Originally Posted by
Jim_A
While all the above are good points, commercial aviation continues to be safer than just about any form of transportation. The cynic in me says there is an "acceptable" hull loss rate, and as long as fatalities remain below a certain level there will not be much motivation to make any changes that will cost a lot of money in terms of pilot hiring or training.
No need to be a cynic, just ask the Boeing finance department about how many fatalities it takes to annihilate the penny pinching in manufacturing aircraft and pilot quality/training.
The chicken finally comes home to roost.
Flown with a few MPLs on the A320 and found them fine, no issues at all. Flew with a few graduates of P2F outfits in Eastern Europe and Indonesia, I frankly wouldn't leave the cockpit and I made sure to use the lav during the turnaround to ensure this is how it would be.
It's all about
assessing candidates. MPLs are mostly assessed because they are subsidised by interested airline parties, thus a certain initial quality and sane motivation is guaranteed. P2Fs basically skip assessment because they are subsidised by sheik- or mogul daddies, quality and genuine motivation do not really matter. The cheap side of the industry likes that, someone else is doing the necessary investment for their personnel. Quality is secondary, as long as the broad public does not connect accidents with the above, they can get away with it.