Originally Posted by
j.nips
AFAIK personal attitude is the main driver for failures. Not being Japanese "compatible" so i heard, whatever it means. That's how some of the guys put it for me. Also each and every company has to show the authority a failure rate as it wouldn't be normal according to their books that everyone or most of trainees pass. Some companies don't have their own checkers so the authority is doing the job for them. It must have something to do with the culture I guess.
Why is the failure rate so high? It is commonly thought that there have to be failures in order to satisfy some hidden cultural agenda but it is simply not true. Rather than subscribe to a hypothetical conspiracy theory why not just accept the fact that the standards for the
screening are higher than you may find elsewhere? That would also answer the question. That is not meant to be insulting at all and that does not necessarily mean that their pilots are inherently better. For instance, some actions in the cockpit that westerners take for granted hold more significance in Japan. CRM is something everyone thinks they understand but in Japan the manner in which you communicate with your flying partner, if less than perfect, is not just something that results in a comment at the debrief. It could mean a down because the checker thinks your management style is unsafe.
They set higher standards for
screening in order to insure they get the best product available. Seems reasonable to me. Why accept fair to good when you really want excellent.
Compatible with the Japanese culture simply means polite to a high degree, humble (but not meek) and attentive. No real mystery there. No secret sauce needed.
Good luck to all.