In that article, Schiff talks of 5 pilots who did stupid things. At the end of the article, two things happen. First, he chastises the pilots for their actions and behavior and states they should have had their licenses suspended for what they did or didn't do. He then states that he has the authority to judge them because in all five cases, the pilot was none other than, Barry Schiff himself.
I didn't expect that ending, but I did find it refreshing. I was very impressed with his level of humility about such a topic. I think humility is a very undervalued trait in this line of work. I did enjoy the article, and I even went back and reread some of his descriptions for each of the 5 cases he spoke of.
Then, while wiping, I had another thought. What I am about to say is not intended to discredit Capt Schiff as he's obviously moved past these mistakes and been very successful throughout his career. But, I don't believe Barry Schiff would make it in this industry if he were to be starting out in this day and age.
Today, even private pilots are held to a far higher standard than they were back the 60s when Schiff was flying airliners. There was far less controlled airspace to know about, less security issues, less FAA rules and restrictions, etc. Today, flying feels like a tightrope walk. The minute a pilot screws up just one thing, BAM! The Feds come down on him/her like a ton of bricks. Schiff admits to accidents that involved damage to and near loss of aircraft and all souls aboard. If a pilot was to make those mistakes today, one would no longer be a pilot. At the very least, they wouldn't be considered by an airline for employment. Yet, here we have someone who, with those major incidents in his past, became an career airline pilot. He was even a check airman on the Boeing 767. Capt Renslow from Colgan had some failures in his past as well, and his aviation career came to a very abrupt end in a way that I think we're all aware of. Schiff explains this in one of the last paragraphs of his article.
"That these 5 pilots survived their own stupidity is no credit to their skill. If Lady Luck had not been present, we likely would have learned about their misadventures in sobering NTSB reports." - Barry Schiff
Airlines will not even consider a new hire with a past like that these days. Hell, look at the two NWA pilots that were out of radio contact and overflew Minneapolis. Was there any immediate danger? Did those pilots operate the aircraft in a reckless manner? Did they exceed the aircraft limitations? Did they land on a taxiway? (ahem, Delta) Where they being cowboys? No... they weren't. Did they let their guard down and get bit in the ass? Yes. Their flight landed safely. No one was hurt and there was no damage to the aircraft. Yet, both of those pilots are no longer pilots.
This is a bit like salt in a wound for me as I've spend a substantial amount of time in my career thus far listening to old timers talk down to me about how inferior I am because I have less hours in my logbook than they do. We are still in the paradigm that number of hours directly equates to competence.
Experience is a decent teacher, don't get me wrong. That is the sole basis of the argument from these old timers. By making mistakes, they learned lessons and are better now. "Without those mistakes under your belt, you can't be as good." Here is where I disagree. There are other teachers available. I think it's completely and totally foolish to expect every pilot out there to do something really foolish and/or crash and aircraft in order to learn to be a good and safe pilot. It's a flat ridiculous idea to even suggest it. There's a reason people learn about history. It's so that we don't make repeat mistakes.
Pilots these days are brought up in much tougher and complicated times. We indeed have lots of technology at our disposal which does make some things easier, that's true. However, just learning this new technology and all it's intricacies is a venture in it's own. Just ask any career airline pilot about their type ratings and just how much of the training is devoted to learning just the avionics of the new aircraft to be flown.
The FAA regulations still state that an aircraft with a gross take off weight of over 12,500lbs with turbojet power requires a type rating. However, the insurance companies have made it so that this rule is basically defunct. True, you might buy a Cessna 421. It's under 12,500lbs and is piston powered. You can be multi engine rated. The aircraft does not require a type rating per the FAA. However, you will NEVER find an insurance company that will cover you unless you attend a training course on the aircraft. I've completed training on an aircraft that didn't require a type rating. The actual training was identical to that of a type rating. At the end, there was, essentially, a "checkride." Since it's not a "type rating" it's just called a "proficiency check." It's the same damn thing no matter what you call it. The insurance companies have pushed forth policies that override the FAA and for you to fly damn near anything anymore, you'll need the equivalent of a type rating.
Back in WWII, new military pilots were being sent up in P-51 Mustangs with around 200 hrs of flight time under their belts. 200 HOURS??? Can you just imagine??? Schiff might have tens of thousands of hours in more than 300 types of aircraft but in an article he wrote in August 2007, he recounts just how many hoops he had to jump through in order to be allowed to fly a P-51 today. That is a classic case of what the aviation world is like today.
Is this all bad? Actually, no. After all, pilots today can't make all these mistakes in order to learn, as the old guys did. The authorities have realized that improvements and additional restrictions and training were necessary so that pilots could learn to avoid these mistakes without having to crash an airplane and to be able to say, "Man, I shouldn't do that!"
The use of and increased technology of simulators has also aided in increasing safety during this training. I have heard more than a few old timers crap on simulators. "Eh, that damn thing's just a box. It's not a REAL airplane." Whenever I hear that I just think, "Why is it that those that talk the most, seem to know the least?"
Simulators are a fantastic instruction and experience tool. In the past, all aircraft training and qualifications had to be done in the actual aircraft. The requirements were fewer. Crashes have occurred and lives were lost due to a simulated emergency becoming a real one. Flying the box allows the instructor to do whatever he wants to the pilot(s). He can cause a tire to blow out on take off or landing. He can change weather conditions in a snap. He can shut down one or more of your engines. He can fill the flightdeck with smoke. He can cause electrical systems to overload and fail. He can do damn near anything. You can build a lot of experience in the box in less time than the aircraft and be completely and totally safe while doing it.
There is something to be said for the number of hours in a pilots logbook. True. But hours aren't everything. I've said it before, one of the most incompetent, lazy and dangerously ignorant pilots I've EVER flown with always bragged about his 15,000 hours. But, I've not mentioned this before. Last year, I was flying with a 20+ year captain who's bowels turned to water on a go-around for windshear. We were at about 1500ft AGL when we hit the windshear. I was flying. His voice jumped an octave higher and was trying to grab the controls from me while I was doing just as I had practiced in the box so many times before. Not to mention, picking up the slack on what he SHOULD have been doing, but wasn't because he was too busy shitting himself. As far as his duties, the standard call-outs and procedures that we are taught, went right out the window. I pushed the power up and was trying to climb, flying the airspeeds I was supposed to. He kept pushing the nose over wanting to fly faster while we oversped the flaps. And, yes, there was a load of paying passengers sitting behind us. His performance that night would have busted a checkride. If we'd had a fed on the jumpseat, I think the they'd have pulled his ticket. He acted like a scared little child. I was embarrassed for him, actually. It was a disgrace to our profession.
Today, we have learned that bending metal is a very expensive way to learn lessons. Pilots are learning more and learning faster. Flying is more regimented, more regulated and ratings and certificates are harder to obtain that they used to be. And, it's been paying off, too. Accident rates keep falling over the years. Consider also, there are a lot more aircraft and pilots flying these days.
So, just because the crew that shows up to your aircraft on your next airline flight looks like they might be in their 20s, don't freak out. They have likely worked harder and demonstrated more proficiency to get where they are then their predecessors.
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