What's really going on here?
Is the industry changing, and we can't see the forest for all the trees? Are we expecting what our fathers once had, in much the same way that switchboard operators watched transistors replace the console?
Where did our highly-paid specialized skills go when airbus introduced envelope protection? How can my collegues possibly earn more than the prime minister for dropping out of high-school at 19? Why do we keep raising the theoretical requirements disproportionally to the falling practical requirements in order to preserve our qualification (and earning) requirements? How does the 26 year old skipper of a 737 qualify as a professional when all he's done for the past 7 years is drink beer and watch HBO, study a bunch of multiple-choice questions till they're memorized and recall 3 or 4 memo-items from the qrh? Is there exceptional decision-making or judgement beyond the SOP's? Is there any (expect in a negative sense) relying on the days of old? What seperates the few bastions of professionalism from those faking it?
Does it really take more than carefull (using your finger) reading the checklist, qualifying your radiocalls, using eyecontact when briefing and memorizing your flows and qrh itmes? Perhaps spend a night reviewing your type CBT? Or if you're really keen, spend a night or two ploughing through the FCOM.
It's a lazy job, most carriers don't expect anything except your license and signature, and when the **** hits the fan once in your lifetime... you get away with completely fu(king it up because..well... "the **** hit the fan." (which isn't supposed to really happen, when all is said and done.)
It's sad, and it's over.
The pay is for lousy hours, working when everyone doesn't (including your wife and kids), divorce, hotels, cosmic radiation, death at 62, lack of "normal" friends and social incompetence in any setting outside aviation. You can't pull a guy off the street to do this? All the smart guys either went into IT or became engineers, while the rest of us went where we traditionally could. But the requirement for our "stick and rudder by the seat of your pants and balls while risking something" isn't there anymore. All we got left is a great nasal PA voice and a choice to either add 1500 or 2500kg of fuel depending on the dispatchers briefing. And of course the option of selecting HDG to fly around the red stuff on the WX radar of course.... but I'm sure Airbus is working on that. Not to mention the need to ask the purser for permission to take the empty 1A seat for your rest.....
The old guys will oppose me, the mid-life guys ignore me, and the young guys will regrettably agree.
It's over. My kid will be a dentist.