Rat5 and other pilots' comments were excellent.
Many laymen who comment on Pprune forums realize it and often admit it when they are a bit "unaware" of other professions' high demands, realities and decision-making, required by the one profession to which thousands of Ppruners belong. Could it be an actual background in higher-performance IFR flying (not just in Florida), which requires very much difficult study, testing, application of procedures (both in the sim and real airplane) and judgement (which can not always be taught), plus a competent management team which does not force pilots to fly unairworthy machines, in order to create the desired impressions? The aircraft which thousands of us fly have no automation, nor FMC and only two pilots. A guy I flew with a few days ago recently had one of two engines go to pieces right when they lifted off from the runway. There are no buttons to push to make the plane fly, whether with one or two engines, just a crammed layout of switches and gauges, sort of like a BAC-111.
Others here on Pprune combine ignorance with condescension and a bit of arrogance. What a classic combination.
This is an equal opportunity business. Anyone is welcome to go earn the qualifications and compete with thousands of other applicants for limited openings. As was said somewhere years ago, in response to wannabes who complain about the (now ever-shrinking) salaries at major airlines, you might die while working for the (or unwilling to join?) military or in the civilian world, just to build up a competitive background. I suspect that many wannabes click on to Pprune just to try and get even with those who made the early decision to work their butts/bums off, costing many thousands of dollars/pounds, and were very fortunate with timing, the economy and their ability to pass many medical exams, which never stop (like bad weather) coming around.
As for the purported comments by some laymen that pilots just sit there during cruise and discuss the female anatomy (
), a furloughed Delta pilot told me in person Thursday night at DFW that he gives sim and line checks to brand-new FOs at a US regional carrier which flies CRJs. A recent new guy tried to quit his career as (CPA) accountant and earned quickly all of his ratings-but then worked for the (in?)famous GULFSTREAM AIRLINES flying Beech 1900s in Florida. Did he also pay for the FO experience? Anyway, the very unfortunate guy did not pass either sim training or line flying because, despite a little flying in a twin turboprop, he had flown very little IFR, or at least real approaches, based on what the Instructor Pilot told me. Add on to that your first exposure to an FMC (whether a good tng syllabus, I have no idea), a rushed groundschool + sim schedule (maybe tighter training budgets due to higher fuel prices?), followed by a much faster turbofan and it could easily be overwhelming. And so we return to where we simply sit on our rear end in cruise flight (MELs, systems which don't quite look right, adequate fuel for the growing weather?)...how about on 5 legs in weather during a (very common) 12-hour duty period, with almost no chance to eat without compounding the next already delayed departure for 115 passengers, who are now waiting on your hungry/tired crew at your third aircraft of the day (assuming that we have a guaranteed meal break?), requiring another very thorough "originating preflight"?
The words arrogance and ignorance for many laymens' assumptions glow like a neon sign on a 'rainy night in Georgia'.