Australian Captains are generally well balanced people, they have a chip on each shoulder.

Sorry couldn't resist. ��

Dunno what the Austrians did to deserve this reputation but I will say it's a catchy term

Without starting a firestorm my impression was a lot of this stemmed from a certain event in the late 80's meaning a large group of largely pizzed off Aussies ended up overseas largely not through their own doing.

They did come from a culture where they had been told they were the best, our system was the safest etc.

The "second wave" (including me) in the wake of Ansett certainly had it's share of people who fit the above, but we also had to contend with a lot of pre-conceptions from the first group.

I think it's improving as the new generation move in who aren't associated with either of these two groups.

Wiz old boy, I think you are right on the money. I witnessed it first hand when I went to the UK in 98 and had the misfortune of having an ex AN LTC who is still in my mind 20 years later the worst in terms of those negative traits previously described.
Fortunately I’ve always been one to stand my ground with individuals such as him so I survived it, but it merely reinforced the well deserved reputation that did the rounds back then and survives to this day in Al Gahoud.
In fairness, I’ve flown with far more good Ozmates than bad ones, and in all honesty I’ve flown with more Kiwis who were pr1cks rather than nice ones like me:}
To me it all comes back to basic human interactions, Ozzie’s typically project their opinions in a way that plenty of cultures find initially rather confronting and associate that trait with being arrogant and brash, get past that, and I’ve realised that most Ozmates I fly with are just as messed up and useless like me.

Mostly, it is said, the "cream comes to the top". On this thread it seems not to be the case. Having spent many years sharing oxygen with various Brits, Aussies, Kiwi's and others I found the vast majority to be genial, competent operators. Thankfully it was the exception to operate with "pompous pricks", however when it did happen it was not restricted to any one ethnic group.

Think you can say that about any nationality, there are their fare share of twats that ruin it for the majority.

I too aggree with Wiz it’s changing. As in the past yes I’d say Aussies were branded a certain way and not good!

The new breed of ****... the upgraded cadet. Again the minority of the majority but I have seen a sense of entitlement in a previous job... I have my 3000,4000,5000, insert Airlines minimums here where is my command.

Now I feel deprived. I don't have any Austronaut's wings. Have to fix that.

In my time overseas there were two types of pilots:- the ones that came from Ansett and the ones that didn't. Ask anyone who has flown with the two types.

Jack.

Unfortunately the phrase "That's not how we did things at Ansett." was used a bit too often.

Ahh yes. Aussie Pilots are in fact the best in the world. Providing you’ve previously worn a blue shirt. Having said that, there are some exceptionally great folk in that mix, but bloody hell...have had the ‘privilege’ to work with some absolute smokers of the highest order as well. PH UCK me. Shuttle folks. Let’s launch the god damn shuttle today, 4 times. :rolleyes: :ugh: :}

We can't launch today-we are still Briefing for the Pre-Launch ! ;)

Austronaights
 

So its clear Aussies are not too popular to fly with according to some on here. How did the so called 'Austronaught' syndrome come into existence?:}

Have a read of some of the threads here, and then have a guess.

An Observation
 

I had the privilege of working for an overseas Airline for a year after the 1989 debacle. After that I was very fortunate to land a job as a Flight Instructor with one of the two major Aircraft Manufacturers and thus spent quite a lot of time instructing and Examining Pilots from Airlines all over the world. It was not until I had spent quite a bit of time doing this that I realised just what a pack of w..k.rs most of the Ansett Check Pilots were . There were some very good ones but there sure were lots of those who thought they were the worlds best. Its not until you actually fly with the other pilots from around the world you realise just how wrong they were. There was an inbuilt " I am the greatest " within the " hierarchy " of the Ansett Flight Dept. in the late 70's to the eighties. These idiots truly believed they were so good. I even knew one who used to walk around with a baseball cap on with the words " Sherriff " on it. It was pitiful to see these blokes join Airlines and try to change things to be the Ansett way as this was obviously the best in the world ---WRONG . The best way to describe these fools is that " They paint 4 stripes on their dicks and pull rank all day ". They really were a " sorry Lot " . This is the way I saw it first hand and from one who did work amongst very many different Airlines Pilots.:=:=:=:=:=

Nowhere near as good as they believe they are. That's the old, original ANA pilots, now mostly retired, and the strike-breaking "golden scabs", still around in abundance.

The majority are/were safety hazards, simply because of the antipathy they generated on the flight deck with non-Oz colleagues.

Obviously a few exceptions are around, but they are in a minority.

I found them a sad bunch of characters to work with, and no better aviators than the rest of us, but with bad attitudes.

It's an attitude which is not confined to aviation. Have seen the same in other fields.

It's very cringeworthy and unpleasant to observe, but fortunately the offenders are not in the majority.

Well, as an ex-AN guy, all I can do is say with cap in hand- yeah a lot of that is true.

HOWEVER- what WOULD it have been like if it had been Qantas that had gone Tango Uniform, and THOSE guys had been let loose on the airlines of the world!!!!!!

As a mere uninformed light aircraft pilot but with much US, Europe and Australia flying as passenger, I suggest that the "we're the best, I'm doing you a favor" attitude also extends to some Australian cabin crew, esp. those of an airline starting with Q.

Once upon a time when the Q still flew to Frankfurt, my wife pressed the call button and asked the flight attendant for some water. She was told that the call button was only for emergencies and she could get up and go the galley herself if she wanted water.

"The crew on Emirates don't mind getting me water" was the response. CC stomped off and came back with water.

Thats the last time we flew Q long haul.

I have had a similar response to CC on Q....

My last booking with Q was only made as I had no other alternative for the day I had to travel. I even looked at non direct flights to avoid booking with Q.