Heard the other day from a guy in training that SOs in about a year will be doing RT/PC with an STC in the left seat, they will also have to do a sim session once a month. This is instead of the current Mod system where you do a sim once every two months, two of those each year being a regulatory check.
You may wonder why they are doing this or you may already know. The Mod system is for the P2X rating, this new sim every month and an RT/PC system is for the soon to be introduced P1X rating. Don't get excited, no base training and still no hours useful anywhere else, all so there can be two SOs on ULH flights.
So in the middle of this safety audit, and the ever quoted line of "safety is our top priority", they are inventing the way to introduce a system that will result in almost all of our ULH flights having a guy in the right seat for landing who can hardly keep his eyes open due to always getting the worst rest.
Oh will also mean ages to upgrade for an SO as am sure with this new rating they will not make the mistake again of it only being valid for 5 years. Will make the job of being an FO more crappy also
edit to add: This will also free up many many hours on the rosters of FOs so will further reduce the hiring needs for experienced guys.
Last edited by SloppyJoe; 11th Jun 2011 at 06:11.