Originally Posted by
hueyracer
A Sim is a Sim, and the real thing is the real thing.
It's not the same.
If it were, we could train young pilots in the Sim, call them Captains and release them to the line.
I am a TRE myself, but in the helicopter world.
The Sim is much different from the real helicopter.
Plus a TRE does not get any "flying time" - if you grab the controls as an examiner, it means the check pilot failed...
So you cold only claim your instructor time.. But then again:
Instructing is not flying time.
It means you are spending hours talking to somebody how to do it, instead of doing it all yourself over and over again.
Ask yourself:
Who would you hire:
A pilot with a fresh line check who just stepped from an aircraft?
Or someone who claims to be a TRE, but hasn't flown in almost 2 years?
Don’t know much about the heli world, but in commercial airline ops the sim is used extensively. Commercial airline type ratings involve zero flying hours and in some cases base training can also be done in the sim. MPL programs are exclusively based on loads of hours in the sim with a limited amount of airplane flight time. You can renew your 3 TO and LDGS in 90 days in the sim as well.
Having said that we are pilots and we are meant to be flying up in the air, no question about that. To date I have logged approximately 16500 hours of which about 11000 as PIC, all on widebody. I do fly general aviation in my free time. So yes, I have been spending some time away from the ground and know the added values of real flying vs sim time. And that’s why I can comfortably say that the “last flight within 12 months” is completely useless ; somebody could have been grounded for years, flown for a few weeks, and meet the criteria... whereas you can have highly qualified professionals who have spent 20+ years in the air and have lost their jobs because of bankruptcies, covid, medical, whatever and they become automatically disqualified from applying anywhere because of a stupid and useless rule designed by some HR with no clue about the flying job. You ask me who I would hire ? The answer is pretty simple : whoever gets through the assessment. Would I call myself or anyone else in my position for an interview ? Definitely. I haven’t stoped flying commercially to open up a restaurant but because of the pandemic, and as a freelance trainer/examiner I need to be in the books all the time. So I guess I’d give myself and whoever is in my position a chance to be checked on what sort of terrible professionals we must have become after a “stop” of 18 months over a 24 years long career ;-)