Re:Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 pilots 'could not stop nose...
by inferiorhuman on Thursday April 04, 2019 @09:53PM
(#19578961)
But it's hard to argue that flying a plane load of passengers on autopilot from the same 4 airports for hours on end remotely gives you the same skill level as flying low level, in high performance and often in formation with other aircraft would.
Fine, I'll argue that. Southwest pilots do just that because Southwest is primarily a short haul airline. They do more takeoffs and landings on a daily basis than nearly any other airline and often from relatively small airports. If you're flying for them you're going to routinely practice the most dangerous parts of the flight. IIRC Southwest is less draconian about mandating autopilot usage than many other airlines.
They have a reputation for being aggressive about timing (as my friend put it, you never want to be stuck in front of a Southwest pilot) and yet they have an enviable safety record.
Re:Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 pilots 'could not stop nose...
by VBprogrammer on Friday April 05, 2019 @03:45AM
(#19580561)
Sure, but southwest already has US pilots, many of them ex-military, who have all of the advantages I've mentioned.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/04/20/the-o...
"A grain of truth" doesn't mean it's provably true. But it's hard to argue that flying a plane load of passengers on autopilot from the same 4 airports for hours on end remotely gives you the same skill level as flying low level, in high performance and often in formation with other aircraft would.