Entertaining thread with a lot of biased rubbish.
Heard a lot before..pilots are pilots good or bad from wherever.
I was turned down at Biggin Hill for a short service commision as I knew nowt about detachments and aircraft types..join ATC and come back next year as Army Cadets did not count. Turned down by some old engineer hating pilot CO, went back and was accused of being a liar and would be difficult as my father was a frog (translator for deGaulle).
So it was Hamble and three trident pilots where the consenus was military pilots don't make good crew members.
Well that was right if you judged those that learnt the handshake and went into management.
Had a good mate who resigned from Jet Provests after two of his course mates died..said the instruction was at fault.
BA and first cross transfer onto the VC10 and ex Hamble instructors... some good some rubbish.
Joined the Swiss, higher poling standards flying with mainly ex military fast jet pilots..Swiss, German, Dutch, French and the "odd" brit..odd being the operative word. The BEA myth was bollox wrt to military pilots not being any good in civil transport. It was about selecting the best.
Fast forward to a presentation at Toulouse by head of pilot requirements at Airbus who tried to sell the cadets who had been to Uni were best..rest rubbish..turned out naval architecture degree followed by sleazy jet.
But the best one for lack of common sense was at my only Irish general aviation safety meeting where after a lot of hostility I gave a precis of my experience which shut most of them up.
The only other brit was wearing a tie that I couldn't believe given the history over here...twas a Harrier RAF one. For those who haven't been bored by one of his ilk..not unlike a course mate of mine who flew concorde "of course none of you know what skilled pilots we are"..the Harrier is viewed from head on and with it's anhedral looks like an Antonov so in feigned innocence I asked him if he had flown an Antonov...was half way through his RAF harrier speil before he twigged.
For those who have never had Swiss command training after 20 years of flying jets it was around six months learning everything about the operation from the kitchens, bomb disposal, SAS equivalent, ATC....you name it.
Good luck to all of those guys in these difficult times and I have always wondered why the RAF do not do the Swiss military reserve system?