Originally Posted by
VThokie2
In the United States if a major airline had the failure rates EK possessed the FAA would come and investigate the training department and/or recruiting department. At my current carrier I actually look forward to recurrent training because I get to brush up on my skills, see what’s being highlighted lately, ask some questions (without the resultant change at EK from a 4 to a 3 in the “knowledge” PAM) and when they ask “ya wanna do something extra” the answer is YES! That is a REAL training department, the same cannot be honestly said going into an EK recurrent!
We are truly blessed in the U.S. when it comes to training. And we've got the safety numbers to show for it compared to the numbers for the smaller amount of flying done by the rest of the world.
Sure, there will always be one or two idiots teaching in the schoolhouse but U.S. training is pretty much a low-threat scenario with a union card and the adjustment of standards to embrace non-traditional demographics. We're just a bunch of country boys and girls trying to earn a living. That pompous Sky-God stuff went out of fashion over the past three decades and was replaced by CRM and Kumbaya consensus building leadership. I can't remember hearing an American pilot (even a Deltoid
) brag about how well he or she flies the plane. Some do brag about how they got six weeks off for 120 hours of pay with conflict schedule bidding and a couple of weeks of vacation however.
I remember a QF crew bragging years ago that only half of their command course candidates made the upgrade on the first try. I was impressed (but not favorably).
Not that long ago a couple of now former EK pilots deigned to lecture me here on karma. I wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors.
Rumor from a friend at United is that EK may be looking for 787 pilots for planes from some defunct airline. He's close to retirement but still gets frequent unsolicited emails from crewing agencies for expat jobs based on his listed type ratings.