The only comments I have ever heard from Captains flying with airlines who recruit 'cadets' are:
1. Most are great at flying the aeroplane by the 'numbers';
2. Some cannot be relied on in emergencies because they do not have the necessary depth of experience to be able to react if things don't go 'by the book;
3. If events described in (2) above occur the Captain quickly discovers it's a single pilot operation;
4. One pilot passed an A320 course with flying colours but just could not get to grips with landing the aircraft. In spite of sympathetic attempts by the training staff to correct this deficiency the trainee was failed.
The general impression from the above is that these candidates are 'switched on', but lack the background of knowledge and/or reactions to cope with certain situations that might be second nature to more experienced pilots.
It will be interesting to see if any 'incidents' occur in this respect with Ryanair now that they have discontinued the recruitment of experienced First Officers.
The cockpit gradient is large (from many points of view) and this in itself cannot be viewed as a beneficial state of affairs, particularly from a CRM perspective.
Some Captains have 'issues' with these candidates from a number of points of view: lack of experience, attitude, 'could be my son/daughter therefore nothing in common to talk about' leading to lack of synergy in the flight deck.
These are just my recollections of things that have been said to me over the years.
KR
FOK
PS: In a few instances I have asked for a demonstration of an exercise, but in the past I have learned more from watching the Captain and kept my mouth shut unless absolutely necessary in case of being considered inept. Sometimes asking questions can be seen as being an admission of a lack of knowledge and in spite of being told 'there's no such thing as a stupid question' I personally beg to differ in an airline training environment.
Last edited by FlyingOfficerKite; 7th Nov 2009 at 19:33.