With +33 years in this business under my belt, and enough years in LHS that I certainly don't need the hours any more, its my experience that the guys (
& gals) who came up through (
how shall I put this?) the 'more traditional aviation apprenticeship' are (
imho) invariably better stick & rudder fliers, being not scared to actually / manually fly the aeroplane (
and indeed they often elect to), are a lot less reliant on the magic of a pink string & FD's, and have better SA.
For what it's worth, I left the sandpit almost exactly one year ago and am now (
happily) back flying a 737 'Classic'... veritably the allure of the old faded jet (OFJ)... but I'm loving it,... or more especially loving the challenge (
again) of getting around the track with all of the limitations wrt aircraft (
of that 'vintage') reliability & capability, or lack of it!
Now, as the Head-of-Training (
HoT), I'm actively encouraging my pilots (
LHS & RHS) to turn off
all the automatics and actually fly the f'ing aeroplane and to look out of the f'ing window.... indeed a lot a places that we fly to (
in Africa) have no approach aids, no runway lights, no papi's, no ground / approach radar & **** ATC... and sometimes just finding these places (
in an aeroplane with no GPS and a massive 'map shift'.... some you old'uns will know & remember what I'm talking about) can be 'challenging'. You have to find landmarks / ground features to guide yourself by and, to keep it safe, you have apply all your cunning, wiles, SA, and airmanship... and that last one by the way is the 'A' word that shall not speak its name, it now being loathed by airlines that operate those BSJ's.... indeed woe betide that their pilots ever indulge themselves in some 'airmanship', forsooth.... I can see my HoT counterparts in those BSJ airlines going apoplectic at the mere thought of it... wherein more rules & procedures is their MO & mantra !
So I'm trying my best to provide those F/O's (
and some Captain's) presently under my wing with a proper old school apprenticeship, with crusty old bastards in the LHS to keep them honest & show them the way, and I like to think that those F/O's who'll one day leave (
invariably for the allure of the BSJ) will at least by then have the airmanship basics under their belt... which might stand them (
and their pax) in good stead on the proverbial dark & stormy night and, from which, I will have the satisfaction of having done my (
old school) job correctly !
Unfortunately, I rather suspect that the likes of Momo95 will, invariably, get little or non of the above 'learning opportunity', i.e. when he jumps aboard that BSJ (
wherein it'll very likely be full auto this and full auto that... plus lots of pink string... and a trip to the sim once in a while to revisit how to fly by hand & eye, but only barely so).... but, maybe that's all that some of them want? I.e. to don a uniform (
often with a hat too at some BSJ airlines), sport some Ray-Bans (
personally I prefer Serengeti's), with a copy of D.P.Davies 'Handling the Big Jets' seemingly thrown nonchalantly (
albeit in clear public view) on the rear parcel shelf of their car, and to be able call themselves an 'airline pilot'. Uhm... the real pilots amongst us will certainly know the sort of chap I'm on about?!.. wherein there are airline pilots and there are airline pilots.
