UKC

Two easyJet pilots - a captain and a first officer - have a combined age of 45:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/37469713/meet-the-worlds-youngest-fem...

Personally, with some knowledge of aviation, this does not in the least bit worry me but I've seen some pretty puerile comments such as "At that age how would they cope in an emergency..." "Much too young..." not to mention the sexist comments. One comment in the mail was "I've just cancelled my easyJet flight"

I say good luck to them. If they have the flying hours and passed the rigorous tests and exams then who am I to question their ability.

In reply to FesteringSore:

The only question I would have would be on the human, rather than technical, side. Do they have the confidence and presence to stand their ground against someone older than them telling them what to do, perhaps wrongly? Is this tested?

In reply to FesteringSore:




Wasn't aware you could do such a thing and actually get any money back. If it means less sexist tw*ts on easyjet flights, then better for everyone else.


This.

In reply to ianstevens:

The attitude of some people does make me wonder if, on boarding the flight and catching a glimpse of the pilot, think "I'm not travelling if he/she is flying it".

On a personal level I used to fly privately quite often - ranging from Tiger Moths to twin engined aircraft. Not having done so for many years, when I now board a flight and see the pilot and/or first officer I often think "My god, you hadn't even been born when I learned to fly"

In reply to MG:


Not sure I understand the context. What sort of situation are you thinking about?

In reply to MG:


oh ffs....

In reply to FesteringSore:
I had in mind a (true??) story that in some parts of the world where society is highly deferential to seniority, pilots have to be explicitly trained not to blindly follow orders from a captain to avoid conversations such as (I paraphrase):

Pilot "We are too low"
Captain "No its fine"
Pilot "Yes, sir"
BANG!!

The same sort of thing exists to an extent with age in the UK, so I was wondering if very young pilots/captains are trained to counter it.

In reply to Scarab9:


??

In reply to MG:

I'd be much more concerned about their ability to say no to the pop and or/other drugs, given the behaviour of some of their older colleagues over the last few years.

In reply to MG:
Going back a bit, but wasn't the Tenerife Airport disaster laid at the door of a particularly stroppy captain, who got fed up of waiting to depart after a queue due to the fog (when the original airport was on the hill).

His co pilot was heard over the mike to say - err we're off : ( - after the captain was repeatedly being told to wait on the apron.

In reply to FesteringSore:



Well I think that's fair enough - more surprise in your own progress through life than anything else, and certainly not questioning their ability. I've had a fair dose of it recently on a smaller scale, once I realised that the University freshers this year are born in 97/98 :/

In reply to FesteringSore:

Asiana crash in California a couple of years ago, where junior officers deferred to a senior officer despite realizing the plane was descending too steeply and touch down before the runway.

CB

In reply to cb294:

Not junior in age,4 pilots, p1 49 yrs + 12 387 hrs, p2 (under instruction) 45 + 9 793 hrs, p3 (observing) 41,p4(relief)52

In reply to MG:



Yes, I saw that. It was a Korean Air 747 that crashed landing on a pacific island. The culture of deference had contributed to several accidents giving the airline a very bad safety record. They brought in a US expert to sort things out. I think it resulted in a general protocol now used widely (universally?) that if the co-pilot is ignored three times by the pilot he can unilaterally take control.

In reply to Bellie:

It was 39 yrs ago,hopefully procedures/attitudes have changed since

In reply to cb294:
JAL350 deliberate crash landing in Tokyo Bay in 1982. It transpired that Captain Katigiri had been behaving erratically and even trying loop the loops for weeks beforehand but nobody dared report him......

In reply to Robert Durran:

What if the co-pilot is wrong three times?

In reply to oaktree:

Junior in hierarchy will do. That said, on normal airline flights I don´t care who my pilot is, a few sad exceptions aside they do want to come back down safely just as I do.
Now, flying in the disintegrating Soviet Union a fifteen years ago....

CB