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Last of the dinosaurs?

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Great article... from February 2009.
 
But if you like to fly, it is still a great way to make a living.

As a side note, I find sometimes with the new generation of pilots the term known as "Common Sense" is not so common. Many of the newer pilots want to be able to quote a regulation, or a written procedure before they make a decision. The seat of the pants, "This is what I have to do to fix the situation" seems to be lacking.

Would this new breed run out of fuel before they told ATC. "Screw you, I am shooting the approach and landing". Sully used that seat of the pants feel to make decisions well outside of the box, the results speak for themselves.

I know the experiences I had as a 26 year old PPC, certainly forced me to often think outside of the box to get the mission done.
 
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becoming the first pilot ever to execute a controlled water landing in a modern commercial airliner without a single fatality
There was a Pan Am Boeing 377 Stratrocruiser that executed a controlled water ditching, and that was a modern commercial airliner (in that timeframe) without a single fatality.
 
I was in a similar situation with no where to land at 24 years old and came to the same conclusion as Sully with a similar line of thinking. The only difference was the weights of the airplanes. I am trying to figure out what rules Sully broke that this article is based on. Some good info in the article, but i think the writer is worring about nothing. Btw no military here.

In a similar situation I think most of us would have made the same choice. I did at 24.

Dont put Sully on a pedestal, and sell average pilots short. Dont be critical of him either. Because when in an emergency it is not perfect like the sim training either.
 
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“I’m not suggesting that a young pilot or new pilot could not handle a situation,” says Jack Stephan. “But would you want your kid in that flight?”

Um Jack, you were in fact suggesting what you said you were not suggesting. How about you Jack, could you handle it?
 
To sum it up:

There is no substitute for experience.

The modern era of automation and emphasis on turning the autopilot on as soon as possible in training is creating a whole generation of automation-dependent pilots.

The level of safety from modern aircraft design and building things to the "lowest common denominator" has brought the safest time period in aviation history, making the above two issues less and less important.

Until someone burns in a perfectly good airplane again (Colgan BUF crash).

Old article and poorly-written, but the truth is if I had to choose between a puppy mill "child of the magenta" or someone who came up flying Lears and DC9's or 727's up in YIP at the controls when the crap hits the fan, I'll choose option B every time.

No one wants to stay in YIP, but they turn out some of the best civilian aviators in existence, just because of the equipment and missions they're forced to fly. Hoping the new regs for the ATP requirement force the industry back to that model.
 
To sum it up:



The modern era of automation and emphasis on turning the autopilot on as soon as possible in training is creating a whole generation of automation-dependent pilots.

Everyone should pick a few days out of the month where you do not use the autopilot/flight director below 10. If you honestly can't turn off the flight director and autopilot off at any time without pause.. Do it more.

Fly safe :)
 
I do that almost every trip, just because I like to fly the plane.

What's really interesting is to have someone do this for the entire arrival. Climbout is pretty easy to do that. The arrival and manually computing descent points, crossing restrictions, etc without auto-throttles and the flight director is what would bite someone who has lost some hand-flying skills.

Flew with a guy last year that freaked when the A/T were deferred, wanted me to fly the whole day. Really? And you're the Captain? WTF? I'm sure most of our guys would be fine, but seriously?

We also have a procedure in and out of SNA that if the A/T are deferred, you have to call Dispatch to get a briefing. They know how to use our Autothrottles? And why does that necessitate a briefing? Pretty dang simple, set Takeoff N1 manually, at 600 feet lower the nose and reduce to cut-back N1, at 3,000 feet, manually set climb power, clean up, and motor on. What's the BFD?

Oh well, I just fly 'em. ;)
 

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