I have received a few pm’s and we would like to add a few things to better explain things to some of the FNG’s.
Myth 1: Jet are harder to fly than turboprops
No, the only thing jets don’t like to do is go down and slow down, either is possible not both at the same time, generally Mr Boeing & Mr Bus have added every gizmo possible to enhance flight safety so the lowest common denominator does not ruin their reputation.
Turboprop’s fly in the weather not above it, generally from lesser capable airports, with lesser capable clock-work cockpits, with lesser trained staff and less experienced crew.
Myth 2: Well trained cadet pilots are as good a more experienced pilot when it comes to Jet conversions.
No, again. Certainly it is true that the new guys are keen, essentially young, dumb and full…ly not ready to be father’s. Single living the life, eating, sleeping, walking, talking, aviation mad and they will do anything to get into a kero burner. And yes we do mean anything.
Now look at the demographic of the other candidate a couple thousand hours turbo-prop. Self-funded and paid off the loan, only to be replaced by the new loan for the house that is accompanied by the new wife and the screaming 3 month old on 3 hourly feeds.
So put these two together on course, one willing to do anything to get a life, the other with a life/wife/baby/bills, they will both complete the course to the required standard, however the older one will be exhausted and may need a little coaxing. Give the guy a break.
He has already jumped through the hoops, has a bit of commercial experience and has flown approaches down to minima’s time and time again in an aircraft not some microsoft based overgrown arcade game.
The airline recruiters however have a different view, as they also rely on the poaching game they will pick the FNG and bond him to the hilt, and overwork the line trainers in order to get a return on investment (comical term, we know). Rather than the other guy who knows the lay of the land and will be even more disillusioned when he discovers the true calibre of the management.
Which leads us to the…….
Reality 1: No man’s land.
No man’s land is a place in aviation for those turboprop and light jet jockeys with between 2000 & 5000 hours. Be it a Texas Stovepipe, King Air, Bandit, Doorknob, Shed, Dash, Fokker, ATR or Slowtation. If you have this experience and this time you will find it harder to progress for exactly the same reason as above.
Management see you as a short term risk, not a long term bond. It will only get better when there are more jobs like in 99-00.
Reality 2: Ex- Military pilots are different to Civilian trained guys.
True. Military pilot get the best of training for few occasions and civil guys get minimal training for every occasion.
Mission.
Military: Fly from A to A, drop ordinance, don’t get shot at.
Civil: Fly from A to B to C back to B then D and maybe A, drop passengers, don’t get yelled at.
Planning.
Military: Two days, best intel, sim session. 1 hour flight, 1 landing.
Civil: 15 mins, on the net, 6 hours flight time, 4-6 landings.
Training.
Military: In the sim as much as the real thing, training for every contingency possible for each mission.
Civil: Twice a year for a few hours, doing thing that you will never do in reality (hopefully).
Maintenance:
Military: Whatever part you need we got, if not, we have several spare aircraft, your tax dollar at work.
Civil: Whatever you want we don’t got, no spare aircraft, maintained by the lowest bidder.
So yes there is a difference, a cultural difference, between that of the bureaucratic government world and the commercial reality world.
We are not having a dig at the military, we (several of us were guests at a military function over the weekend in fact) are having a go at the attitude that some (not all) bring with them to the commercial world.
Truth 1: Simulators are training devices.
The sim is a training device, some sim instructors (that’s all they do some of them) are not on the line. You fly 900 hours per annum from A to the rest of the alphabet. No simulated problems with the aircraft, just real problems with passengers/handlers/operations/slot times/fuelers/Duty times/ MELs. They fly the lurching cave all year, thinking up ways to scare the bejesus out of you and try and prove that they are better than you.
Truth 2:
Jets are NOT harder to fly than turboprops. Experience in the real world, beats X-box any day. No man’s land is badge of honour not a burden, every captain we know would take a NML candidate over a FNG any day…..its only management who don’t realise this, because they only want their performance bonus based on revenue from the training department.
Is there an answer, yes. Unfortunately united we stand and divided we fall, as long as those new to the industry are willing to self fund type ratings, airline will take a few, just to give the masses a glimmer of hope and keep the myth alive.
The cost of aviation in Europe has turned it into an elitist sport, money is becoming the lowest common denominator.
You reap what you sow.
Let the games begin.
