Originally Posted by Pollution IV
Why do people think that a simple raising of hrs requirements will fix the problem of shoddy acft handling, poor discipline and low tech knowledge ie poor Airmanship. The long held belief that hrs in the logbook = greater proficiency and expertise, is truly misguided and any no. of air crash events involving very experienced crews making fundamental errors will attest to that. The FAA 1500hrs requirement is purely born out of expediency and lack of drive to employ real corrective measures through relevant and focused trng. As with all things, we simply look for the quick fix. Until regulators force all air operators to provide fair and adequate trng to their pilots, accidents due to pilot error (mishandling) will continue to occur.
While I don't disagree with your position, I think it important to recognize that the recent development in the US for the 1500-hour requirement as a prerequisite to qualify to fly in air transportation service was not an FAA-developed requirement ... but rather a requirement levied upon the FAA from the US congress ... where the congress was yielding to political pressures from the public to "do something." The FAA has been readying a new training rule for some time now - even published a version of it last year - but were beaten down by the political considerations of those not wanting to have the airlines address the additional costs (minimal as they may be) of meeting the proposed additional training requirements. Some in the FAA are apparently trying to do the right thing and continue to be plagued by the ever-present "political" responses that inevitably rise to the surface. The training philosophy resident in the FAA's AQP alternative seems to be another of the "yield-to-the-pressures" responses to allow individual airline training programs to be differentially approved, resulting in the regulatory standards being met by virtually no one. It's an interesting concept that seems to go unnoticed by many, if not most, of those who claim to be interested in aviation training.