NJA_Capt said:
Not exactly. I never said the Capt had plenty of experience. He had a lot of B1900 time. He had very little Jet/high altitude experience. He had 5000 hrs below FL250 and a few hundred above. He demonstrated very little knowledge of high alt flight. And his FO (<500 hrs) just blindly followed him. I believe if a high timed/experienced FO had been aboard, he would have never let the Capt get in that situation.
The Pinnacle Crash had nothing to do with
altitude and everything to do with
attitude. Before the Captain released the parking brake, decisions were likely made that led to his demise. The FDR recorded aggressive handling of the airplane just seconds after liftoff. His Dude First Officer and he changed seats, leaving both empty and the ariplane under the sole control of the autopilot long before they reached the elusive "flight levels." My money says the decision to deviate from the flight plan was made before the engines were even started, much less flamed out and core locked.
Discipline should be taught at all levels, in all situations, in every airplane, in every circumstance. This crew was woefully deficient in that area. Was experience, or the lack thereof, the culprit? Doubtful. On the contrary, it's likely that the Captain had a history of lapses in discipline, and the fact that he survived simply reinforced the poor decisions. Was it the "career path"? Also doubtful. There is no magic progression from one airplane to another, one seat to another, one company to another that makes one safe and instills self-discipline. I'm certain there are other pilots that have followed the exact path that he progressed and are still around to disprove that hypothesis. Could it have been his training? Possibly. Perhaps someone missed the chance to teach him that valuable lesson. Perhaps someone saw that he needed the lesson, but chose the path of least resistance, and let him continue to his doom.
It has been posited on this thread that less experienced pilots are more careful, more cautious, as they know their limits. I would disagree with that generalization, as well. It might be said that less experienced pilots don't know what they don't know. Some might therefore be more cautious, but I suspect just as many might be naively bold. A good number from both camps seem to survive to learn better.
While I hesitate to generalize with any of these qualifications, age, experience, training, career path, etc., I will go so far as to say that the pilot must have SOMETHING to fall back on. Whether it be personal experience gained through hours, or the lessons of others taught through proper training programs, or the reliance on strict procedures designed to help him navigate through unknown waters, he must have something to keep him safe. The crew of Flight 3601 ignored all three. They disregarded their experience, they tossed their training, and they chose to violate company procedures, and they paid the ultimate price.
Why? Again, for the lack of one word - - DISCIPLINE.
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