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Aviation History
1953
1953 - 1371.PDF
FLIGHT, 16 October 1953 525 PILOTS FOR THE AIRLINES Whence Will They Come? A Current Problem and a Suggested Solution By DAVID BRTCE, A.R.Ae.S. NO other group of men holds such a unique position in the airline business as the pilots. The other depart ments—traffic, commercial, engineering, operations and planning—all have vital roles to play in the efficient running of an airline; but all their efforts are bent to but one end, that of ensuring that at the time of his departure the pilot has a serviceable aircraft, a commercially useful load to pay for the trip, and perhaps a bit left over for profit. From that moment the pilot is on his own so far as responsibility is concerned. Whilst it would be foolish to insist that he can operate a modern aeroplane entirely unaided, the clear fact remains that the responsibility for everything that occurs during die flight is his. On this account it is within his power to save his company a great deal of money by the straightforward and unhindered opera tion of his flight. By the same reasoning, it is also within his power to lose a large sum by failure to adhere to the correct operating procedures, by hesitancy to fly on meteorological grouads, by an over-zealousness on crew-fatigue matters, by an inadequate appreciation of the limitations of his aircraft, by being over cautious or not cautious enough, by carelessness, or by the over wrought fear of taking a risk. By all these things he can be a liability to his company, and since all of them depend on the psychology of die man it is very much in the interest of any airline that it should take an interest in the make-up of a good pilot. The pilot, too, is also the ambassador of his company, with a great responsibility of ensuring that the customers are content with what they are getting in the way of service or that, if they are unhappy, of seeing that their complaints are met so far as possible. There is almost nothing that those on the ground can do about these matters, since they very seldom hear all the facts. The pilot is charged with the safe carriage of his load and here he is very much on his own; his crew can do litde to help him. There can be only one master in an aeroplane, as in a ship; all the decisions, as well as the skill involved, must be left to one man, the captain. In short, the pilot can be said to be the focal point of an airline's endeavours and for this reason is a man to be chosen carefully and well. With all these considerations it is strange indeed that no one in this country has developed a clear or precise idea of just where the next generation of airline pilots is to come from. Committees have sat, many are still sitting. The Government refuses to acknow ledge the existence of any real problem, in spite of having the advice of a very well informed body, the Willcock Committee. The R.A.F. and the Navy would like to off-load their superannuated pilots on to the airlines, since they think the prospect might attract recruits. The airlines are leaving it to somebody else to sort out and the somebody elses are getting nowhere very fast, with Ministerial administrators passing the buck as fast as they can throw it. In fact, nothing is really being done. It is my strong feeling it is time we got to grips with the matter and gave it some real con sideration. To my mind, as well as to many others who know the true facts, there is only one proper solution to the problem and that briefly is to get the men young, just after they have left school and train them over a period of years so that by the time they are in their early twenties they are in the cockpit, making their way towards the captain's chair. This can be the only way to deal effectively with this matter. At first glance the idea that retired pilots of the R.A.F. and the Fleet Air Arm should go into civil aviation may seem to have a certain merit. Here are men, trained at the country's expense in the arts of flying, who are not old by normal standards; who are healthy; and who, but for the existence of the airlines, might have difficulty in finding suitable employment. So why not employ them and why not count on this as a solution to the problem of recruits for civil aviation? The answers and the objections are several. To begin with— and I speak as an airline pilot—the idea that we are to be stocked by the rejects and the redundancies of the armed Services is one which tends to minimize the importance of the job at stake and as such is unacceptable to those of us who regard the business of taking off and landing an aeroplane as only one facet of an airline pilot's job. He is much more than just a driver. It would be foolish to suggest that such material would be incapable of transformation into efficient airline pilots, and it is true that about 75 per cent of the existing airline pilots are DAILY the problem of recruiting future airline pilot-material grows more acute. Discussion continues in both official and unofficial circles, but little of concrete value emerges. Captain Brice—a B.O.A.C. senior pilot of considerable experience—here examines the present situation, then goes on to formulate a scheme which he personally believes would give young men a start to careers in the Merchant Navy of the Air. ex-R.A.F.; but we are concerned here with the establishment of a proper basis for the recruitment of men into civil aviation so that it will be a counterpart to the Merchant Marine. Apart from acquiring the ability to fly an aeroplane the man in the R.A.F. or the Navy learns practically nothing which will be of value to him in civil aviation. Indeed, he is liable to pick up a number of habits which, whilst virtues in a fighting force, become something of a problem in the more sedate atmosphere of commercial aviation. On this account, and because it is extremely unlikely that he will have accumulated any flying time on aircraft which bear any resemblance to the types he will now have to serve in (and because it is equally certain that he will have none of the necessary licences, be they pilot or navigation), it is highly probable that such a man would have to spend the first two years of his airline service in school. If this figure sounds exaggerated it might be pointed out that the B.O.A.C. Comet course lasts five months at least, and that a course for the Flight Navigators' Licence takes some six or seven months. Apart from what the airlines might think, there is the equally pertinent question as to how the ex-Service man is going to view such prospects. Let's take a look at the situation as it is today. After the war there was a big influx of R.A.F. personnel into the airlines. Most of them came out of the Service with roughly equivalent qualifications, both in hours and in the licences which they subsequently obtained. At a loss to figure some equitable seniority system out of all this, most airlines adopted the principle of first come, first served; ranks and commands were handed out on this basis. No one can say that such an idea did not work out as well as any suggested alternative. On the other hand, there is a good deal of criticism of the scheme from those pilots who got left on the side and who find themselves, after seven or eight years' service, with little or no immediate hope of getting a captaincy. Many of these men are in their middle thirties, with growing family responsibilities; and, knowing that their pension scheme is based on the premise of their obtaining the rank of senior captain, first class to get the maximum benefits, they see that the future is far from acquiring that rosy hue which should be their just dessert. From this angle, then, consider the case of the flight lieutenant or flying officer who is coming out of the R.A.F. at the age of 27 or 28. He cannot be considered a very highly experienced pilot, but, on the other hand, he has been used to flying himself around the skies and is used to being an officer, if not of great importance at least of some account. He is offered a job as a 1st officer in an airline at (remembering all the perks and allowances of the Service) a lower salary than he was getting in the R.A.F. He is faced with a long term in the school with no positive guarantee that he will be able to attain all the necessary qualifications; and if he doesn't he will be out of a job. He is predestined to a period of from five to ten years in the co-pilot's seat, with a chance that he may never become a captain at all, since many men begin to feel the physio logical strain in their middle forties and have to retire. He knows full well shat if this'happens to him his pension will be meagre and that his chances of getting a ground job within the airlines are remote. Quite apart from the considerations already mentioned, it seems to me to be a highly risky business for airlines to rely on the Services for their recruits. There is no possible guarantee that in the year 1958 or 1963 the Services will be able to release sufficient pilot material to compensate civil aviation for normal wastage and expansion plans; the airline industry might well become ham strung for lack of crews. Civil aviation is too important to be reduced to the status of an ex-Servicemen's employment bureau. The Merchant Marine has never relied on the Navy for its recruits and there is no reason why the airlines should be forced into the position of handmaiden to the armed Services. If this principle is accepted, it is for us to offer an alter native solution and, indeed, schemes to this end are now being worked out behind several shut doors. It has been suggested that it is the Government's responsibility to provide a college for the training of future airline pilots. At
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