Ahhhh, I missed Galland by a few days when reporting in at Hill AFB in June of 1979 to join the first F-16 squadron in the world. He was touring with a Brit that had flown in the Battle of Britain. He signed our bar in the rec room and we used his quote for our official picture done by the Waki brothers - The Spirit of Attack. " Only the spirit of attack born in a brave heart will bring success to any fighter aircraft no matter how highly developed it may be."
see:
Spirit of Attack
As romantic as Galland's quote may sound, I am convinced that it applies to commercial pilots as well. We all became "system monitors and users" as the technology marched on, but the end game always depended upon our personal skill, knowledge, judgement and "hands". We few at the leading edge of technology in the military saw it sooner than the commercial folks. We adapted and we changed our instruction of new pilots. I was there as an IP from the WW2-like A-37 training squad to the A-7D and then the F-16. Helluva ride, gotta tellya.
I cried reading the reports of the ValueJet fire and the Swiss crash and the cargo fire in the sandbox. Then I recall my buddy's crash at Cali almost 20 years ago. The AF 447 debacle really hit a strong vibe, and I began to worry about the crews as much as the aircraft in some respects.
I am glad to see some changes in the emergency procedures and some emphasis upon the "boldface" that we military folks memorized. You know, "fire light", "engine stalls", "system "x" fails" and so on.
@PJ
One thing we learned early in the Viper was not to be a test pilot ( although we all "were" and discovered new and exciting things the engineers and such never imagined, heh heh). In other words, no trouble shooting, but get the jet on the ground ASAP. We had the first CVR and flight data recorders and such. So the folks on the ground could look at the data and fix things even if we punched out.
I am not disturbed so much about the pay scale for the newbies. I never thot the senior pilot pay should have been so high, but I have to look at the "responsibility" those folks have with a coupla hundred folks depending upon them ( and then we see Asiana, gasp).