411A.
Maybe I hurt your sentiments, but I do stand by my conviction. I am full of praise for some of my former colleagues there, but the less said about the training the better.
SV bases the training and checking extensively on memorization of information that is easily accessible, and less on referencing and logic. This policy, of laying emphasis on learning by heart, has been discarded by almost all other organisations and for good reasons, too. (I admit to little knowledge of astronaut training by NASA).
Committing to memory gives the operator the confidence of ‘know-all’, which then leads to complacency.
Besides it also makes life in the training system more difficult for those with a scientific bent of mind: those who do not remember items in the book as they are indexed, but with an overall view and with a thorough understanding of the contents and their essence. On the other hand, it promotes those with a photographic memory, mistaking it for superior airmanship qualities.
You are confusing ‘demanding’ and strenuous training as good quality training. Then, like 777AV8R wrote about the tough Oral Exams. A day’s oral exam on a subject like meteorology! Come on, grow up – is that exam a good thing? Conducted by a one-man board; and the examiner questioning the pilot straight out of an open book?
Mind you, all the exams, especially the orals, may not be above board.
Take the failures: three failures in the full career span, and the pilot is out of the company! These include the oral exams as well.
Even if the pilot is an old hand with the company, he is treated like a second officer or even worse, when he converts to the next airplane. The conversion lasts for about 9 months again, the third failure in his career hangs over his head, and it is vengeance time from his former First Officers, who would have become training Captains on the next fleet by then.
The flying standards are not so demanding. Rather, the flying is in one of the best aviation climates anywhere. Rare thunderstorms, long runways, and a good ATC and navigation network. Just the heat is stifling for a few months. The routes, especially out of the kingdom, are good, too.
The silver lining is that after the pilot has been dragged over the coals, in training, he is practically scot-free.
While I admit that this topic, on the recent in-flight fire, is not the appropriate forum for the discussion on the training in SV, I couldn’t help posting a reply. I would refrain from any further discussion on this topic here.
BTW, 411A, re.“Where, prey tell, do you get your infinate wisdom?”, I hate being referred to as ‘Prey’, and especially by one who makes two errors in one sentence!
Rgds.