Gentlemen,
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement to become Flight Crew, however, I love my job, the diversity and challenge it offers me and I have no desire to become a Pilot. This might come as a shock to some members of this Forum who seem to believe there are only two types who log on, Pilots or Wannabes. Two of my former colleagues did decide to take the Flight Crew path and are doing just fine.
Todays modern Full Flight Simulator has no doubt taken many of you from one aircraft type to the next without the need for training on the actual aeroplane before revenue flight. They are known as 'zero flight time' and have been qualified by the FAA/CAA as capable of doing so. Boeing and Airbus spend many, many hours and millions of dollars to collect the data and design the models that make such fidelity possible. The main area it lacks real world fidelity is the motion systems ability to simulate sustained G. These devices are a far cry from the type you refer to TheNight Owl.
Does being able to fly the Simulator make me a qualified Pilot? Of course not, flying is just one small part of the job.
Do I believe I would be able to fly and land a B777, A330 or similar type (either manually or with automatics)? Absolutely I do!
Can I program the FMS/FMGEC? Yes
Can I follow ECAM/EICAS or QRH actions? Yes
Can I follow Flt. Directors, PFD ILS information, VLAs? Yes
As a Simulator Engineer the above is a prerequisite of the job, how else can we verify Training Crew write ups?
In fact, many of the write ups we receive actually stem from the Flight Crews misunderstanding of how the Aircraft Systems will behave in certain situations. This is not a critisism of the Flight crew, modern aircraft are extremely complex.
Do I believe that JJ737 can do my job? Of course, after training for a couple of years he should be a productive junior member of the team.
Anyway, this is way off topic so I better shut up!
Good luck to one and all in finding positions with the Airline of your choice....but once there, do not come back on here and moan about how tough it is and how much your are underpaid!
