isnt it funny how in aviation most "old school" pilots are very weary about changing the things they are used to and are familiar to. Like in most other professions i guess people tend to try and stop "progression" or "new filosophies" by stating that the old and proven way is the best one. When the first cars came on this planet people said it would be the end of the world. when cars could go faster it would be the end of safe driving.
When ,metro systems started operating without drivers it would be the end of safe public transportation.
now the introduction of the MPL is the end of safe flying. Nevertheless we all know that this progression will continue and cannot be stopped.
Aircraft are getting more and more automated and we cannot stop that. Its a fact of life that automation will start to take over and we pilots WILL actually become system operators. Lets face it... old school flying is over... its a pitty...YES defenately.... on the other hand its also nice. I for one (and been in aviation for a good 20+ years) dont mind that i can have a coffee, read my newspaper, play with my laptop during cruise knowing that the plane will take care of itself. the chances of these systems failing is smaller than the chances in the old days of the FO becomming incapacitated
I beleive the old way of learing aviation (starting small and growing bigger) has become impossible symply for economical reasons. Flying a C-152 has become more expensive than 1 hour of A320 simulator and charters with PA-31 with young new pilots have become rare since low cost airlines are much cheaper and fly the same destinations that we used to do in PA-31's. So young pilots symply have no other option than to start straight on the bigger planes. Wether we like it or not..it has become a way of life. we CANNOT stop this so lets make the best of it and try to train those guys as well as we can. NOT by not allowing them to touch anything. This will FOR SURE not make better pilots out of them. As commanders we should take the responsability to teach these guys to the best of our ability and make sure they become safer pilots with every hour they fly. Yes it involves a higher workload... temporarily... untill they get more experience.... SO WHAT. We are mostly well paid and therefore cannot complain that we do not get an ace in the right seat because it interferes with the movie we have downloaded from LimeWire.
Lets not try to stop the inevitable
but lets try to make the best out of it and do our best to keep the cockpit as safe as we can by teaching teamwork and exchanging experience.