411: I agree with most if not all of your objective facts and data on various topics, but because accidents have happened throughout airline history due to loss of situational awareness (whether the non-flying pilots clearly expressed a concern or not), must it be constantly emphasized that American's training and procedures are really much worse than elsewhere? If one seriously questions AMRs overall flight ops. and mgmt attitudes about safety (versus revenue/"mission-oriented" accomplishment), then is this done from a detached, quite impersonal perspective, with no personal bias at all? One of the largest US airlines with a high percentage of short-haul flights, statistically, can experience a certain share of incidents, no matter what the safety culture. Is this not true, if all else is equal? I'm not trying to make any excuses for accidents, however our industry is full of pilot furloughs, downgrades, even upgrades and various levels of requal training syllabi (very short, medium or long course), right now. These can influence safety, and not just in subjective ways. Some of our industry's requal and line check training might consist of barely enough simulator periods, due to cost management. These are some factors at some US majors.
At least one regional airline flying the CRJ has hired some pilots who have only about 500 hours 'experience', because more experienced pilots can not afford, or simply refuse to go through weeks of training while being paid NOTHING. One of 'their' Line Check Airman told me so at an airport Taco Bell, near gate 70.
If AMR's insurance company went over their flight operations with a fine tooth comb, as supposedly happened at another US company's flight ops very recently (due to several hull losses, both wide and narrowbodies), then this would indicate a very unfortunate trend. But is that the case? A complex situation can not be described or resolved with oversimplified, sweeping generalizations. A detailed investigation is needed to understand various elements.
I leave these as open questions for all readers of these topics.
Last edited by Ignition Override; 15th Dec 2004 at 04:52.