One enters this thread with a degree of temerity because one has great respect for the words of Norman Stanley Fletcher and Rainboe, the words of whom need little in the way of further embellishment.
One has, in the past, flown with ex RAF, SAAF and Rhodesian Air Force pilots, in both seats and with pilots from both jet and transport forces' branches.
It would not be too appropriate to comment upon flying skills other than perhaps to say that in airline life an SOP does not, in the day to day operation of an aircraft, allow one as much flexibility as perhaps an air force pilot was accustomed.
The problems. although that might be too harsh a word, have always arisen with the interaction between the air force trained pilot and the civilian trained pilot in a two crew/CRM orientated operation. It does, in the never so humble, behove the air force pilot, upon entering civilian life, to make the effort to accomodate himself to that which he finds there. This is perhaps somewhat achieved by regarding the transition to civilian flying as a different learning curve, but of an upwards direction.
I think too that it is probably fair to say that there is sometimes some considerable bias to be found in civvie street towards air force personnel whose training might be perceived as having been effectively paid for by the chap sitting next to him who will quite likely be a dedicated pilot with a huge debt acquiredd from funding his own training. If this were the case, it would no doubt perhaps be especially galling in the case of an F/O sitting with a military DEC in the LHS, which of course, is where so many ex service pilots think they should be sitting; which in turn is apt to compound the problem when they find that they are not.
