dgtl887
explain to me how the guys coming up for their captaincy now (the one's who flew the shiny 320's and the 737's at 200 hours) haven't buggered up too badly until now ?
Several reasons.
1. The number of planes in the air was a lot lower a few years back.
2. There were/are a lot of senior expats as well as experienced Indian commanders with flying experience all over the world who maintained some order in the skies.
3. The pressure on pilots to reduce costs has never been as high as it is today.
Within the last few months it has been made adequately clear that even though incidents do happen, the attitude that is required to prevent them in the future is completely missing. There is no accountability. Investigations are not carried out promptly. The party at fault is not brought to task. Several near misses have occurred within the last few months. Several pilots have been found with alcohol levels above the permissible limits.
Combine all these factors along with two kinds of pilots in the cockpit: one one who started flying the jets with 200 hours and is now awaiting his/her captaincy and another who is fresh of the board with no experience whatsover on the jets except his/her type rating. Yes, maybe the training is adequate enough to provide these pilots the skills to fly the planes, but when it's crunch time decision making is what counts and that ONLY comes with experience.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I want accidents to happen! But you can't ignore the facts.
How do you suggest that pilots in India (the 200hr variety) get those hours with no working rights in other countries ?
Why do you require working rights in OTHER countries!? There are thousands of CPL holders in India and thousands more that will be generated over the next few years. Why isn't there adequate infrastructure for flight schools right here in our country where young pilots can gain experience as instructors and pass on the baton to future pilots?? Why do we have to go to XYZ country to get a CPL?
This has always been a problem with India. When we should have been focusing on the agricultural sector during independence, we went ahead and spent money on industrialization. They want to build skyscrapers without any real foundation.
The same thing is happening in the aviation industry. We want to make a jump directly to a major aviation hub but where is the foundation? The government is so concerned about bailing out airlines but what about us? If they truly wanted to make aviation into a sustainable industry they need to focus on the grassroots.