Many carriers outside the US have had to resort to ab initio prpgrams due to a lack of a significant military or gen av presence. Military training is a form of ab initio. Somewhere the best ballance is probably a combination of training and experience. Diversity of experience is also a plus.
The abinitio system works where the crew had a diversity of experience and unusual and unexpected events are not of frequent occurence. I get to fly with a broad vareity of pilots and certainly some of the best started out as bush pilots or some such and fought their way up with a true love of aviation. I see evidence of a different attitude in Japan, where abinitio has been around for quite a while. The big decisiion is whether i have better prospects at the bank, Toyota or JAL....
It is not true that all situations can be anticipated or broken down into procedures and training events. Some folks keep their curosity and can react to new situations with more alacrity and learn more from their continuing experiences. They make the best pilots.
T
Hi Tom,
the point about having less of a military or GA pool of pilots available is certainly valid. With user-fees and sky high fuel prices that is certainly on part of the reason. But at least with LH I know that it is simply their preference to train their crews from the start in the fashion they want them to be trained. Controlling the entire curricula and the schools in the same fashion the USAF does when they train a new pilot.
After all they need to work as a efficient and safe team in their careers no matter who sits in which seat later on.
I think their overall safety record does back their theory up quite nicely.
All but one of the guys I know is also a very active private pilot...with a variety of personal aircraft among them. Vintage, Acro, basic GA you name it...and a few gliders for good measure. Their training certainly does not limit them from being diverse and adding experience in different ways after they get their LH wings. Having a good salary and no anvil of debt over their heads (at least not for their professional training
) does help keeping their hearts in aviation though.
However I know for example that just passing a structured flight training program does not necessarily turn someone into a good aviator. I have flown with guys that trained at one of the US premier training programs supplying ATP candidates to the national carriers. They were 100% by the book, calling out V1 and V2 speeds for the Warrior and yanking the poor thing off the ground before she was really ready to fly that hot SoCal day. Some folks have that certain something and others don't I guess.
The main point was actually in response to Andy's comment:
As I am hopeless at landings I found it interesting
Practice...Practice and more Practice. And to me that means for most FS pilots flying the less sophisticated aircraft a bit more and at their slower pace figure out just how the basics work. And then get good at those basics by practicing before moving on to more advanced aircraft.
Cheers
Stefan
