Euro market pilot saturation
My wife and I have given up flying, not because we think we could get killed by dodgy pilots (see above), but because we cannot stand the hassle on the ground in the airport. However as a pilot with 1000+ hrs of gliding - 2200 sorties, Silver C,and an instructor rating, I think I can see the drift of the this thread. There are people flying big aeroplanes full of people who should not be doing this. Every one of my 1000 hrs was 'hands on stick', and as I was soon teaching flying to the great British public, who could just turn up at the club, join, and expect to be taught to fly, I had some 'interesting' pupils to say the least. However, in my undergraduate days I had applied to join Glasgow University Air Squadron - I didn't get in - too many applicants that year, but I did have the full RAF medical, aptitude (in a Link trainer), and attitude tests, which took all day in the nearest military hospital. Why do the airlines not do this? The captain of my school (captain of rugger/cricket/golf etc) was in the same group as me, and he failed the eyesight test - slightly green/red colour blind! I was determined to learn to fly, and still hoped to do that in the RAF during my National Service (giving my age away here), but on graduation as a mechanical engineer I was hired by Rolls-Royce and trained as a jet engine designer (Conway and RB108) and thus became permanently exempt. I took up gliding and I have never felt any inclination to fly powered aircraft.