Originally Posted by
bob eric
30+ years of check and training experience says one thing to me. This is a training issue... even probably a 'pilot selection' issue. And fundamentally, a regulator issue.
It starts with more than 'I have £100k, please make me a pilot' and should absolutely ensure that at 'ab-initio' and 'basic' flying training, commonsense and 'natural' pilot aptitude is followed up right through a pilots career/training.
Yes, we need more pilots and the demand for pilots is ever increasing. But this incident is a hairs breath away from yet another totally avoidable hull loss...
History is littered with similar incidents/accidents. The time will come where we reach tipping point on 'dumming' down selection and training versus front page 'newspaper' reports of yet another accident.
Do we have to wait for this? The 'threat' is clear. Lets do something about it now. There are more and more threat signals every year. That response must also include by-passing commercial pressures and e.g.: share and stakeholder budget cutting 2% YOY, in training and regulation. The industry at large, will be much better off as a result.
100% correct. Here in Canada, airlines are so short of pilots that basically anyone with a pulse can get a job. I've witnessed horrible check rides where the candidate still gets signed off. They just want to fill up the cockpits to keep the planes flying.