In recent times I've been looking closely at the AF447 thread(s) over in Tech Log. Lots of opinions, enormous amounts of Technical babble, and even some straight shooting no nonsense stuff! CaptainCloudbuster however IMO has succintly captured the essence of this disaster. What a surreal and unbelievable realisation by the Captain at the very end that he has presided over the loss of everything!
As far as the benefits of GA vs Cadet, an interesting point was made by our head of Check and Training when our first cadets were doing their endorsements in the Sim. He said to me, "Krusty, they're bright, they're sharp, they're eager to learn. BUT, I get the impression they don't really believe the thing can crash!"
Now wheather or not that was true for most or all of them I cannot say. I know the head of C&T is not one who is prone to exagerate. Our operation is somewhat more "Grass Roots" than International heavy Jet transport, so I'm reasonably confident that any such impressions by these guys would by now have been dispelled.
It does however highlight the fact that on evidence, perhaps this crew found it difficult to come to grips with that very fact!
