fmgc, I’m impressed with your 20 years, and management stuff - which of course I didn’t know before.
I am an airline pilot of 20 years and am in management.
However (there’s always one of those, isn’t there….) - however, I don’t think people need to be ‘qualified’ to comment. I wonder, what actually is a comment qualification, and how does one get it?
What usually happens to me is that I get invited by programmes to appear because I have a track-record as a professional broadcaster with an area of specialist expertise - an area, incidentally, in which many broadcasting organisations have little or no expertise.
I would be fascinated to see your safety case findings. But I suggest you’re being a tad disingenuous if you think I’d be likely to see such any such thing - unless, of course, there was a whistleblower. Not much likelihood of that, perhaps. Or perhaps you could advise the highly-paid helps ‘above your pay level’ that it might be important to tell the travelling masses why you don’t think something is safe?
I also note that, on this thread alone, there seem to be at least as many posters in favour of the two person flight deck as against it. Do you suppose they have safety cases of their own?
As a journo, I have to take a view on the balance of probability. But if you read what I actually wrote for the Beeb, you’ll surely agree that I did not come out firmly on the side of the two person flight deck, merely ”on balance …. probably”. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. Also, I’m not entirely convinced that a longish article in the magazine section of BBC Online has the kind of readership that would affect anybody’s considerations much - especially since the article includes, with traditional BBC 'balance', people on both sides of the argument.
Finally, on the question of whether to have journalistic experts (however defined) or not, I’m fully aware of antipathy from many PPRuNers. But I have to ask whether you actually approve of journalism, as an essential part of democracy, at all. I assume, indeed I hope, you do. If so, would you rather have somebody commenting who does at least know something about aviation, or would you prefer to hear from a general reporter who knows nothing about the subject? Btw, the answer ‘none of the above’ is not open to you…..
airsound