Soverytired
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 30, 2006
- Posts
- 1,572
Three days in the sim, and you're now officially an airline pilot! (remind me not to fly in South Africa)
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http://iagblog.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_iagblog_archive.html
In the New South Africa, there has been great progress in pilot training. In an effort to generate black pilots, the national airline wants to use advanced simulators to accelerate the creation of black pilots. Using these simulators has made training much cheaper.
This rapid training is called MPL (Multi-Crew Pilot License). This solution can create a co-pilot in three days.
Not surprisingly, pilot groupss around the world don't hold this certificate in high regard. At South African Airways (SAA) out of 796 pilots, 66 are black. The airline wanted 300 by last year.
SAA currently pays over $100,000 to train pilots the traditional way, taking 18 months. Captain Colin Jordaan, general manager SAA operations, is quoted in The Sunday Times as saying "We will be able to take a person off the street and train them for between 12 and 18 months and they will then be able to move into the right hand seat of a 747".
Right. Off the street. That is is what he said. Here we see a potential SAA 747 co-pilot being signed up for the simulator after his car was totalled.
South Africa has awful drivers. The primary factors to fatal crashes, or that impact on the seriousness of injuries, include excessive speed, drinking and driving, and the non-wearing of seatbelts. Pedestrians account for 38% of road crash fatalities. We are not certain what this says about the nation's potential pilot pool. But it does not look promising. Certainly it does not appear that skimping on pilot training is a good solution for SAA.
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http://iagblog.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_iagblog_archive.html
In the New South Africa, there has been great progress in pilot training. In an effort to generate black pilots, the national airline wants to use advanced simulators to accelerate the creation of black pilots. Using these simulators has made training much cheaper.
This rapid training is called MPL (Multi-Crew Pilot License). This solution can create a co-pilot in three days.
Not surprisingly, pilot groupss around the world don't hold this certificate in high regard. At South African Airways (SAA) out of 796 pilots, 66 are black. The airline wanted 300 by last year.
SAA currently pays over $100,000 to train pilots the traditional way, taking 18 months. Captain Colin Jordaan, general manager SAA operations, is quoted in The Sunday Times as saying "We will be able to take a person off the street and train them for between 12 and 18 months and they will then be able to move into the right hand seat of a 747".
Right. Off the street. That is is what he said. Here we see a potential SAA 747 co-pilot being signed up for the simulator after his car was totalled.
South Africa has awful drivers. The primary factors to fatal crashes, or that impact on the seriousness of injuries, include excessive speed, drinking and driving, and the non-wearing of seatbelts. Pedestrians account for 38% of road crash fatalities. We are not certain what this says about the nation's potential pilot pool. But it does not look promising. Certainly it does not appear that skimping on pilot training is a good solution for SAA.
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