uplinker,
I totally agree with your comments.
My cynicism about aviation grows every year and is reinforced when doing classes such as CRM.
My last CRM, run by a very famous carrier with a red animal logo on its tail, was merely a day of listening to accident CVR's. Nothing more.
As if hearing the UA DC10 crash CVR for the tenth time in our careers is going to help.
“…when that F/O has been given no training or tools with which to do it.”
Exactly, although I would replace the word “FO” with “crew” as I think all pilots are thrown into the deep end of line ops without appropriate training in many areas, not just CRM.
I get sick of people asking “how can that possibly happen” every time an airline crashes and my usual response is “how can it not happen”.
My airline, that I just joined (my 6th) is trying to improve on time performance and recently sent an email to pilots highlighting the importance of on time departures simply by saying we “must try harder”.
Really? How exactly. It’s the airline giving us poor tools, techniques, procedures and expectations that result in late departures.
Sorry for the rant but sometimes I am simply ashamed of this industry!