Capt Sully worried about airline industry

[bucko]

Good story here from interview with Capt Sullenberger on CBS.com, very relevent to alot of the things going on re terms and conditions.

Capt. Sully Worried About Airline Industry, CBS Evening News: Flight 1549 Pilot Exclusively Tells Katie Couric His Fear About Future Pilots - CBS News

[fireflybob]

Good to see that Sully has taken the opportunity to highlight this situation!

[Aussie]

Very good words from the Captain. Very relevant. Well said!

[ray cosmic]

Is he now saying ex-Mil pilots only would have survived this situation?
No matter what, he made us all look like professionals, not just ballast hauling around an aircraft..

[PantLoad]

Be careful what you say and how you say it....

There was a time when USAir (now USAirways) had one fatal accident, on average, every year. Ostensibly, these were some of his fellow cadets from military flight school.

In contrast, now, we have a higher percentage of civilian-trained pilots flying in the airline industry. Can statistics show that flying today is safer than years ago...i.e. lower accident rates?

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Without question, Sully and his crew performed admirably. But the successful outcome of what could have been a terrible tragedy is due, in part, to luck and the gracious hand of the good Lord.


Fly safe,

PantLoad

[stilton]

Whatever will we do without those 'Military trained Pilot's'


Sully did a good job
but he comes off as quite ignorant with such a statement and denigrates many fine Civilian trained Pilots.

[Fantome]

Without question, Sully and his crew performed admirably. But the successful outcome of what could have been a terrible tragedy is due, in part, to luck and the gracious hand of the good Lord.

Oh come off it. If you want to invoke your religion go into Jet Blast and proselytise.

The CBS website forum linked in Post # 1 here, has some thought provoking contributions, including this -

As a former professional pilot, I believe that Capt. Sullenberger accurately articulated the current state of the airline industry. As well, his predictions for its future are prescient.

Several years ago I resigned my position as a Delta Air Lines B-737 pilot. My aviation career spanned a combined 22-years as both a civilian pilot and military aviator.

For purpose of reference, I entered the Air Force after earning an engineering degree, became an F-16 instructor pilot, and years later landed what I thought would be my dream job with Delta. That dream became a nightmare after the broad and deep degradation of working conditions materialized as the harsh new reality for America''s airline pilots.

It was not easy to leave the profession, but I realized that I placed greater value upon my background, training and experience than the airline industry was willing to bear. In other words, I simply was no longer willing to "sell" my services for the deeply discounted price that Delta was willing to pay me to provide them.

I applaud and admire the actions of Capt. Sullenberger and his crew. That such experienced professionals have opted to continue in the airline industry is testament to their individual dedication. However it is my opinion that the days when airline customers can rely upon such seasoned hands to guide their passages through the sky are indeed numbered.

Posted by felixf16 at 10:26 PM : Feb 10, 2009

[ArkPilot]

Pantload,

USAirways has always had the highest percentage of civilian trained pilots of any legacy carrier. Be careful what you quote, it might not support your argument.

I have NEVER been a proponent of this group of pilots is better than that because of their background. There are pros and cons for each group.

[411A]

I listened to the nearly one hour interview with the crew on CBS, and strangely enough the good Captain not once mentioned his First Officer as actually doing....anything.
It was always...'I switched on ignition' or 'I started the APU' etc.
This was noted by several other pilots as well who were watching.

Well folks, it takes two to tango in that particular airplane, one would have thought that the good Captain would have at least acknowedged his Fist Officer as actually having accomplished....anything.

Now he says he is worried about the airline industry.
IF the good Captain is so worried, perhaps it is time he retired, and let someone else do the 'worrying'.

These USAir folks just simply cannot get over the fact that their company was bought, lock, stock and barrel, by another carrier, and IF that had not been done, they all would have been pounding the bricks...out of a job.

I say to the good Captain..a job well done...now stop complaining.

[King Halibut]

I thought yank captains had a stick just long enough to reach the F/O to batter him if he looks like he's going to touch anything?

You don't have to have an inflating suit, be called 'Goose' and a shiny helmet to be a good pilot

[Fair_Weather_Flyer]

To be fair to him, it was the journalist that wrote the little piece about fewer pilots being military trained, possibly taking him out of context in what he did say. The press wants to make this an example of how a hero saved the day all on his own with no help from anyone else. Telling the story they want is just a matter of doing some clever editing.

[Doug the Head]

411A

Somehow I just knew that 411A would find something (in this case supposedly bad CRM) to discredit any person who fights for decent terms and conditions.

I say to the good Captain..a job well done...now stop complaining.

You mean, as in "gear up, flaps up, shut up?"

[411A]

You mean, as in "gear up, flaps up, shut up?"

Yup, if it applies...and it certainly does in the good Captain's case...no buy-out, no job.

[beachbumflyer]

fantome, you are very right. I wish all the pilots willing to pay, and paying
to work could read your post and see what they are doing to the profession, they are ruining it.

[ICEMAN757200]

411A: This is exactly CRM/SOP Capt: my controls, your radios the F/O needs to begin the restart procedure reading the QRH so the captain takes the radios to help him and flies the aircraft as well as try to start the apu and push(?) the IGN switches according 2 eng out start procedures on the A320.
Just team work not I did this I did that, ok?

[Farfrompuken]

I think some have got the wrong end of the stick here:

s he now saying ex-Mil pilots only would have survived this situation?

Capt Sully was simply stating that if conditions worsen, then the old & bold (Ex Mil AND Civ) will clear off. Ergo: less experienced crew at the controls.

It doesn't come across as an ego boost at all.

The author of the article chose to input that Mil/Civ stat.

[MPH]

I wonder what the outcome would have been if the NY area had low cloud coverage that day. Would a military or a civilian background pilot have made a difference. It so happens that on that day the sky was clear there was good visibility. Theīgoodīcaptain made a good decision i.e. the river that, was in view and that the other airports in the area where to far for a safe landing. That he did a good to excelent job no question. That he had a lot of experience yes. But, that a civilian or military background pilot would have made the diference, I donīt buy that at all. We are all trained for numerous emergencies and have the capability to preform under almost, most scenarios which require good judgment, experience, CRM and I might say a bit of luck!! We practice this every six months (not the ditching) but, some scenarios which require the same good judgment, understanding that are the norm in most airlines today. To the goodīcaptainī bravo, a job well done. His expreience showed. And as he said the outcome could/would have been the same if, another crew had the same situation under the same conditions.

[Gnirren]

All credit to the man but honestly, if you lose both engines with the ground 3 minutes away, a great big river ahead and you're surrounded by city then what else do you do? Would anyone here have tried to maneuver around to an airfield under these circumstances?

The thing about this whole story was the fact that they were lucky enough to suffer dual engine failure at a place where there was a river to land on, a similar event without the Hudson would have been a disaster even with Mr Sully at the controls I imagine.

To stay on-topic I agree with him, the pilot job is going down the drain and fast. The public isn't prepared to pay for a ticket, the companies aren't prepared to pay a salary and the incoming pilot workforce is fine and dandy with those facts. It spells S for shafted for all of us in the long run.

[Farfrompuken]

MPH:

But, that a civilian or military background pilot would have made the diference, I donīt buy that at all.

I think we've clarified that no-one is comparing Miv vs Civ pilots in this case. The journo in question has simply included a statistic.

Gnirren

The thing about this whole story was the fact that they were lucky enough to suffer dual engine failure at a place where there was a river to land on, a similar event without the Hudson would have been a disaster even with Mr Sully at the controls I imagine.

Er, the fact that it did occur near a river makes the above statement nugatory. Stating the bleedin' obvious comes to mind!

You're also implying that anyone faced with a similar situation would have had a similar result. Possibly, but maybe not. I'm guessing a calm surface was the key factor.

The guy did an awesome job. Fact. Live with it and learn from it.

[Gnirren]

You're free to speculate as am I. My need for superheros is relatively low, so I'll go with 70% lucky circumstances, 25% airmanship and crm, 5% Sully.