Originally Posted by
TACHO
OK I'll bite, what's unfair is that it rewards mediocrity, does not acknowledge previous experience...
Just asking again as no-one has given an answer yet. How do you quantify how "good" a pilot is? You seem to be stating that there are plenty of mediocre pilots who are keeping their seats because of their starting date and not ability, and in the next breath say that previous experience should be rewarded. Which is it? Should a more experienced pilot from another airline be given the command because they have more hours, or should the pilot with the best ability be given it regardless of experience?
In which case, again, how do you judge ability in a workforce globally of over 100,000? Even comparing Sim scores in the same airline is a dodgy way to do it - each TRE is a human and judges things differently, two identical pilots could get different scores depending on how generous the trainer is, or how much sleep he/she got last night. Comparing between different companies, never mind different countries, would be a minefield. Of course each airline will have a few outliers - those CP & FO's who everyone thinks are fantastic pilots, and those who probably scrape by - but the vast majority are probably all the same.
On another note, by rewarding purely experience (i.e. hours), we are pushing everyone to work harder. Back when I was a fresh faced FO I would have wanted to work my 900 hours right to the limit if it meant I could apply to be a Captain at any airline in the world in a few years. There would be zero advantage to having an easy roster and better lifestyle because it would hold you back in your career. Airlines that offer that lifestyle wouldn't be able to attract First Officers if someone could work a few years at RYR and jump them for a command. Pilot's would be wary of taking sick days, calling in fatigued, taking compassionate days etc, because they would be pushed further away from getting their command.
Seniority is absolutely not perfect, as I said in my previous post, but i've yet to see anyone offer a realistic alternative. Simply saying that pilots should be judged on ability and not seniority number doesn't provide a solution of how we fairly judge them. Those comparing us to other professional jobs such as doctors and lawyers are missing one important point - a defining point of a good pilot is that he or she gets the passengers to their destination safely, and if possible, on time. We all do that every day. We can't compare how many high profile cases we have won as lawyers, or the success rate of a particularly difficult surgery.