Lol. You idiots think it’s just about hours in the log book? Thanks for demonstrating my point perfectly in one respect though.
A few themes running parallel so ill try and cover them off.
1. I’ve long been an advocate that the back seat is a great place to learn about airline operations. Maybe the ideal path for a cadet should be S/O for a few years, then a regional F/O and perhaps even to command before returning to a jet. In that respect Dunda you’re definitely taken a wrong turn in your logic.
2. The right person with little experience is a better long term option than the wrong person with lots of ‘’experience’. Sure, there is a nuance and a balance to this point but there are ways of structuring your operation to cater for the less experienced. (I hope one of you clowns doesn’t think I’m advocating for ‘no experience’. Still, it’s 2018 and very little surprises me this days when it comes to people wilfully mis reading posts).
3. I’m not sure in any of my recent posts the issues that I’ve raised was about the lack of experience that regional drivers have. In fact a re- read of my earlier posts advocates taking a wide range of candidates from across multiple disciplines to assist in building a more robust experience base. Sometimes that means taking on the people I’ve spoken about in point 2. My issue has always been about the atttide, not the experience.
4. Any ‘sole source’ internal recruiting pool is damaging for the long term success of an airline. I like flying with people from other airlines, the RAAF, GA, cadets, internals, because it gives me and others of my vintage a new set of eyes and minds to review our operation. It took some of those eyes post Ansett in 2001 to be able to get some cut through on certain CRM policies and definitions within Qantas.
Let me be blunt- far more than I have been to this point. My sole interest in the recruiting process is whether it gets the ‘right person’ identified in point 2. If you’re in a ‘group airline’ and suggesting that because of this status you should be the only pool of candidates mainline recruits from you’re actually demonstrating why you’re not suitable for mainline- at least not at the moment... maybe when you wise up a bit more and/or adjust the attitude. If you’re suggesting that you’ve got three years experience as a Dash F/O and therefore this will make you a good airline pilot then you’re sorely mistaken. It might if you’re the right person- though the right person would also know that it’s actually less to do with the 1800 Dash F/O hours and more to do with who they’ve become in those 1800 hours. Those hours mean squat though if you’re not the right person. No amount of experience will make up for it.
So take a good hard look in the mirror mirror folks and ask yourselves what makes you the ‘right person’. If you’re telling yourself it’s because you’ve been in the group for a few years so you should have priority then I’ve got some hard news. If you’re telling yourself it’s because of who you are as a pilot and a person and what you bring to the table then I look forward to flying with you.
Actually, I think these words sum it up.
In the airline world, you'll be just fine if you have a good attitude and meet the standard. Most of you're learning will occur on the line anyway. But please, d*ckheads need not apply. No one likes flying with a d*ckhead, no matter what your background is.
Recognise them Dunda? Are these not the crux of my point?