When you came here (from your LCC - oops I'm being prejudiced) did you have the relevant experience?
No I did not, that's why I started as an F/O and did my prerequisite 4 years in the right hand seat before upgrade (and that was before LCC where around in Europe
)
While there is no doubt you can name plenty of DC9 Captains who have significant international experience, the FACT is the vast majority of DEC's arriving here do not. Ask any F/O who has to fly with them just how much support they have to give. While some support is inevitable in a new domain, the Captain needs to have
relevant domain experience and be the quality control on the aircraft. The reason for this is simply, he may not always get an F/O who is experienced on the route, network or aircraft.
Fundamentally its all about situation awareness and decision making. How can you make good decisions in a challenging environment, without significant domain experience. Again just ask your president
