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Heli-Expo 2012 Dallas Texas


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I don't feel I was under qualified for the position I was hired for. I do feel I was under qualified for the contract position. This is why I turned down flying that position. Hope that clears that up. My fault for not being more clear.

 

Ultimately, I get it, but the statement that someone who can't answer a question should be fired is the part I'm focused on. Just as you shouldn't have been canned for not taking the contract nor should the 3 guys that overtorqued, but I do have to wonder why one guy flew the job and didn't have any issues.

 

I over emphasised firing a pilot cause he can't answer a question. Truely I believe if a person is substandard in knowledge or skills he should be given an opportunity to be brought up to speed. I was replying to a statement by someone that pilots were unable to answer basic aeronautical knowledge questions. I've been a part 135 pilot for 8 years now and I still always study the FARs and relevant aircraft information before my biannual checkrides. I believe a pilot that can't answer these basic questions during a checkride is showing their lack of interest, their cockiness, or their comfort in a position that should not have any of those. It has to be frustrating to operators to go into the field and have to retrain pilots because the pilots dont take a couple hours out of their day to review information before hand. I apologize for the exaggeration of my statement. I believe we are on a similar page but are misunderstanding each other because of the limited abilities of reading text rather than having a conversation.

 

As for the one guy that made it through without any problems. How does "blind luck" sound for an explanation? :)

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I find this discussion interesting. I'm retiring from the military with the intent of pursuing a second career in civilian/commercial helicopter aviation. While I've certainly seen some of the shortcomings addressed in this forum during my military career, it hasn't been to the degree expressed here. Professionalism is professionalism. If you're exercising control of the aircraft you better know your stuff.

As a military guy transitioning to the civilian/commercial ranks, I know that I have a lot to learn. I'm hitting the books, reading and learning everything I can. Is there a place or course devoted to transitioning military pilots like myself that will help prepare us for civilian/commercial helicopter aviation? If so, does the course address the shortcomings the industry is seeing in their new hires?

Thanks for your help!

 

On a second note, is the feedback loop from industry to flight schools working? Sounds like it is for a few schools.

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We are on the same page. My wife says the same thing about texting in regards to the lack of inflection, etc.. Easy to misunderstand. I get where you are coming from. When it comes to the checkrides, and standards, to that end it is on the checkairman performing the ride. It's actually hard to bust a ride with a checkairman due to the ability for them to stop the ride and conduct training to get the pilot back up to standard. I can say that the pilots that I have not passed on checkrides have failed on the oral.

 

I'm sure the check pilots you fly with appreciate your efforts. Professionalism comes from within. As does the lack of. I'm amazed with the amount of down time we have that it's sometimes difficult to get a pilot's head in the books. Especially when we operate in that environment every day. I've always figured that recurrent rides should be a walk in the park, since you have been flying the aircraft for 6/12 months at that point and you should be that much more familiar with operating it to the company standards.

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In my opinion...

 

Let’s be real here. This poor quality applicant is a relatively new phenomenon. It can be assumed, theses 1000 hour applicants mentioned above have been in the seats for approximately 2 to 5 years. Therefore, if we simply look at how applicants came through the ranks prior during that time period then one can start to gain a reasonable perspective. If that hypothesis is in doubt, then look back say 15 to 20 years ago. If anything, during that time period the opposite of today is true. That is, 1000 hour CFI applicants advancing through the ranks were in fact raising the bar…

 

Plus, by what was said, the notion a “certificate is a certificate and it doesn’t matter where you get it” may now be an invalid adage. The time may have come where it may actually matter where you gain certification. This should be of great concern for those looking to start their training. Fortunately for them, it narrows the field making the decision easier….

 

One thing is for sure, this business tends to have a natural selection process. By what has been said, a few have apparently squeaked through the cracks, under the radar and this natural selection process eventually caught up with them…. Bummer for them…. Good for everyone else….

Edited by Spike
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"Let’s be real here. This poor quality applicant is a relatively new phenomenon. It can be assumed, theses 1000 hour applicants mentioned above have been in the seats for approximately 2 to 5 years. Therefore, if we simply look at how applicants came through the ranks prior during that time period then one can start to gain a reasonable perspective. If that hypothesis is in doubt, then look back say 15 to 20 years ago. If anything, during that time period the opposite of today is true. That is, 1000 hour CFI applicants advancing through the ranks were in fact raising the bar…"

 

That's an interesting point. Considering all the talk there is these days of switching from MBT to SBT, maybe that's not the problem?

 

Maybe the problem is the type of pilot that was created through the "CFI Factory" model which flourished during the last "shortage" around 5 years ago, or so?

 

Maybe what we need are smaller schools catering more to the individual student, instead of just pumping them out on an assemply line?

:huh:

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