"Well thanks for the post Glueball but Kai Tak has been closed for quite some time now and for most crews it required specific simulator training so you can hardly claim it relied on pure airmanship skills.
Wow, there's a bit of nonsense that slipped out - airmanship skills by definition resulted from training. Practicing is part of training, and doing is also practicing... get the picture? Skills are learned.
"I don't buy Jaxons/Bushbolox idea that those who have 'paid' for their career are somehow worse. Everybody in their appropriate seat of a UK airliner has passed the appropriate tests and are thus qualified for their position.
You missed the point, the suggestion was that being a "true aviator" comes with experience and cannot be purchased. Meeting the minimum standards for certification is one thing, but it does not say much about experience, does it? The point is obvious as that is precisely why command has a minimum experience requirement in addition to simply passing the tests.
Last edited by Jaxon; 22nd Dec 2007 at 07:37.