"Conspiracy"??? That is something that was asserted by others: an assumption based on the factual examples given. No Oliver Stone style deep seeded plot was suggested by those of us stating that standards and airmanship have and continue to decline in today's airline world. What is suggested / believed is that in the pursuit of the almighty dollar, share price, quarterly bonus and endless trimmings of costs airmanship has suffered.
Airline systems and cultures that are willing to deliberately ignore better qualified and experienced pilots over those with little to zero qualifications and experience have what is known commonly as
CAUSE and EFFECT. The same is said for short cuts in training and proficiency. There have been several of us on this thread recounting first hand experiences in numerous airlines where this is the case.
Those without such first hand eye-witness accounts seek to discredit them as a false "beancounter conspiracy".
For those who received the necessary training, were the problems solved? Is it possible, then, that without regard to rogue "beancounters" who run amok among us, training might be one of the key ingredients in ensuring standardization and proficiency, and upholding the indefinite yardstick of airmanship?
Too true.
And for those who did not, do not and will never receive the proper training in standardization and proficiency?? What of the innocent passenger suffering at the hands of utter incompetence? The lives lost if another "pilot" is at the controls when the autopilot is disengaged and cannot recover from straight and level flight and the Capt the next time cannot get back into the cockpit? Again, I still look back at my experiences at Air India and of the ever increasing media reports showing [criminally] negligent practices still on the rise. The latest is of a Capt who's landing technique was to land on the nose gear of the A320 (
DGCA finds fault with IndiGo pilot's landing technique : North: India Today) She was exposed, but only after a series of damaged nose gear assemblies. How the hell did it get to that stage?
Is there a "conspiracy"? Do airline management execs secretly meet together a mile under ground, with secret handshakes in sound proof bunkers to devise a Dr Evil-esque plan to lower airmanship? No. To believe so is idiotic. Could there be a
perception that experience and credentials can be sacrificed and thus lower costs and increase profits? To deny that is naive and ignorant to all the evidence presented.
Cause and effect. No conspiracy needed.