Re: The latest \"happy\" propaganda....
You guys are right, it was not Regional Airline Academy. The lady mentioning "we have full-motion simulators" kinda threw me off.
"Deborah McElroy, president of the Regional Airline Association, said regional carriers operate under the same stiff safety requirements as the major airlines. And once hired, a pilot undergoes the same intense training as in major airlines. That, she said, compensates for lack of experience."
Personally, I don't agree with her statement that intense training makes up for a lack of experience. I don't think anything can make up for a lack of experience, other than more experience. Becoming a better airline pilot is about getting out there and doing the job. Airline training is minimum standards to get you out the door, it's a cost factor. That's why it's nice to have guys coming into the system with as much experience as possible.
"McElroy said most regional pilots graduate from university aviation programs, which teach pilots how to operate in an airline environment from the start."
Most would mean more than half. I don't have anything to back this up but I would guess that more than half of regional pilots come from CFI and freight backgrounds and never went through a university aviation program.
Also, Kit Darby says "Once pilots are in their jobs, working as professionals, you won't see a problem with safety," he said. "The system prevents any low time pilots from being in charge."
They might not be "in charge" but to defend low experince pilots in the cockpit with the excuse that they are not "in charge" is weak, in my book. This has always been my beef with MAPD. I don't think a 300 hour guy (other than selected and trained in the military) belongs in a jet. That puts the Capt in a position of not only doing his job, but doing half the other guys job as well. Are Mesa airplanes falling out of the sky? Nope, but I sure wouldn't want to be a Capt over there. Ask Bog or my checkairman friend how it feels to be sitting next to a 300 hour wonder. Some are okay, but I wouldn't want to be a Capt working with the ones who aren't.
I don't label an article as good or bad based on how fairly both sides get to present their case. I label it based on whether I agree with what's being said or not. So, when I saw flyover saying he didn't think the article was bad, I was curious about where he was coming from.
I really don't think there will be a pilot shortage in the future unless the career continues it's downward spiral and becomes something not too many guys want to be involved with.
I did find the ATC part of the article interesting.
