HELP! Am I the only one who feels this way?
I guess with the kinds of regulations and authorizations facing us … I’d still like to find out why it is that the FAA continues to believe that having two different approaches to pilot training is good for the industry. I’ve looked … I’ve read … I’ve examined … however, I continue to come up short on understanding how a set of authorizations to do things differently will yield a better trained crew member. Perhaps if the “differences” were specifically set out so that we could understand just exactly what it is that would be expected of those conducting the training and those receiving the training, instead of relying on some kind of analysis of some sort of nebulous “data” that is supposed to allow us to sense or clairvointly connect with how much better trained a crewmember will be, perhaps the results might be able to be SEEN as “better.”
I’m not saying that we should leave things the way they are … I’ve seen too many instances where pilots with all the “credentials” in the world (i.e., fat log books, ATP licenses, multiple type ratings, and some with multiple employers … both domestically and internationally) sit next to you in the cockpit until it becomes clearly evident that they can’t find their backside with both hands and written directions! We need to do something … but what? Who is driving this boat? The unions? … there are unions representing airline owners, pilots, flight attendants, dispatchers, mechanics, air traffic controllers, etc., etc. Which of these organizations is the one to follow? Is the boat being driven by the non-aviator psychologists that now have us looking at AQP, CRM, FOQA, ASAP, VDRP, ASIAS, LOFT, LOE, event-driven training, and who knows what else – where each program is the panacea to all problems in aviation? Is the FAA a “name-only” group that exists to allay the concerns and fears of the traveling public? Is the FAA a “feel-good” organization where all the airlines can say that they “meet FAA regulations” when those regulations are written so that almost anything goes? Are WE the only people that have any responsibility to do things the right way … and if so, I have some concerns
1) How will we be able to convince our management that we need better tools and more time to conduct the training that we know is necessary?
2) Will it continue be that to get additional money from our management, we will have to show them ever increasing ways in which we are going to save money on training time? (anyone ever hear about a thing called a “Ponzi scam?”)
3) How long will it be before those who do training on “the cheap,” will walk away with all the ticket sales and everyone else will be forced to shut down?