Those who make best Airlines Pilots are Cadets with Degrees ..Not Cowboys on 210s
This post was written a number of years ago for a flight training website. It is replicated here with a few minor modifications (but fails to address more recent developments in the MCPL/cadet programs) as an introduction to what will come next – a post on Jetstar’s Cadet Program. Although it was written with an Aussie focus, it’s still relevant globally.
I was fortunate enough to get a fairly comprehensive blurb on the Multi Crew Licence (MCPL) by a CASA friend of mine quite a few years ago before the nature of the licence was widely known or publicised to the industry. At the time, I remember I was somewhat opposed to it (this post intially came a few days later), but have since come very close to becoming an advocate for such programs – and this has a lot to do with the effect General Aviation (GA) potentially has on a pilot, rather than the benefits offered by the radically different licence or cadet program.
At the time I was first introduced to the MCPL concept, I argued with passion that the nature of traditional light aircraft flight training was multi crew anyhow… even if it was just the instructor and student. The crew still adheres to certain fundamental multi crew procedures and – if the operating methodology in the aircraft were altered only slightly with an emphasis on CRM/management strategies – the same procedures you apply in a small Cessna would transition into real two crew types. Any student I fly with today would feel quite comfortable in an airliner from a procedural perspective. Of course, my earlier argument was fundamentally flawed because I didn’t consider the long-term consequences of exposure to GA. A good or bad thing? I still don’t know.
As somebody that has grown up within the ‘corruptible ranks’ of general aviation I’ve got conflicting views on the MCPL and cadet programs but, for the purpose of my ramble, I’ll play the Devil’s Advocate and comment on some of the less favourable qualities on GA.
The MCPL was fundamentally a European airline initiative (driven by ICAO) not that dissimilar to traditional cadet programs. It’s primary purpose was to overhaul the nature of flight training to cater for a more modern flight deck with a focus on CRM, Threat and Error Management (TEM) training and high altitude flying – all tightly governed with a competency based syllabus.
Cadet programs are more traditional. Training seeks to train pilots with a full commercial airplane licence, a command instrument rating and a ‘frozen’ ATPL. Although the syllabus is heavily influenced by CRM, multi-crew and TEM training, it is focused on training pilots in a real aircraft with a lesser emphasis on simulation (until a conversion course is conducted).
Airline cadets have always copped a raw deal from those within the bitter ranks of the general aviation fraternity because they are seen as people who shortcut the so-called hard yards into an airline job without having to endure the years of ‘character building’ offered by the myriad of jobs in GA. I can relate to both sides of the argument and I have concluded, in my own mind, that the decision by airlines and/or CASA to have a licence that bypasses the majority of this might be the lesser of two evils.
Sure – general aviation offers a great deal to a pilot and provides for experiences and an education that is arguably worth its weight in gold, but I’m not completely convinced that the GA environment is conducive to the ideal airline pilot candidate.
GA Monopoly
GA pilots have an unknown history, they are an unknown quantity and it’s difficult to adequately profile them for flaws that would potentially make them unsuitable for a multi crew cockpit. The synergy of an airline cockpit relies on a harmonious blend of disciplined personalities who have a similar mindset and function in a similar way. When seasoned GA pilots undergo airliner conversion training you’re essentially trying to undo thousands of hours of conditioned behaviour and years of bad habits that may potentially poison the sterile pointy end of a Boeing like a cancer. Some might argue that they’re a diamond in the rough… but that’s another argument.
Cadets and MCPL trainees, on the other hand, can be conditioned to operate in a desired manner. They essentially surrender their capacity to ‘think’… and they’re easily assimilated into the cultural collective. Airlines want clones. They’re effectively rationalising pilots’ brains.
Airlines want a pilot that has a complete and utter dependence on the OPS Manual and SOPs. They want to employ pilots that have a complete reliance on published company policy and procedure rather than the erroneous, three-dimensional mentality of a GA pilot. I am not saying that GA guys don’t adhere to their ops manual or have an appreciation of SOPs etc, but they do develop a habit of making fuzzy in-flight interpretations of regulations and their ops manual; and they often make radical operational decisions on the fly to cater for changing circumstances – without published ‘guidelines’ – something that is generally frowned upon in scheduled airline service.
It is simply unacceptable at the HCRPT level to have a willingness to kneel before commercial pressures and compromise on safety. If a person can do this once; they can likely do it easier the second time. In the airline environment the commercial pressure is very rarely applied and you always have a broader support for your decisions – but in GA, failing to ‘play the game’ often means your job.
A quote from another post:
At times throughout my general aviation career I couldn’t help but feel that many pilots were so blinded by visions of a big jet left seat, the big bags of money at the end of the general aviation ladder and the long legs of the busty stewardesses that they soon lose their passion for flight and trade it in for a couple of kitchen knives and a large stone to occupy the area of their chest normally reserved for a heart. Most general aviation pilots have little choice but to assimilate themselves into the career-hungry collective or be left in the wake of those around them. The dissension and dissatisfaction (that evolves from the frustration that one is not flying a jet) often creates quite the hostile working environment, despite the fact that the people you’re working with are among your best friends. Don’t get me wrong: general aviation provides for a motivating work environment since most pilots have more ambitious plans for their future, but it also encourages some people to consistently compromise their personal values for the same reason.
My personal Australian experience with others suggests that general aviation often breeds a bitter contempt for the industry; for safety; and for procedures in some pilots. Many pilots end up spending their life savings so they can beg for a poorly paid job flying well-tanned Northerners around; and then maybe they’ll score another poorly paid job in a beaten up twin in Darwin. Is this really character building? Is this really the kind of management flying that Qantas wants from its potential Captains?
Before you know it, the same clowns are posting beaten up lies to Prune and online forums in an attempt to fast track their career with little regard to the consequences or the people they tread all over on the way. Isn’t it better to recruit and train potential airline pilots before the industry does irreparable damage to their otherwise innocent and uncorrupted psyche?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the flight training situation in Australia is getting worse. Standards are dropping, the number of pilots applying to courses is decreasing, aircraft are getting older, airports are disappearing, training is fast becoming more expensive, and CASA is seemingly making attempts to eradicate the pestering private sectors of the industry. If the flight training market is failing to produce quality candidates for airlines then it makes sense that the airlines will introduce a licence or/and a course that they can take control of themselves. It is probably the most effective means – and perhaps the only means – of flight crew quality assurance in the recruitment process.
I only know of two or three schools that I would recommend to anybody if I were asked. I mean… how effective could training really be when the typical instructors are all under the age of 20 and paid by the hour? Many of these junior instructors have only been flying aircraft a year longer than the student they’re teaching! I know of countless schools where instructors teaching commercial pilots have never actually flown a commercial flight.