Air Force Programs Aim To Retain Pilots With Cash Incentives - AVweb

News Discussion
21

As I like to ask people, “what is better”? It’s not always an easy question to answer, particularly when “better” is defined by multiple subjective measures. The absolute best pilot would be one who has superior stick-and-rudder skills AND superior practical systems knowledge AND superior situational awareness AND superior knowledge of ATC AND superior avionics knowledge. But such a pilot doesn’t exist, so we have to work with less than that.

Personally, I see more an erosion in situational awareness than basic stick-and-rudder skills. And basic awareness of the current aircraft state (altitude, heading, airspeed, trim) can lead to poor stick-and-rudder control. So perhaps it’s more a matter of distraction than basic piloting skills.

22

I’ve been working in the Air-Taxi business for over 30 years. Most of the companies I’ve worked for hire 500 hour pilots. Today’s 500 hour pilots are much better pilots then the 500 hour pilots of the 80’s. That’s an absolute fact I can prove.

Everyday it is easier and easier to publicize ever little mistake. You make a bad radio call and the ATC is mandated to report it. You ground loop, land with your gear up or do a forced landing and dozens of cameras are capturing it. Chances are if you decide to fly lower in a dense population area and you’ll be on the 6 o’clock news.

A Seaplane landing on the Mississippi is national news and causes anxieties in the public. it’s not the pilots, it’s the nonstop emotional reporting.

23

I started flying at the end of 1966, I trained in C150S with one radio and one VOR. Some included DME. Half the time I was in limbo. The transition to a C172s then to other Cessnas or Pipers was easy. Today we have the simple and exotic aircraft with a multitude of sophisticated and complex avionics. Why they even have autopilot coupled to GPS receivers, multiple displays and two or three transceivers with all kinds of colored information in front of me. Is a magenta line a good thing?

24

Do you mind expanding on what ways they are better Klaus?

25

I’m not so sure about that. The numbers may show things are currently going well but Safety is unfortunately measured in lives. If pilots are getting by with questionable skill sets, all it takes is a few tragic accidents and, if the black box data analyses show pilots don’t know what they don’t know, a spike is added to the data which changes that story about pilot skills that makes it onto the interweb. Too late for the victims.

26

Writing cursive and flying an ADF approach are both antiquated and no longer necessary. But I don’t really blame the technology as the cause of the erosion of basic flying skills. It’s mainly the lack of needing basic stick-and-rudder skills in every day flying and the natural human tendency to not practice skills that are rarely needed. Perhaps what is lacking in today’s training is discipline training. The discipline to go out and practice skills that aren’t used that often, like go-arounds or crosswind landing, or hand-flying an approach (or even en-route flying). With less sophisticated or stable aircraft, pilots had no choice but to continually improve their skills.

27

Ok, present pilots are more knowledgeable and skillful than those from my generation. Better SA, better systems management and better hands-on skills.

28

While this blog emphasizes ‘Stick & Rudder’ the commercial world measures pilots by the ‘Almighty Dollar’. If you’re looking for a ‘flying cowboy’ to land you on a sandbar those young pilots are out there also.

The fact is the accident numbers are going down at the same rate as the Vietnam era pilots are retiring.

Ask an Air Traffic Controller who they would rather communicate with: a 1500 hr. 25 year old or the 60 year old captain. For example, I was told by a voice from the left seat: “Don’t answer them, they’ll just ask us to do something that will make us late”.

In the 70’s and 80’s the 500 hour pilots would break something on the aircraft on a regular basis the 500 hour pilots of today go from 100hr. inspection to 100hr. inspection with everything still working, very few squawks. Tires have less flat spots, brakes last twice as long, engines leak less and the paint is not all scratched up from fuel hoses. The aircraft overall is shown more respect. Then the most important above all other criteria in the Air-Taxi business is repeat customers. The repeat customers regularly request the low time pilot by name and that’s how the bills get paid. Most of our repeat customers have talked up our young low time pilots many times more often then the seasoned high time grouches that operate the aircraft like an old farm truck.

29

This thread brings to mind radio ads I hear in my area touting the skills of one hospital over another in saving your life if you’ve had a medical problem like a heart attack or stroke. The implication is if you go to Brand-X hospital you’re less likely to survive. It strikes me as more than cruel that one facility is advertising an advantage in lifesaving skills when one would hope that these skills are the same no matter where you go.

For air transport I think it’s best to emphasize the safety of the pilot, the airline, and the system that they’re flying in rather than individual skills. The incidents that demand the skills of an Al Haynes, a Chesley Sullenberger, or a Tammie Jo Shults, are exceptionally rare and are getting rarer thanks to improved equipment, training, and teamwork.

Only a few pilots can be truly great. The best the rest of us should strive for is to be safe.

30

The question is “Are pilot skills worse than ever?” First you have to define pilot skills of the past against the same skills of the present because that is what the question is asking and only what the question is asking. Once you have quantified the skills and time line to be measured, then you can measure improvement or degradation of skills.

31

Tom C., excellent point…“The question is “Are pilot skills worse than ever?” First you have to define pilot skills of the past against the same skills of the present because that is what the question is asking and only what the question is asking.”

We are postulating our respective opinions based on our own experiences ( which collectively adds wisdom…good and bad depending on when, where, and how that wisdom is applied or not)and nostalgia. We are the comparatively few of the population who have taken the time, money, and energy to become pilots. I would call this eclectic group of folks highly motivated people. Highly motivated people tend to be passionate about their interests because most, if not all, immerse themselves into that passion. Within that passionate immersion nostalgia sooner or later emerges. Nostalgia has a way of distorting the reality of today.

Who has better P-51 “stick and rudder” skills…Lee Lauderback, Scott Yoakum, Chuck Yeager, Bob Hoover, Bud Anderson, or Steve Hinton (Jr or Sr)? Who was a better pilot Bevo Howard flying a Bucker Jungmeister or Sean Tucker in his Oracle bipe today? Is Tom Poberezny a better stick than his dad Paul? How about Art Scholl vs Big Ed Mahler, vs Harold Neuman? How do we subjectively measure the flying skills of Clay Lacy and Jeffery Skiles? Who is or was a better stick of pilots demonstrating the performance of factory stock GA airplanes? Bob Hoover ( Aero Commander Shrike), David Martin ( Baron), Matt Younkin/Jim Younkin ( Twin Beech), Billy Bishop/Corkey Fornof (Bellanca Viking), Jim Pietsch ( Bonanza), Warren Pietsch ( Interstate Cadet), Kyle Franklin/Jimmy Franklin ( Kitfox)…can you feel the nostalgia bubbling to the top?

We mix those emotions with Lion Air, Ethiopia Airlines, Colgan, and Air France 447 crashes…combined with our personal observations of a student’s botched landings in a 2 knot crosswind, studying accident reports of pilots running perfectly good airplanes into a mountain or hill 50 feet below the summit, YouTube videos of tail wheel airplanes being ground looped, SR-22 spinning into a parking lot…stir/blend carefully…making a stew of emotionalism, nostalgia, passion, and a genuine care for all pilots combined with our own fears and expectations, trying to come to some conclusion about pilot skills. And measuring those skills, quietly, behind the scenes, to our own.

I really think James F. said it correct…" Only a few pilots can be truly great. The rest of us should strive to be safe". At least for today, it appears a larger number are striving to be safe. And to me, that is okay.

32

I have been a CFI/II/MEI AGI for over 30 years and trained many hundreds of pilots in general aviation aircraft from Cessna 150’s, piston and turboprop aircraft and B737’s. I spent 10 years working as a simulator instructor, classroom instructor and flight instructor for FlightSafety International and 6 years of that was as a Program Manager for piston and turboprop twins flying Part 91 and 135. I’ve trained pilots from every skill level and background from a dozen countries. I’ve taught FBI, DEA, Border Patrol and military pilots. So, I know just a little about various aspects of flight instructing. I was also a high school Special Ed teacher, and am Dyslexic.
I have read many articles concerning the present state of pilot training and those who are recieving the training. One commentator said that teaching ground schools is a waste of CFI time. I totally disagree with that. The most common thing I observe and have been told by DPE’s, is the inability of instructors to teach. Teaching is the most important skill an instructor has. One way, and I am certain of this, to build strong teaching skills, is to teach in a classroom. At FSI one of my principle oversite duties as a PM was to evaluate my instructors teaching in the classroom and simulators, and I had very high expectations of them. Knowing tbe technical details of a given aircraft is essential, but to effectively teach the topic was far more important. Clients in particular were more critical about the classroom instruction than simulator by a great margin. When I interviewed pilots for a position at FSI my first question was how much teaching experience do you have in aviation or education. Many applicants had extensive flying backgrounds in military and civil aviation, but very few had any teaching bacground in or outside of aviation. Ones 's flying background was helpful, but in the final analysis, teaching was again, the deciding factor as to who was hired.
One organization who really understands this is SAFE, Society of Aviation and Flight Educators, of which I’m a member. They are dedicator to those teachers who view being instructors as a Profession, not a way to build time. I recommend them highly.
As far as the use of simulators is concerned, and I have taught in every FAA category of simulators, thr rise of the PC simulator is, in my opinion, the greatest boon to teaching aviation skills. I started with FlightSim in 1985, and later Jepp sim for all my students, especially instrument students. The ability to teach and evaluate student learning is invaluable by using simulators and saves a lot of money. I currently use XPlane 11 and with Lockheed/Martin PREPR3D and other addons I can teach on my PC and the student can log the time! I teach every lesson from Private, through ATP and all CFI certificates using a PC. Every student also has either FlightSim or XPlane on their home computer so they can learn through guided practice. In 30 years of using simulators I’ve never had an applicant fail a checkride. All my CFI candidates learn first how to teach adult learners, and teaching methods. They must learn to effectively teach any topic for which they are certified to a very high level. I also have them teach each flying lesson on the PC first before we fly the airplane. I use real student pilots for my instructors to teach and people who know little about aviation for my instructor candidates to develope teaching ability and confidence.
There are many resourses for both instructors and students to use to apply and learn piloting skills. In the 10 years PC simulators have advanced pilot training like no other innovation. Just look at how British Airways selects pilot applicants, or Lufthansa. The U.S. Airlines are finally catching on to EU training methods.
The most important thing is to train instructors to be professioal educators, even if the goal is to fly in the corprate or airline venues at a later time.

33

The ACS/PTS standards you cite are for slow flight, not stalls. The current Private ACS calls for full stalls and requires the candidate to articulate the developing stall (e.g., “stall warning horn,” “stall buffet,” “full stall.”

Spins were deleted from the Private Pilot Practical Test prior to 1949. Are you really so old that you used to do it for the practical test?

34

Once again passing over numerous ‘eligible’ enlisted folks who have pilot ratings, maybe an AA degree and would promise their left arm in advance to get an opportunity for UPT and a promise to get a BS within a set period … say, five years. Something like the old USAF cadet program. Oh well … we all know how important a BS in Music is to become a USAF pilot.

35

Absolutely every enlisted person should have entry into the program - the commissioning program, and take it from there. I know plenty of prior Es who have done it, but it takes work, commitment, and sacrifice… everything worthwhile does.

Get the degree (any degree), get accepted into a commissioning program, then get accepted to pilot training, make it through, earn the rank and THEN get paid what you are worth. Don’t undercut the profession - earn it.

36

The USAF would do well to have warrant officers for some AFSCs, pilots being a shining example.

37

Stop forcing pilots to become staff officers would fix much of the problem. A pilot one day…then in charge of the motor-pool the next day…nuts…

38

Yes. They really need to look at that mess. Friend of mine, all he wanted to do was fly his fighters. But at a certain point, he had to move up to other non flying positions. He got out when he could.

39

Go with the airlines ASAP.

40

How about a compromise? Consider an instrument rating, or perhaps a commercial rating, as the equivalent of a BS, and allow them to skip basic flight as a result. I know of a handful of enlisted AF who got their commercial rating during their enlisted time, AF never let them fly of course. Now all are ATPs and one is even an engineering test pilot. AF is missing out big time on a lot of great talent already in their ranks.