PILOT CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR AIR CARRIER OPERATIONS- Public Comment Process

[Raoul Duke]

They also get paid to train. 1500 hours seems low to fly in combat but some on here would know more about the military flying than I would. I was referring to civilian training. When a military pilot comes out of the military with a full career and looking for an airline job I would hope he/she has 1500 total time.

military guys become operational way below 1500 hours.

 

[scoreboardII]

A pilot with 1500 hours is a very new pilot with limited experience.

You should edit to state

A civilian trained pilot with 1500 hours is a very new pilot with limited experience.

Military pilots and planes are expendable. Passengers and airliners are not.

You sure about that?

 

[surveypilot]

One of the things that most people miss is that it is not just the total time that is crucial. It is the PIC time. One of the major problems with hiring guys straight out of a 141 flight school and putting them in the right seat of an RJ, is that when they upgrade to Captain they have 0 PIC time. They do not have the decision making experience necessary to handle the job. The ATP should be 1500 hours of PIC time, not total time.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

It in reality is not flight time compleatly. It is the ability for said pilot to think, analyze, problem solve and do all of it while still flying an airplane. Pilots can do that at 10 hrs or 10,000. More time generally allows more experiences and the ability to see more things, but it my no means should be the only yard stick to measure a pilots ability. I have seen both great and horrible situational awareness from people on both ends of the spectrum.

Why do you think DAL does all of this crazy testing? There is a reason for it. It weeds out people that have processors that would be served doing something besides flying their passengers.

 

[T3700]

The FAA has no jurisdiction over military flying or military pilot certification.

 

[cunchos]

We as pilots need to let our egos down a bit.... I know that is much to ask...... having 1500 hr and a ATP doesn't make you a good pilot. It make you a pilot that at least can learn in a plane. Makes that learning curb less of a risk to the public. We all learn something every time we go in the air. It doesn't mater if you have 1hr or 20000 flight hours, we all learn something. With that said, what you learn is quite different based on your time and experience. ATP and 1500hr gets you thinking outside the plane and into situation awareness. In my opinion that is the least thing a pilot should have if they are flying my family around.

 

[maru657]

Classroom training instead of experience was a trend started long ago in order to to meet manpower requirements. On the whole it sort of worked,,,as long as the new pilots were exposed to greater levels of experience as long time co-pilots with highly experienced captains. With de-regulation and the resultant degradation of labor law it unraveled very quickly. Remember the jokes about Delta in the 80's? Then American in the 90's and their recent spate of landing problems. Almost catching up to SouthWest. The Colgain pilots were simply an egregious example of that attitude. Delta's testing and the pilot puppy mill training schools are just another way of avoiding the most expensive costs a corporation can have. The costs of paying for real experience.

 

[T3700]

The only reason the FAA wants to include academic training is because of lobbying efforts from places such as Embry-Riddle. I guarantee that the FAA has been fielding "enquiries" from the Florida congressional delegation. Anyone who thinks differently is fooling themselves. 1500 hours in an aircraft lets you see things that can never be covered in a classroom, that's why it is called experience.

 

[GoodTimes]

There's no substitute for experience. Plain and simple.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

The only reason the FAA wants to include academic training is because of lobbying efforts from places such as Embry-Riddle. I guarantee that the FAA has been fielding "enquiries" from the Florida congressional delegation. Anyone who thinks differently is fooling themselves. 1500 hours in an aircraft lets you see things that can never be covered in a classroom, that's why it is called experience.

Try the ATA. The need to get bright eyed pilots with 200K of debt that are willing to fly for 19 bucks an hr. Not going to get that without ab initio.