ironbutt,
I think the whole RJ thing is more about "individuals" rather than branding all RJ pilots.
It was a whole bunch of circumstances at the time that lead to the whole RJ saga.
EK had just reduced its training (again), less SIMs, less Line sectors. Training for someone new to the type was now much more challenging, and these fellas were the wrong group to be the first through.
The FOs that EK normally hired were no longer interested. So the assumed knowledge and experience that the training department were use to, and the new training courses relied on, was not there.
They were young, and most were "check airmen" in their past companies, so were having a hard time coming to terms with something new. Rather than hearing "at band camp" we heard "on the RJ" when trying to discuss stuff that needed to be covered during line training.
They were just harder work that the normal FOs that had been hired before them. This isn't their fault. As EK wouldn't have hired them in the past with the experience they had. Changes within EK made it no longer attractive to new hires. EK should have admitted this and provided the training these guys really needed.
There aren't any Aussies in training management, so I don't think it was 89 bias.
Anyway, about them DECs.
The Don