Thanks, this makes more sense to me now.
Originally Posted by
Reverserbucket
"I'm training to be an airline pilot - you don't do engine failures into fields in airliner's "
Well, that seems to be true
often rivers (Hudson), islands (Azores), and some old and closdr runways (Gimli) are more probable landing sites after all-engine failures, not fields.
perhaps all the more surprising in view of the fourteen ATPL Theoretical Knowledge Examination passes
Here is what I recently saw as an ATPL aspirant was advising for others: "forget studying for the tests, it's a waste of time, you will never use that knowledge again. Just buy xyz publisher's service for preparatory tests and do the tests over and over again until you reach sufficiently high scores. Don't think, just memorize what is the right answer for each question."
There have always been weak students but I have encountered far more in the last 15 years and most with a sense of entitlement that I find increasingly discouraging.
I guess this has to do with the training costs shifted to the candidates and the onset of "I, the candiate pay tons of money for this, so you better deliver your promise and shut up."
Those that had not performed so well, and had not made much of an impression on the staff were accepted. You can make of that what you will I suppose.
Yes, it's clear. A barely performing pilot is easier to keep in the low wage ranges, he/she will be happy just to stay on the job, and will never ask for a raise, and will always be very loyal to his/her employer. At the same time, the low-cost airlines are still as safe as the tradional national flag carriers, and this may be an ample testimony to Fly-by-wire and other fancy automation.
Maybe what we are seeing here is the ripple effect from the onset of automation, where the skills of the proverbial dog, not allowing the pilot to touch anything, will be more important that the pilot skills. If the industry is really heading towards unmanned / single pilot operation combined with remote flight controls, soon we will see programmers, cooks, fashion designers, travel fans and other unusual type of people in "pilot seats" of fully automated airplanes. We will beg for the return of our current candidates, who only have degraded will to learn flying, instead of cadidates, who will be completely inept at learning and still making it through the front windows, because they can push the start/stop/left/right/up/down buttons for the lowest wages, or even paying for that priviledge themselves. At some distant point in time, even priviledged passenger could do that, who pays extra for the front window seat