Some will never be satisfied sitting in the RHS no matter how long the term and no matter what the age. Tell any pilot "about two years to command" and like your 2 year old, he/she will hold you to it.
You'd think most who've spent any length of time in aviation who've seen carriers come and go, economies rise and fall, lack the intelligence to understand AND accept that today's possibilities could well be tomorrow's disappointments.
Not if you read the pages on PPRuNe with any regularity.
Bystander...
If I understood you correctly I'd like to make the following comments.
MTOW has little to do with making it or not making at EK or any other airlilne. I went from 12,500 lbs to 363,500 lbs and I am anything but exceptional.
I believe you create your pilot culture, you mold your new joiners into the pilot you want, and you constantly motivate, update and improve those pilots throughout their careers. Unfortunately, pilot egos being what they are, quite often gets in the way, resulting in many airline training departments "eating their young". That's a whole other discussion.
I wouldn't know the training organization at EK or how it works, but I'd suggest with that in mind, any training organization firstly separate Checking and Training then secondly, keep line Captains out of the training department unless they ARE teachers. In fact, I'd be bold enough to suggest Captains and F/Os who are qualified to teach be appointed to training positions based primarily on their ability to teach (which is the transfer of learning) and NOT based on rank.
We've both had sim instructors who couldn't teach and/or couldn't accept the fact they're wrong or had passed along b.s. or inaccurate information. When you end up with one who effectively teaches you something, helps you improve, and is humble enough to admit a mistake or gratiously goes away to get you the information you requested during a sim session, you'll know the difference.
One final comment on this, Trainers aren't checkers and Checkers aren't trainers. IMHO the two are separate and airlines who don't respect that delineation are making a serious mistake.
I'm not saying I'm right, it's just my opinion.
Willie
