Well I admit - I am not going on hard facts just what springs to mind on recent accidents. Obviously there is Colgan, but when you look a bit deeper it gets a bit more interesting.
I am actually curious enough to look into some of the basics of the recent accidents as there does seem to be a popular opinion that there is a safety risk of low time pilots in airliners combined with high workloads, max duty, minimum risk etc. And I would not argue that point. My main issue is the 2600 hours being practically novice.
As I happen to be sitting at home waiting for more flights, I will dig into the details of the more recent accidents on
this NTSB table - but even a cursory glance seems to reveal a large number of legacies (obviously discounting 9/11). I'll come back to the thread with what I find.
In the meantime - a kneejerk vote-winning reaction from the US political system was pretty much guaranteed reaction to Colgan. Fortunately in the US there is a substantial GA market to allow pilots to cut their teeth while remaining on the same continent as their family. Not so in Europe (for sure) and probably the rest of the world (only based on my view and not fact).
Thanks for allowing me to have an opinion.
I was trying to point out, to obviously some very closed minded people, that a company is not going to hire people with just a few years training and experience to put in charge of high-profile expensive projects or activities if they can, in any way, get more experienced individuals.
In an ideal world this would be true - but at the end of the day, it is the bottom line that counts at many companies, and if they can put bums on the front two seats for the least possible payroll while meeting the requirements, then they will. Not saying they will go for legal minimums of experience - just that they will try to pay as little as possible for that experience.