Now there was an Aviator

[Xeque]

I dropped this one in quite deliberately. And what happened? Not a lot.

The story was about a man who really was a Captain in every sense of the word.

I hoped that present day Captains would look at the story and then examine their own credentials and (perhaps) have the courage to say whether they thought that they could have done what this man did.

Blow two, 8 foot by 5 foot holes in one of todays airliners and then ask yourself whether you really believe that the man in the left hand seat up front really has the experience to handle the situation.

I would venture to suggest that my chances of survival as a passenger in that 1950's Viking were a whole lot better that they might be in one of today's "bo-buses" with the equivalent of a systems operator in command.

And why?

Todays fly-by-wire and automated aircraft are wonderful until the main fuse blows or the "Windows fatal error" message comes up on screen or something REALLY goes wrong, like a couple of big holes in the fuselage and most of the tail damaged.

But that's where (provided you have it) the experience, the know-how, the "forget the checklist - let's work out how we are going to land this sucker!" comes in.

I'm not knocking pilots 'per see' but guys, come on, in todays world when having a PhD, a BA or an MBA is more important than knowing your craft, how many of you simply do not have the hard won, hands greasy experience that people like Captain Harvey had.

Ask yourselves, could you have flown an initial approach, then a go-round, then a second low, slow and flat approach using only engine power to hold it all together because you had no rudder and very little elevator control? Could you have put that crippled aircraft safely on the ground and saved the lives of all your passengers?

It's a sobering thought isn't it. Perhaps you should forget the gripes about the airline you work for, the size of the salary package, whether you think you are being hard done by etc etc etc. and go back to basics - examine the real reasons why you wanted to become an airline Captain?

You are the Captain of the ship. Your primary consideration is to bring your ship and everyone aboard safely into harbour.

Now have a go at me.