WK
I'm not going to bite again. I see enough brainless vitriol on youtube comments without succumbing to the same red mist. So, to avoid the popcorn munchers salivating over a rather pathetic tit for tat, here's my olive branch.
The whole purpose of my post was to highlight the fact that yes, the job nowadays of flying highly automated machinery is inherently straightforward. As you rightly say, it's mostly a 'surprisingly easy job'. However, because it's such a reliable system, we face the very real threat of complacency. My initial post was certainly not to portray a 'holier than thou' attitude. Far from it. It was to differentiate between those that have a plan A & B up their sleeve when the **** hits the fan. My experience with some individuals, and it's increasing, is that their exposure to the failure of systems and components is becoming rare, unlike some 20+ years ago where it was certainly more common. We learnt from those experiences as well as from war stories of far scarier events, narrated by bearded crusty Captains, older than our Dads! Our new generation pilots expect the plane to work as advertised. AOG's are virtually unheard of, autopilots can land without DH's, engines run for hundreds of hours without a single issue. Navigation is now accurate to within a few feet and all programmed before departure to allow us to sit, relaxed and feet up, as we watch the little white triangle follow a magenta line to our destiny. When these systems don't function as advertised, the startle factor can be immense and we've seen all too often recent events where even the most basic task, of flying the plane, is beyond their ability. As I said, AF447 is just one example.
And perhaps that is where I was leading with the PJ's. I've seen it several times on ULR's where there's an almost laissez Faire attitude to the job, handovers especially. Not always, but often enough for me to realise that if there was an emergency, there are some crew who would seriously struggle with what to do and where to go. When I get a depressurisation brief over Turkey that matey will turn around and head back to Dubai because "that's what it says on the flight plan", I realise that Situational Awareness is not equal amongst all men! What you wear on the FD has no bearing on your ability to do the job but it does have a powerful sub conscious influence on other people's perception on how THEY THINK you can do the job.
So, I apologies for name calling, most unprofessional. However, I will reserve the right to do so if we ever fly together. I don't want to be racing back from the bunk knowing that you're distracted from the emergency because you need to allow time to change!
....and feel free to call me an uptight p***k.
Now, back to the thread?
Harry