Originally Posted by
raven11
If my 45 years of flying (35 years of it in check and training) given my first hand exposure to assessing pilots of all experience levels: In 99.99% of the cases, if comparing a pilot with 5000 hours of high quality flight time to any sprout with less than 200 hours, the inescapable conclusion is that the experienced pilot is safer and the one I would want in a cockpit when the sh*t hits the fan...and in 100% of cases, the 200 hour pilot is cheaper, riskier, and less safe.
Prima facie.
raven11, I'm not sure you can use your evidence as being prima facie in the sense of
"accepted as correct until proved otherwise" because no-one has the opportunity to assess those same pilots to whom you refer in the exactly the same circumstances. However, if by prima facie you mean
"based on the first impression" then I clearly can't argue against the impression you formed and I accept that. I respect your opinion but we'll clearly have to agree to disagree that hours are a suitable means of inferring competence through experience.
One final question for you if I may; could you define 'high quality flight time'? Thanks.
Originally Posted by
drfaust
Although I appreciate the comment STP, consider what happens in an operating theatre.
If a medical procedure goes wrong, all the apprentices get out of the way and the experienced professionals do the job. Someone's life is at stake after all and they deserve the best care. We don't have this option in an airplane, and they are designed to be operated by two people.
I don't have anything against cadets per se as I had a first job once too, but maintaining a good mix of experience in your hiring policies is a wise thing to do. Even if it costs a few bucks.
Fair comments and I agree. I hope the same is true in aircraft when the situation demands the more senior pilot take control; if fact, it's specified in the SOPs of many airlines that this is the case. I particularly agree with your comment regarding a mix of experience in the hiring policy being a wise thing. The 3 SO entry streams that have existed in CX for some time have ensured a mix of backgrounds but, in my experience, those with 'experience' haven't always been 'better' pilots.
STP