Post by cbk on Jul 8, 2013 7:48:35 GMT -5
The crash of a 777 in SFO shows what I (and a lot of other old pilots) have been saying for a long time. Airplane drivers today, learn to operated systems, not fly airplanes.
The planes today are marvels of engineering. The auto pilot can do everything but your income tax. And because the auto pilot is SO good at flying the A/C pilots use it most of the time. Even the little King Air that I spent the last 20 years, of my 40 year career, flying could do amazing things. If I wished, I could take off, and as soon as I was 10 feet off of the ground I could punch on the auto pilot and the plane would fly to the desired altitude, capture the route programed into the GPS, fly to the intended airport of landing, capture the ILS, and all I had to do was monitor the power and hand fly the last 50 feet. And this was a little turbo prop that was manufactured in the 1970's. We had put in some up dates, I have to admit.
A lot is being made of the fact that the pilot flying only had 45 hours in type. But he'd flown 747's before so he wasn't exactly inexperienced in the airplane driving business. How many actual hours of hand flying any airline pilot has is any ones guess.
Like any old fut, I like the good ole days when one sat next to an experienced Captain for years. You'd sit there hoping that you'd actually get a chance to get your hands on the controls. Oh, and BTW, one didn't get to count the hours as a co-pilot towards your hours in the air unless the aircraft actually required a co-pilot. And then you had to log them as co-pilot hours, not PIC (pilot in command) PIC could only be logged when YOU got to control the A/C. Depending on your captain, that could be a lot less than the hours you sat watching the old man. He wasn't shy about criticizing your flying skills either. I've been hit up side the head and asked in a VERY sarcastic voice, "Are you trying to kill my ass?" more times than I can remember. Usually the copilot wasn't doing that bad of a job. The captain just liked to be able to exercise his power of command. Of course, today that would not be PC. Might have saved the day though if the Captain of that 777 had smacked his second in command early on in the approach.
The planes today are marvels of engineering. The auto pilot can do everything but your income tax. And because the auto pilot is SO good at flying the A/C pilots use it most of the time. Even the little King Air that I spent the last 20 years, of my 40 year career, flying could do amazing things. If I wished, I could take off, and as soon as I was 10 feet off of the ground I could punch on the auto pilot and the plane would fly to the desired altitude, capture the route programed into the GPS, fly to the intended airport of landing, capture the ILS, and all I had to do was monitor the power and hand fly the last 50 feet. And this was a little turbo prop that was manufactured in the 1970's. We had put in some up dates, I have to admit.
A lot is being made of the fact that the pilot flying only had 45 hours in type. But he'd flown 747's before so he wasn't exactly inexperienced in the airplane driving business. How many actual hours of hand flying any airline pilot has is any ones guess.
Like any old fut, I like the good ole days when one sat next to an experienced Captain for years. You'd sit there hoping that you'd actually get a chance to get your hands on the controls. Oh, and BTW, one didn't get to count the hours as a co-pilot towards your hours in the air unless the aircraft actually required a co-pilot. And then you had to log them as co-pilot hours, not PIC (pilot in command) PIC could only be logged when YOU got to control the A/C. Depending on your captain, that could be a lot less than the hours you sat watching the old man. He wasn't shy about criticizing your flying skills either. I've been hit up side the head and asked in a VERY sarcastic voice, "Are you trying to kill my ass?" more times than I can remember. Usually the copilot wasn't doing that bad of a job. The captain just liked to be able to exercise his power of command. Of course, today that would not be PC. Might have saved the day though if the Captain of that 777 had smacked his second in command early on in the approach.
