Originally Posted by
TBM-Legend
Ronny RAAF has been sending pilots aloft in single engine jets solo with less than 200 hrs then into solo night flying and cross countries. Two things keep an aircraft flying: it's the attitude and the attitude!
Stop deriding people's efforts and look for the positives...
I will pipe in here.
Attitude.
That is a very under rated ingredient.
The RAAF, and for that matter, many military operations do send young candidates out in high performance jets.
There is a major difference between military (government) and civilian operations.
The military will have a good handle on the personality and formative training and discipline of the candidate before said candidate even arrives at the controls of a high performance jet or turboprop.
The candidate operates on their own (CRM deficiencies will NOT be exposed at this point) and any cockups are on them alone with no one else to blame. Military discipline and management of poor discretion should be blunt and final.
Civilian training rarely, if ever, would have such discretion to offer the amounts provided by the taxpayers of any country involved in military training, or the latitude to unilaterally scrub a candidate at any point along the syllabus.
It may be said that some single pilot only jocks from the military, do not often make the most pleasant or efficient operators in an airline (commercial) environment. Indeed even some who have multi crew experience can also be a less than ideal fit into commercial operations. There are those who transition extremely well.
Of course the flip side is also true of civilian operators. Many a competent, efficient and safe pilot was not backed by the military. One reason possible is rate of learning. Of course, there are also terrible outcomes from this avenue also. Military products generally have better tactical handling ability. This basic skill is fundamental and well ingrained.
As far as China Southern et al, it comes down to having a citation instead of a C310 and the money to throw at it. I would not suggest that one outcome is better than the other. That comes downs to delivery and final outcome of the product and inherent skills. The pilot.
Having competent and effective delivery of training is fundamental. The candidate must be competent and highly motivated. A lack of either ingredient is often displayed on these forums, or indeed the statistics of many operations.
It does cost more and is less forgiving to conduct any form of training in a higher performance and more expensive, less forgiving platform.