The question might be, does a very young age and a quite superb ability to process and learn aviation data create the best ability to fly as 747 Captain?
Or does the size of the aircraft and its image also motivate the youngest and best pilots who have a burning desire, to check out as 747 or 1011, DC-10/MD-11 Captain?
Airline managements have for many decades exploited pilots by using the impressive widebody-jet type-rating as a lure to motivate pilots (young and single?) to ignore market forces in order to have the credential on their resume/CV. Maybe it is the ultimate "Chick-Magnet"?
The First Officer on my last trip said that he would have been a 'twenty-something' 747 Captain, had he remained with his previous company-SAT. He also flew the A-300 as FO.
During a push-back about a week ago, he was astute enough, perhaps with a finely-honed sixth sense survival instinct, to suspiciously look at the right wing, and notice/check that the refueling panel door was hanging open.
He said to me "Stop the push-back". This was a first for me as Captain.
He asked the Wing-Walker whether everything looked normal. The Wingwalker said "yes"-even with the door open! (He had previously been a fueler at the FBO).
Does this result of "outsourcing" have your attention?
Well, he told me that at one of our largest HUB AIRPORTS, a de-icing crew had de-iced one wing-but NOT the OTHER WING.
Interesting? Who noticed and notified the c0ckp1t ?
Passengers and crew, if this is true, might soon die if nothing changes.
He told me that heard this first hand from one of the two pilots who was there. Unrestrained (barely regulated) American capitalism at its best...
Last edited by Ignition Override; 19th Dec 2006 at 06:25.