apparently everyone is blessed with one. Who knew.
 
Bumblebee said:
I have just over 4G and I think that my training and discipline kept me out of trouble while my experiences have helped me to be better at command now...I still am an adolescent pilot as far as I'm concerned.. I have a LONG way to go.
Click to expand...
I've been learning quite a bit lately, and honestly sometimes after learning something new, I'm like how did I get this far without knowing that?
 
Boris Badenov said:
In my personal estimation, I was 95% of the pilot I am now at 4000 hours. Maybe 80% of the pilot at 3000 hours. Prior to that, I wasn't exactly Hannibal Lector with a yoke, but I wasn't far from it. But that's just my opinion, and I'm told that those are like, uh, eliminatory orafices...apparently everyone is blessed with one. Who knew.
Click to expand...
current time?
 
The only -- only -- way to build airmanship is through experience. It cannot be taught or learned in a classroom.

It can be artificially compensated for through a detailed and rigid set of procedures which legislate out the need to make decisions, but that only works when then only thing that occurs are things that have procedures written for them. As we know, aviation has ways of finding new and inventive occurrences that aren't covered in the manual, checklist, or QRH.

Important to note that it is not directly linked to just the amount of experience (ergo, hours), but it is linked to a combination of quality and quantity.
 
Yes it does, but it's not just experience it's how those experiences affect the individual that really makes a difference.
 
I have 3500+ and I would say that yeah it matters. I may not be that much better of a stick, but I make much more calculated decisions based on what I know the outcome could be. I also make those decsions quicker as well.
 
I'm just north of 5000 total time right now with about 3000 TPIC tossed in there. When I passed my CMEL, I thought "Hey, I can legally go out and fly a King Air. Sweet!" About 3 minutes later I broke out in a cold sweat thinking about that. I was a nervous CFI around 300 hours, and by 800 hours and 500 dual given, I had the "bring it" attitude when it came to teaching people how to land a Seminole. 900 hours I was screaming for something different, and I got my shot about 90 hours later when I went to Pinnacle. I thought I was ready for the next step. I. So. Wasn't. My first several months at Pinnacle were spent just trying to keep up with a jet much less get ahead of it. 2 years later, I had it down and was ready to make the jump to the left seat. For the next couple of months, it was like being a new CFI again.....in more ways than one given the current hiring enviornment. I wasn't 100% confident in my abilities yet, so I was leaning heavily on regs and SOPs to keep me alive and legal. The first month wasn't too bad, but by then I had 100 hours in the left seat, so I was tossed into the deep end with a lot of low time, new guys. Now I knew how some of the CAs that flew with me as a new FO felt. After about a year, I was feeling more confident about being a CA. After 2 years, I was complaining about the BS politics of check airman selection at the airline. After 3 years, I was ready to be shot in the face. 4 years I finally held a line. By the end of my time at Pinnacle, asssuming things didn't break, I could pretty much make the CRJ do whatever I wanted whenever.

Now that I'm at another airline in a different airplane, it's like I'm back to 1000 hours all over again. I guess the a big key isn't just experience, but experience with whatever airplane you happen to be flying at the time. Can't tell you how many times I bone up programming the FMS in the 190 because where you put things in the flight plan are different than where you put them in the CRJ FMS. And it took me forever just to find the time remaining en route (hint PROG page 1) when it was just on the MFD on the CRJ.
 
I'm only a pilot of 350 hours so I haven't been in the right or left seats of any jets, but I know as I have progressed through my training (now an MEI candidate) I have found that I can read all about something and know it, but the second you get into a new situation (ice, heavy crosswinds, congested airspace, etc.) all the book knowledge you have is only going to account for half of your reaction. The more time I spend flying, the more ways I find to keep up with the airplane and ATC. Even after I passed my initial commercial check ride, I wouldn't have been able to do what I can now. Experience in my opinion may not make you better at rolling the yoke and pushing the rudder pedals, but it sure helps you become more efficient and alert in your flying career.
 
"I don't need no stinkin gear monkey!"

Of course experince is paramount. But without training, how would you gain that experince? You can't have one without the other.
 
Bumblebee said:
I have just over 4G and I think that my training and discipline kept me out of trouble while my experiences have helped me to be better at command now...I still am an adolescent pilot as far as I'm concerned.. I have a LONG way to go.
Click to expand...
Yes.
z987k said:
I've been learning quite a bit lately, and honestly sometimes after learning something new, I'm like how did I get this far without knowing that?
Click to expand...
In other words, "Learn something new (that I probably should have already known), everyday!"

Incidentally, shiny jets are somewhat overrated—but I had quite a few things that were, um, teachable moments in the -145. :D

Hacker15e said:
The only -- only -- way to build airmanship is through experience. It cannot be taught or learned in a classroom.

It can be artificially compensated for through a detailed and rigid set of procedures which legislate out the need to make decisions, but that only works when then only thing that occurs are things that have procedures written for them. As we know, aviation has ways of finding new and inventive occurrences that aren't covered in the manual, checklist, or QRH.

Important to note that it is not directly linked to just the amount of experience (ergo, hours), but it is linked to a combination of quality and quantity.
Click to expand...
Shack. And it probably won't take you very long to get outside the bounds of the QRH, either. ("There I was...")
 
Am I strange because I think attitude is more inportant than anything?

If you have a piss poor attitude, neither training nor experience does a whole hell of a lot.

This argument is pointless anyway. This shouldn't be be a one or the other discussion. There is value in BOTH training and experience. Ideally you get a solid foundation through training, ample opportunity to go out and experience what you learned. Too that off with some recurrent training so that you can discuss and learn from your past experiences and you'll be in good shape.

The best way to be successful in life is to have a good attitude and strive to be well rounded.
 
Just shy of 5000hrs now. It's a mix of both. Lot's of experience but poor training leads to bad errors made because of primacy (which is a powerful beast). Lot's of good training but no experience leads to guys who have excellent technical proficiency, but have no reservoir of experience to draw from when they need it.
 
I dont think progression as a pilot really has a linear relationship with how many hours you have. Certain levels of regression are to be expected in unused areas. There are some things I did at 3000 hours that I wouldn't do at 5000. Not because what I did was stupid and I now know better. It's because I was flying different equipment and lacked a certain level of proficiency I find acceptable. However, it's the 5000 hour pilot in me, I think, that allows me to realize this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top