Listen up you ‘Eager Beavers’. When I was a young ‘un I wanted to pull out the stops and make things happen. That old ‘Jackass’ in the left seat was just another speed bump I needed to overcome to reconstruct my seniority number. But I learned very early in the piece that the old ‘Jackass’ had a wealth of experience.
He’d probably sat through runaway props, fires, instrument / avionics failures, depressurisations and a host of systems failures including pumps, hydraulics, anti ice and any thing else you can think of. He knew that he didn’t want to be holding an airplane in visible moisture between zero and ten below. He could coax every last mile out of the SGR when the anti ice systems were pushing up the gas consumption and draggin’ down the airspeed.
You get an abnormal that ain’t in the book, or some that are and react. Why that old Jackass would say ‘why not forget that and try this boy’, and damned if it wouldn’t work. I soon learned to watch and listen. I was doin’ CRM before it was discovered. I just about pumped those geezers dry of information and filed it away in the memory bank.
Forget the military pilots – they ain’t natural. The military employ the cream of the cream, and whittle ‘em down until they got just the ones they need. Then they spend billions on ‘em. Those hard heads have got the keenest eyes, the sharpest reflexes and the steadiest hands. That’s why the use young ‘uns. They don’t have any passengers without Martin Bakers and ‘chutes. And if they get creamed, well there ain’t anything more stirring or patriotic than a funeral with full military honors.
Those old Jackasses have the experience that your company demands. No CEO wants to face litigation for incompetence tempered with lack of experience. And those Jackasses that are instructors are just lookin’ out for your interests. Heed what they got to say and don’t rush to the hereafter. You’ll get the left seat when it’s time.
