Anyway, Gerry forgot to mention that a big chunk of banned airlines is not down to poor pilot skills but rubbish maintenance. Nobody wants a clapped out 727 dropping parts on houses.

 

If an airline doesn't maintain its aircraft properly there's no reason to suppose it checks its pilots properly, or indeed does anything properly.

 

Whole countries are banned because the state regulators are incompetent, corrupt... (supply your own word). It would be foolish to suppose that the airlines they fail to regulate properly are any better,

Gerry, I do agree with the general point you are making. However, I personnaly know European and local pilots out in Africa flying some of the hardest approaches raw data into dodgy airfields with run down aircraft.

 

The level of skill and focus required is very high, yes you have corrupt governments running airlines and training in certain airlines can be questionable, however just because airline management are screwing up doesn't necessarily mean the pilots and training captains are corrupt or improperly trained.

 

A good friend of mine from Belgium built his hours in Africa on the ATR, he now fly's the A330 for Qatar. I remember him telling me that he would never go back,however the experienced he gained with his fellow pilots was second to none.

 

Regards

Are we done beating around the bush now? I'd really like some feedback on the actual point I raised, to wit the seemingly automatic assumption by the lamestream media that just because someone doesn't have their paperwork in order it instantly equates to "someone completely unqualified and/or unskilled" being at the controls?

I think most forum readers would say there's some medical issue rather than a lack of skills,but the media always love stories like the Russian pilot who let his son (unwittingly) fly the 'plane.