A37575
Apologies but IMVHO "what a load of BUNKUM.
1) When sombody get a driving license - can he drive - the right answer is probably - "In theory yes - but he/she lacks practice" - so off he/she goes alone in traffic - and if he/she survives for a number of hours then - great.
2) When sombody learns to fly it is a bit similar - youngsters sometimes go solo at 5-20 hours - but 40 hours is normal to be let free with the paperwork. Then they get experience - alone, but as often as not with others who are more experienced with them. At around 200 hours an airline may consider them - and test them in a simulator. They do it all in a simulator and then - they get let out with passengers. Note that their initial instructor might not have had more than 500+ hours !!!
3) The real difference is that next to them is a captain who is a) responsible and b) has a bit more experience. I know captains with only 1'000 hours, but that is not common. Most have 2'000+ before they make the left seat.
4) The real difference between a car and a plane is a) the simulator training and regular 6 monthly retests and having the boss next to you while you do much of the physical work.
YOUR fears are almost certainly totally unfounded - me I get more nervous when I have 2 captains with 10'000+ hours each sitting right & left or a captain and F/O with that number of hours who know each other very well - why.... COMPLACENCY......(after all they may be getting boared, lazy and even smug, especially if its not a string and sealingwax operation or long haul where the amount of critical time experience can be a joke compared to somebody driving a city hopper).
Any of you drivers care to comment
or
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Thought - would it not be most interesting and instructive if anybody could be bothered to compile a set of statistics from the accidents reported as to the number that were F/O PIC's and number of hours of the left & right hand seats at the time - ideal would also be the number of cycles flown by each at the time also and whether the other pilot tried to "take control to avert the event".
If a company is happy to trust a pilot with their multi million dollar plane, why should I not trust that they want to keep their reputation and allow them to take care of my life. The risks just crossing the road are 1'000's of times higher every day a- a logically proven statistic !!!!!