Excellent read..thanks, and yes some very valid points there. I've been trying to encourage (non airline)people to read Chesley Sullenbergers book too - to try and get a grasp on whats happening... its hard work convincing people theres some big problems that need to be addressed!
Are you kidding me? This clown is a bonafide nut job, and I would probably wanna kill myself sitting next to him. What a jackass, I had to force myself to read the nonsensical diatribe. Mmhh, Mr. whacko, what administration brought the 1500hr. rule, and the realignment of Flight TIme and Duty rules? You are another dinosaur and an embarrassment.
(...I skipped over the political bits for the same reason... , I still think there's some valid points in there , even if it is a little convoluted... )
In August of 2006, a Hawker business jet collided with a glider at 16,000 feet. It takes a long time searching the internet to get the facts of this story but reports say that the Japanese glider pilot turned off his altitude encoding transponder (to save the battery) thereby making it invisible to the jet’s Traffic Collision Avoidance System. The glider pilot bailed out prior to impact and the jet suffered damage to the wings and tail
I think the bit in italics is very unlikely. If you see a plane coming at you you don't bail out, you take evasive action. Midair collisions normally occur when neither planes have seen the other, not after one has. My money is on him bailing out post impact not prior to. Inaccurate reporting.
An essay ruined by its misogynist, racist, homophobic and xenophobic passages by someone who likely failed a military application.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt. Douglas Corrigan, the military hater
Only within a minority of pilots trained at the expense of the military can there be found individuals for whom flying is just a job; second to being an officer. ... as new hires, military pilots are often the least militant of labor groups. Until the end of the first contract negotiation they experience, their peers will often view them as Kool-Aide drinkers easily swayed
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt. Douglas Corrigan, the homophobe
what does this pilot-blogger think of all the gay men who have now squeezed those young girls out of the profession and the sensitivity training he must now submit to? ... And if that makes sense in terms of driving down wages and increasing control, then wouldn’t the ideal employee then be a military trained homosexual?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt. Douglas Corrigan, the racist
you can ask any “white” airline pilot what UNITED stands for and he’ll come back with: Unqualified Niggers in Training, Expect Delays.”
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt. Douglas Corrigan, the xenophobe
I contend that they could have more easily assimilated Hispanics and blacks naturally. [than "Ethnic Catholics"] ... At one time, even Red Chinese were sponsored to fly there by their home country.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt. Douglas Corrigan, the misogynist
Books can be written on the short term costs to airlines of [members of the fairer sex on the flight deck], and stories of incompetence abound whenever pilots gather ... he larger social consequence of sexual favoritism has been that it is easier for a daughter to follow in her father’s footsteps than a son. All of these things had the effect of weakening the cohesiveness of the pilot group
Last edited by Checkboard; 29th Jun 2011 at 17:38.
Interesting read, but not a great read. He is guilty of some of the shortcomings he aptly pointed his fingers at in various parts of his composition. For instance:
Quote:
When Comair flight 191 lined up with the wrong runway at 7am in Lexington, Kentucky the crew made a fatal error that costs the lives of all but the first officer by over running a runway that was too short to their plane to become airborne. Their complacency was fed according to the NTSB by:
a failure to use available cues and aids to identify the airplane's location on the airport surface during taxi and their failure to cross-check and verify that the airplane was on the correct runway before takeoff. Contributing to the accident were the flight crew's nonpertinent conversations during taxi, which resulted in a loss of positional awareness and the Federal Aviation Administration's failure to require that all runway crossings be authorized only by specific air traffic control clearances.
The first officer apparently grew impatient waiting for a major airliner to recruit him and took this job after working at Gulfstream International.
He gave only part of the story. For instance, the FAA admitted it broke its own rules by having only one person in the tower that morning when its regulations required two. The intersection of the two runways (in the darkness) was confusing at best as it was under construction with a "detour" required to get to the takeoff point. The construction and route to the runway point was never printed out and distributed by the airport operator or by the government agencies. The controller had worked the shift before and had little recovery time before being back in the tower before dawn that morning, supposedly an OK situation with FAA/ATC work rules in place at the time. Subsequently, the Head of the ATC Administration was fired because of this same problem e.g. tired and/or sleeping ATC personnel on duty at major airports. It took awhile, should have happened sooner rather than later. And most importantly, the NTSB was divided as to the roles of the players as to cause. Three of the five members placed the primary cause on the pilots and "contributing cause" on the FAA. Two of the other Board members disagreed by writing a letter that is part of the report which stated the FAA was equally at fault for not following their own staffing procedures. And one other point: The FAA interestingly released the tape from the CVR to the public as the NTSB was deliberating the causes in an attempt to avoid being tagged as a "primary cause".
Completely unreadable. Even without the bizarre politics, the guy can't spell and can't form coherent sentences. I could not get past the first few words.
I think I'll go cross-eyed if I try reading this again on the laptop but what misspellings did you find? I only found one. Perhaps, it's British English vs. the American corruption.
Anyhow, after a little digging, I found that the sailplane pilot bailed out AFTER impact and was actually in the same hospital as the female captain he praised.
As for the charges that the author is racist or misogynistic or even anti-military ... that seems to be jumping the gun. I've just spent the afternoon reading some of the articles on the home page about racism and anti-Semitism as well as some written by West Point generals. The magazine's point of view is, admittedly difficult to pigeon hole according to a left/right paradigm. Nevertheless, it's hard to believe this magazine (where is it sold?) would give such space to a bigot.
Quote:
On January 15, 2009 we received a reprieve from Obamamania and our focus on what was forming into one of the most inept presidential administrations I stopped right there....
You would've missed his swipes at right wing Michael Savage and Fox News
I can barely PPRuNe and email in complete sentences let alone write articles.
My brother in law said he was pretty well know before retirement decades ago. Said he had a modest Navy flying career in the early days of VietNam before being sent to fly a desk. He then worked quietly for one of our legacy carriers, went through a brief furlough during which he flight instructed and worked for a Regional Carrier prior to recall.
Used to give sage advise to budding pilots but always steered them away from the like of AIR,Inc. and FAPA even when he was recommending the career.
Said he's becoming increasingly critical of his country despite ancestors that go back to the Mayflower and is now a Europhile who berates his countrymen for being monolingual. Despite being legally blind now, he does promotions for Rosetta Stone and can "now order lunch in 6 different languages."
Has a grandson and two granddaughter that fly for major carriers. And he's a friend of Sullenberger.
Where was the adulation for this skilled aviatrix and her first officer? Unlike police departments and firehouses that went through similar social engineering experiences, women never put any one in this field in danger because of their lack of upper-body strength.
?
Would a racist speak of "whites"
Quote:
united in an ugly way
?
Would a military hater Distinguish the record of Sullenberber from Lacy to presumably protect the former? Or say:
Quote:
it’s true that one can hardly distinguish the background of a pilot after a few years with an airline
?
Would a Xenophobe say:
Quote:
I contend that they could have more easily assimilated Hispanics and blacks naturally
or even care?
I'm not sure what a Homophobe is? The construction of the word is asinine to those who've studied linguistics but there was no shortage of people who use that word who were screaming for the scalp of the SWA pilot with the stuck mic. Such tolerance of diversity of thought...
I've flown with all types of pilots from various backgrounds and races. An African American F/O I flew with last month passed the article on to me and said he agreed with it 100%. My niece is an F/O with another carrier and is the first to admit she was the recipient of favoritism. I doubt this article would offend here.
If there is a shortcoming, it is that the author doesn't explain how to fix the problem. Like Ross Perot, he only identifies the problem.
I was going to pass over this thread until I read posts that mentioned the article was non-PC, homophobic, racist, etc etc etc - so naturally of course I read it!
Wasn't disappointed - liked and agreed with it very much.
Quote:
...but it also explains the sacrifices of time and money which people are willing to incur to become an airline pilot; it also explains how the airlines can use this infatuation to drive down wages.
That's why SQ just love to take on young suckers suffering from the delusional Shiny Jet syndrome. Same goes with Shitstar.
