If you are going to start the ridiculous Military vs. civil debate you should consider this.......
Back in the 90's Delta went through a rash of accidents and incidents far greater than any other airline. They had numerous incidents of landing on the wrong airport, a L1011 lost an engine and the crew shut down the wrong engine and came within a 150" of the Pacific Ocean, they had another L1011 fly into a thunderstorm on landing and crash, and the list is longer than that.
Because they had so many more problems than other airlines they were very closely scrutinized by the FAA. Their official conclusion was the reason they had so many incidents was due to the fact that DAL had hired so many pilots with a single pilot only background and they were lacking in multiple crewmember ops.
After extensive observation it was noted that they had poor crew coordination and this is what led to the numerous operational problems. The fix was extensive CRM training for the DAL pilots.
In other words guys, too many fighter pilots who weren't working well as a crew.
Now before you go nuts on me, military pilots are just as good as high time civilian pilots, the high time RJ pilots generally have outstanding instrument flying skills that are the best in business, the ex military pilots are generally very quick learners with great technology skills. I've flown with 1000's of pilots over the years and one is not better than the other. Once you get with an airline, there really is no difference relative to background. I've seen ex fighter pilots that are as good as it gets and the same for ex civilian pilots. What does make a difference is attitude. The cocky ones who think they come from a superior background ironically enough generally turn out to be the weak ones, whether that be civil or military.
Back in the 90's Delta went through a rash of accidents and incidents far greater than any other airline. They had numerous incidents of landing on the wrong airport, a L1011 lost an engine and the crew shut down the wrong engine and came within a 150" of the Pacific Ocean, they had another L1011 fly into a thunderstorm on landing and crash, and the list is longer than that.
Because they had so many more problems than other airlines they were very closely scrutinized by the FAA. Their official conclusion was the reason they had so many incidents was due to the fact that DAL had hired so many pilots with a single pilot only background and they were lacking in multiple crewmember ops.
After extensive observation it was noted that they had poor crew coordination and this is what led to the numerous operational problems. The fix was extensive CRM training for the DAL pilots.
In other words guys, too many fighter pilots who weren't working well as a crew.
Now before you go nuts on me, military pilots are just as good as high time civilian pilots, the high time RJ pilots generally have outstanding instrument flying skills that are the best in business, the ex military pilots are generally very quick learners with great technology skills. I've flown with 1000's of pilots over the years and one is not better than the other. Once you get with an airline, there really is no difference relative to background. I've seen ex fighter pilots that are as good as it gets and the same for ex civilian pilots. What does make a difference is attitude. The cocky ones who think they come from a superior background ironically enough generally turn out to be the weak ones, whether that be civil or military.
Last edited:
