Should pax know pilot experience ?

[Lear70]

Sure, but does "Skippy" catch onto the fact his alternate fuel is based on a near perfect altitude and route, or through a line of storms because of a canned flight plan from a likewise "lowtime" dispatcher?

As a civi guy, I was no different with that amount of flight time. You can be a good safe guy, but there is simply not enough experience to rely upon when the cluster-ks happen.

I've flown just about every segment of this industry that there is (except UPS/FDX), and I can tell you that this isn't a problem at the majors, for the most part.

You're going to have a few military guys that take 3-4 months to get up to speed on the fact that dispatchers (with a few exceptions) always paint a rosy picture so that the flight gets completed. Once they do that, they're usually just as safe as the guy next to them.

The F/O's at the majors, for the most part, have come from being Part 121 CA's on an RJ in the last few years and are just as "seasoned" as the Captain they're flying with, in many cases, even MORE experienced (AAI and JBLU are good examples of low-time guys that were hired, made CA very young and with relatively low time - 3000 hours total or so - and the F/O's are hiring in with 7,000+ hours, 3,000 hours PIC jet).

The problem is at the regional F/O level. And, at that point, I can tell you that "junior" just isn't up to speed at 250-400 hours TOTAL time. Just ain't happening. You can talk about training all you want, but there is NO substitution for 2-3 years of flight experience flying 70-85 hours a month, EVERY month, in the snow, in the summer t-storms, with deferred equipment, etc, etc.

You can split hairs all you want on the legality of Cat IIIC LGA approaches (pick any airport that DOES have a legal CAT IIIC and the argument is still valid), but it doesn't change the fact that some absurdly-low-time F/O's don't need to be there. Not trying to be rude, it's a safety of flight issue.

They "grow up" to be good aviators 9 times out of 10, but I don't want to be the guy who has a kidney stone explode in flight and my life is in the hands of some 300 hour wunderkid who hasn't been paying attention the last 2 months off OE and is going into HPN with a deferred autopilot and weather AT minimums with 25+ kt gusty winds.

Just because they can pass the checkride does NOT mean they have the judgment and situational awareness to handle an emergency where the CA is incapacitated. Scary stuff.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Well spoken, Lear70.

 

[ExAF]

Humor vs Experience

You missed the point too......1/16th of a mile at LGA.
That was the original question.

Let me know how that autoland works out in that situation.

Have that ASAP handy.

No...you missed the point. It was H U M O R. I typed it slowly so you wouldn't miss it this time. I'll be sure to go get my Jepps for LGA before I post next time if I want to make a technically correct non-humorous post. You'll pick up on the humor once you have a little more experience.