PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Is this a dying breed of Airman / Pilot for airlines?
Old 12th Apr 2011, 04:46
  #307 (permalink)  
john_tullamarine
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Far be it for me to aspire to such matters of philosophy.

However, having hired and fired, I am firmly of the view that one prefers to seek the appropriate person and then train to a requirement rather than the other way around. If that training means some unlearning and retraining, so be it. I value experience and accept that age generally goes hand in hand with it. Hence I tend to look to folk who have the occasional senior moment but have a solid track record of been there, done that. I have a chap in his mid-60s whom I put on several years ago - I consider that a coup, given his vast experience in his field - he is a fine mentor to the younger chaps who will benefit from his counsel.

As Joe Bloggs in the cabin, I far prefer to delude myself into believing that the guys/gals up front are greybeards/blue rinse set and have a whole bunch of runs on the board when it comes to out of left field situations.

I shudder to contemplate the scenario of a captain (presumably experienced appropriately) with an F/O straight out of boot camp and only the barest of a box ticking endorsement. I came through a system wherein we were backhanded until we came up to a reasonable standard. Never did one have any concern that the average line F/O couldn't SP the bird back to wherever it needed to be taken in whatever weather if the boss fell over
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