Originally Posted by
Life Vest
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Sadly I believe the bean counters and Upper Management believe a 10 year Captain is the same as a new or DEC Captain, except they have to pay them more.
This was confirmed when a Friend who recently resigned because of the hours flown and loss of quality of life suggested that if the conditions were improved he would stay, the answer, we can replace you with a younger Captain and it won’t cost as much.
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Unfortunately that's becoming a dangerous trend in the whole industry.
A lot of experienced pilots left the first airline I worked for. Management must have been very happy with it, because they could replace a lot of FOs and Captains from the higher end of the pay scale with cheap FOs with summer contracts. The Captains were replaceable by contractors for the summer.
The result is a decrease in overall experience and a very limited career progression for those FOs.
My 2 cents regarding EK521:
2 main reasons:
1) Lack of manual flying skills caused by a way too restricting OM-A policy and a fear of being called in the office for the smallest error. The 2 manual handling sessions every year are not compensating the effects of that policy.
2) Lack of training due to the more checking than training policy. And this is only getting worse with good instructors leaving. (E.g. for not making the fail-quota or failing the wrong person.). I also fear that after EK521, there will be a lot more checking instead of training, and that is exactly the opposite of what is needed.