Thanks for the forward to here BEagle. OOps!
8 years ago I flew the jet for the first time having "amassed" 1800 hours instructing. Yes, a lot of it was "drilling holes in the sky" and "pootling about" but there was a lot of learning being done as well. IMHO, there is little substitute for getting yourself in a fix and getting out again, frightening yourself is another way of putting it. I was still stunned by the transition to jet flying. That does not make me a better candidate, just better equipped to deal with the huge changes required for flying jets.
I have no doubt that a good number of candidates reach a good standard on various modular courses and arrive at an airline with 145 odd hours. However, and please correct me if I'm wrong, isn't a lot (all?) of that 145 hours spent under very close supervision with minimal decision making? Once at an airline, the simulator emphasis is on training to fly that type rather than building experience. I would suggest that the training leap is too big to train on type
and polish up skills previously gained through experience. Any experience.
I am involved in Initial Type Training and naturally we see that guys and gals arriving from another jet operator are quicker off the mark than the guys who arrive with minimum hours and no jet experience. That is to be expected. What is a concern to me is that the low hours guys have little experience to fall back on when it goes wriggly. I can't define it but there is something in having been out and about beyond the stictly controlled confines of basic training. Developed airmanship? I don't know. Sadly, my concerns are shared by Line Captains. The technical and basic poling skills are there, the judgement and high speed thought are not.
IMHO the "pootling about" comment is fatuous, the learning aspect tenouos and Cabairs opposition cash driven.
