wait a second...I took the time to reread this little argument a few times...exactly what is wrong where?
oldboeingdriver asked some questions about what your post to 185
if the first officer was inherited from the airtran purchase, that is interesting to know...it actually may throw some light on training process, and retraining.
if he is not from airtran, just saying: the fo is NOT a former air tran pilot would have been enough.
and yes we would all like to know what happened...if its a plane problem we would all like to know.
if someone screwed up, we would like to know too.
(DOES anyone recall a crash where an MD80 series operated by DELTA landed about an inch short of the threshold of runway 13 at LGA? cream;ed the main gear off...turned out the pilot had contact lenses that offered both far and near visions...and OOPS.)
Wondering if there was a vision problem somewhere.
but jpjp...I think you are way hot under the collar without a good reason to be.
Happy to answer that - I thought I made it clear originally. If I didn't make it clear, then it's my fault. The F.O. was not a former AirTran pilot. He was a SWA hire. Trained and hired directly through the SWA hiring process. As was the Captain. The rumor that the FO was an AirTran transition began within SWA.
Regarding your comment on training - All of the AirTran pilots transitioning to SWA have more experience than the incident F.O. The incident Captain is less experienced than half of the entire AirTran pilot group that is transitioning to a SWA FO seat. Those AirTran pilots are transitioning from the Captain seat of the 73NG or the 717. They've been flying into LaGuardia constantly for over a decade. The AirTran training program is excellent. The FOQA numbers show an interesting comparison with regard to stabilized approaches. The AirTran pilots transitioning are being given a full course, and from all reports find the training environment to be excellent.
Since the fate of the two pilots in question was not known at the time of the original post, I found the gleeful supposition irritating. I found the requirement for references ridiculous.
I will add this; I think that the FO was in a very difficult position. At a time when he was relatively new to civilian flying. The Human Factors analysis will be interesting.