Interesting thread long overdue.
Aviation has been in decline since the late 80's and there are 3 major reasons for this IMHO:CRM,the arrival of Airbus fly-by-wire products and the explosion of low-cost travel which has gone largely unchecked by the governing authorities.
All three have slowly but surely turned aviation on its head and reduced the pilot to a emasculated bystander.
Ironically,the 3 factors are not intrinsically without merit.There was a need for CRM,and taken in small measured doses,it is undoubtedly benficial.Instead we were all subject to a rigorous overdose and now we have the "modern" flightdeck where democracy and political correctness rule.If CRM had replaced autocracy with quiet assertion,then it would have worked.What we have today are Captains running scared.Scared to make a decision lest it upset the guy in the right seat or the purser,and the inevitable "grassing",one of CRM's most damning legacies.This blurring of the hierarchial pyramid has left us very vulnerable.We lost the respect of the FA's;afterall,we're all the same now arent we?They started thinking it really was their ship,and then they got their own union,and pretty soon any decision about a problem in the cabin was theirs to make.Its the old divide and rule.If the bean counters can divide us,we're easy pickings.
The arrival of the A320 was a revolution.The use of fly-by-wire in a commercial airliner was Gallic bravado at its best,a real coup d'etat for the French,despite the fact that Uncle Sam invented the damn thing.More sinister was the software programming contained in the plane's computers.For the first time in the history of aviation,the pilot no longer had complete control of the aircraft he was flying.Bank angle,angle of attack et al were now monitored by computers.Pilot actions could be overridden.The inability to firewall remains controversial.The autothrust and autoflight system that arrogantly keeps the pilot out of the loop is indicative of the mindset of the people who designed this thing.WE KNOW BEST.Problem is they dont,and A320's started crashing.Mode confusion caught their own chief pilot out and Air France's star pilot nearly died when he took to the skies at Habsheim.I ask if a thing is ambiguous,even to its staunch supporters,then it is unsafe.Time has passed and bugs have been ironed out now,but the fact remains that the Airbus has encroached heavily on the pilot's traditional role.The Airbus is not flown,it is programmed to fly.In the sixteen years that have elapsed since its inception,Boeing have never gone down the same garden path,and I believe they never will.
Low-cost travel had a great start with Southwest and some like Jet Blue continue in that tradition;cheap tickets but no compromise on maintenance,customer service,and employer-employee relations.Others have jumped on the bandwagon and totally watered down the high standards that were initially set.We lost Valujet but only when people died.Ample evidence of their criminal behavior was available prior to 592,but the FAA looked the other way.And now I hear stories of pilots starting their careers laden with debt because they're so desperate to get a job,even if it means being screwed by the unscrupulous.Of pilots being made to pay for their uniforms,the sandwiches and the candy bars on board.Of passengers being shouted at by rude and abusive FA's who hate their job so much they can only stick it for 10 months.FA's used to take pride in their job and some worked for twenty years.Of passengers being stranded at airports and told nothing and given no compensation.And all of it being done under the convenient umbrella of "Low-cost".ie.you get what you pay for.Flag-carriers are finding it hard to compete and so pretty soon all we'll have left is....crud.
Great future isnt it?