As has been said previously, experience cannot be bought. I wanted to be a shiny jet captain when I felt comfortable with my lack of knowledge in aviation. Of course, we all know the answers to the questions and perform to acceptable levels in the sims, but that does not mean we know everything, and that is what worried me........what if? An old FE once told me always ask yourself 'what if' before and not 'what now' after! A piece of advice that has been with me ever since.
Well, I have attained my goals and am now at the low end of the totem pole, Capt on a large shinny jet! It took me almost 15 years to make it. 15 years of flying all over the world, with all kinds of people, all kinds of weather and various types of aircraft. A well rounded package I think.
Was it worth it? Yes and no. I love the pre-flight preparation, the take off climb, the descent and landing, about 1 or 2 hours per flight. I hate the rest period before, the cruise (6,7, or 8 hrs), the all night flights, the uncertainty of the next paycheck, the worry of the family etc.......the pros and cons can go on for ever.
Sully represents what we all dream or hope of. What youngsters think we are made of, what the public used to think we were made of. Being able to go from point A to point B. Handle any situation with efficiency and experience, and finally, bring everybody home safely. He did what he is paid for (Exceedingly well may I add), I just hope I will be able to be as successfull as he was, if ever I have the unfortunate experience of being in his situation.
So for all you people saying that buying a rating and passing the tests is good enough, you are very wrong. The problem is when you have a 2000 TT Captain, with a few hundred pax with sudden problems that are not in the training syllabus or out of the box. That is the difference, experience! You can rant and rave as much as you want, you cannot replace experience with money or will power.
With experienced Capt leaving or wanting to leave the industry (Yes I am one of them) they are replaced with bright and intelligent people that have relatively little experience. Automation has reversed the curve, there are less hull losses, but there would be even less hull losses if experienced Capts were retained........better pay and a little more respect would be a good start!
I can ony hope that the future generations of 'pilots' will have even more automation than now for the benefit of the travelling public. For the yougnsters wanting to be pilots now, I can only say go fly real aircraft in the real world before going to the shinny new jets where bean counters will dictate what you do. Nothing beats 2000 hours of bush flying to hone your survival skills, explore your abilities and to set your limits. Fortunately, with my company, we can still fly the aircraft as we see fit. (Always following SOP's of course) It is a great feeling to fly to minimums manually in 'bad' weather and at max weigths!
Ah aviation......a daydream and nightmare all rolled into one! Just my opinions gents, Keep the blue side up and godspeed to all