playstation
A hint: when you find you're in a hole, stop digging.
You seem to admit now you are basing your judgement of RAF/RN fast jet pilots (and some of my friends will be amused at me defending crabs) at least in part on the skills of a Belgian C-130 pilot, and some various worldwide airforces. Another hint: that isn't what we're talking about here. No disrespect to the Herc guys, I know some great pilots from that world, but your mate not only probably failed to get fast jet recommend, but he was Belgian too. Not noted for their military achievements. They are a bunch of pacifists so it is unlikely the military is a respected career choice or a high priority, or that operational training is as good as it is in a country where some still respect our military (bloody hell, me talking about respect for the RAF!
)
So when you've no idea what your talking about, wind your neck in mate.
TIMTS
He was. To question the fact shows complete underestimate of how a Harrier is flown and operated, and of how the services select and train their crews. I know the guys that have
failed the course to fly the FA2, and they are rather better handling pilots than I am and have shown better airmanship, and I assure you that I ain't too shabby myself (fixed-wing I mean. Never really got the hang of rotary).
I have a lot of respect for pilots who fly Twotters as they are designed to be flown, my ambition is to do so myself.
However single-crew jet pilots are the top pilots in the RAF and RN. The fast jet world is the top of the tree, single-crew above that. All those that slipped through selection are weeded out, either out of the service or into the roles that include all you have to do and much more besides. Even they are trained and tested to higher standards than civvies.
Such training is simply not available outside the military. No pure civvy is as good as a decent military pilot, although a competition aerobatic pilot flying for airlines (liek the Brit who won the first round of the Red Bull Air Race in Longleat) might come close.
I accept that they might not make the best pilots in a civilian environment, but that is not their world and CRM counts for exactly zero. They are certainly better pilots overall.