Ref+10
Ref+10. The old days where the Capt. was a mini god is long gone. As Metro Man has learnt quickly GA practices will not be tolerated in to-days airlines. CRM is heavily emphasized; the FO no longer sits there in silence while there is an obvious cock up.
SOP’s are strictly followed, QAR’s are routinely examined to look for trends and if there is any violation the event is normally flagged.
Nearly all of us have gone through the GA stream and what happened 30 years ago still exists, the only difference is that GA operations are more covert in the way they operate. You could not convince anybody who has made the transition from GA to airlines that there aren’t huge deficiencies in GA. The only way things will change is if ex airline pilots go back into GA and are ALLOWED to implement proper practices, but that will never happen because of costs.
I would ask how many pilots in even the better “regionals” have ex airline pilots in senior positions such that they could influence the way SOP’s are introduced and implemented.
Now getting back to the thread, there is no shortage of pilots in Aust. and never will be. The present exam system is a joke and as long as the only requirement to be a pilot is the ability to pay, there will always be a huge surplus. The only shortage that exists to-day is of experienced Capts. First officers who are well trained can satisfactorily carry out their duties with as low as 500 hours. However I repeat well trained, not somebody who has been given a quickie endorsement and occupies the right seat.