Watchdog,
I rarely yell and never scream...I like to think I can teach when given the opportunity and a willing student...on my better days the student doesn't even need to be that willing..although I have run into one that was a dead loss so having passed him around the other training captains I sacked him...and rang CASA...who did nothing next time he renewed his Instructor Rating...last I heard he was still 'teaching'...I shudder to think what.
Human nature usually wins...I disagree...if you can train soldiers to move forward while being shot at and kill just because there Govt says to I'm bloody sure you can train people to fly an airplane safely under any circumstances they are likely to encounter and give them skills to manage the less likely as best as is possible.
I'm equally certain that telling the average 18 year old lad not to do beat ups or try and turn back after an engine failure because it's illegal or he might be killed won't work either...it didn't with me.
But if you really train them well you might cause the more circumspect to pause and not do it and you might cause the less circumspect to do it in such a way that they will not kill themselves.
In PNG it was always about keep new guys alive long enough for them to build experience and judgement. I don't see a flying school has any different imperative.
That was the way my first CPs and C&Ter treated me when I turned up and it seemed to work...I always seemed to have just enough experience and manipulative skills to stay alive in the first few years.
The guy I 'signed off' learned a big lesson during that final period of line training. We were working in a well established company with a strong C&T cadre. Some months later he was upgraded to C402, then 404 then Twin Otter. Each time was a comprehensive endorsement and 15 to 30 odd hours ICUS. Now he works for a company which also has a strong C&T Department, I know many of the checkies, with 6 monthly sim checks. He might not be one of my favorite people and he may not be the best pilot I ever flew with but he is having a successful career.
You don't think 16 odd sectors in and out of PNG bush strips with everything covered over was a reasonable test?
I should have put him on an aeroplane back to Oz? You wouldn't believe how close to that point it got...but I didn't and that was a judgement call...I've never lost a minutes sleep worrying about anybody I trained and signed off.
I can't gaurantee I will make the right decision every time for the rest of my career, let alone anyone elses....but the more I practice the luckier I get so here's hoping!
All I can do is my very best with the pilots I train or check while they are under my 'umbrella'...when they go to work someplace else or to fly another type they become someone elses responsibility until such time that they become a checker or trainer or a Chief Pilot...then I hope they remember my good days and my bad ones and pass on the lessons learned from both.
I don't believe I mentioned Regulatory Surveilance anywhere in my posts....nor am I nieve enough to subscribe to theories of zero accident rates. What I do believe pashionately is that the average standards of PPL and CPL graduates is abysmal and not getting any better.
We've certainly got more than enough REGULATIONS.
There is nothing much wrong with ATC and Airspace, despite what Mr. Smith and Smith tell us.
What is DESPERATELY needed is overhaul of the pilots licence curriculae...a return to more traditional skills with an emphasis on handling skills and understanding of aerodynamic cause and effect.
The Regulators are fiddling while Rome burns!
Airlines are the place to learn airline SOPs not flying schools.
A Transport Cat aeroplane or Sim is the place to learn about Multi crew SOPs...not a Duchess, Baron or an Aerostar.
I would love to see all piston twin training happen mostly in a Sim that's the equivalent of the best airline sims...don't know that it will happen though.
CASA are forever coming out with warm fuzzy buzzword rhetoric about increasing air safety and maintaining high standards...but they virtually never do anything that will ACTUALLY go someway towards attaining that.
I believe the basic CPL is probably one of the easiest to obtain professional qualifications around...all it requires is a year 10 education and deep pockets. It should be made a helluva lot harder...not more expensive and not more hours to qualify..200 should be adequate for a basic CPL...it's what you do with those 200 hours that can have the greatest impact on the accident statistics.
I believe if that was done, via overhauled curriculae and tougher standards in testing we could probably reduce the really stupid fatal accidents by 1/2...not a bad start really!
Ohh and I can't read your lips...this is a BB not TV
If I upset you with my response to your post, learn to live with it...I have
Chuck.