Originally Posted by
Mach E Avelli
I think the GA fleet is getting old and tired and maintenance is perhaps now being skimped because of high parts and labour costs.
Also, the approach to training needs to get back to ‘old school’ whereby stick and rudder skills take precedence over some of today’s more touchy feely emphasis, the so called ‘non technical skills’ . This is not saying NTS isn’t good, just that it seems an inordinate time spent on that in the early stages of training and testing would be better spent on basics…the “pull back and the cows get smaller - keep pulling and they get too big too soon” stuff.
The fleet is getting old however looking at many of the investigations underway, many still seem related to crew. Is numerous investigations in progress, many on here sided more with engineering issues across most of these, however I have my doubts, which leads to your second point. We will await the final report.
I think you are correct, the large chunk of new ticket holders have learnt from advanced technology in front of them, they then head up north, in which it is steam gauges only. That is a frustration a charter owner raised with me not that long ago, it’s all fancy screen stuff, his fleet has none of that, and he said is stands out on a check flight. The ‘old school’ training program is near impossible to get these days. I could probably name you less than half a dozen outfits, across the whole country, that would offer such an experience. The future is sausages, fancy screens, and non existent stick skills.