Hi lambourne
Enjoyed reading your stuff.
I’m an old dinosaur and, I guess, also an old “gummer”. I fly (at my pleasure) for an elephants' graveyard of an airline (south asian national carrier) and will do so until I’m 65, in eighteen months time. However, I have the immense privilege of being demographically and contractually grouped with a wonderful band of similar ex-pat fossils, whose achievements, records, professional skills (I double crew occasionally) and sheer humour, humanity and humility leave me in awe. These guys will run any mile to help guys on the way up and will proffer (if asked) the most apposite, accurate and heartfelt advice, to assist the next generation (our pleasure, …really).
Ok, maybe they (we) have a few ex-wives, lawyers and children (think disabled – either as very young kids or as valiant young men in recent wars) to support and need to squeeze the most out of an earning career and an industry that seeks our experience (25,000 – 30,000 heavy jet hours), wisdom and skill. These guys are solid, patriotic, reliable and the bedrock of their varied societies. They are, please, not to be trivialised or denigrated but to be admired for the providers and constant troopers that they are. Please, therefore, take a step back, gulp a little humility and realise the value of the senior colleagues you belittle.
You may be interested to know that the carrier we serve, recently staved off two catastrophes following the intervention of two “gummers”, rostered as P2 on double crew operations. First case involved P1 erroneously selecting Auto Pilot at the start of the T/O roll when auto thrust did not engage. P1 seemed not to notice until ex-pat P2’s screams to disengage eventually got through to him just before VR. Second case concerned a very heavy weight T/O (17 hour flight) when P1 disengaged auto thrust (paddle switches - for reasons unknown) following a low-level altitude capture. Subsequent ATC climb and turn instructions were executed by the auto flight system, minus auto thrust. Net result, stick shaker at around 1000 AGL, just as ex-pat P2 had unstrapped and firewalled the thrust levers prior to a fully developed stall.
Could be the old timers can still cut it?