Originally Posted by
Joe le Taxi
Twenty years ago, it's was usual to be sitting with someone who had a visual stick and rudder, or ultra basic IFR air taxi type, aviation background of some sort (I include military in that) - now it's about one in ten FOs, if that.
That is, however, an incredibly bad argument, as twenty years ago (by the way, most european pilots were abinitio trained ones as well at that time) the accident rate was higher, while the airplanes we flew were the same. After all, the 737NG was already the mainstay, as was the A320 family.