Originally Posted by
JetBlueFA
I hope to god you are kidding. You should be slapped for a comment like that. Age has nothing to do with this. The experience and the training that both the flight and inflight crew recieved saved 150 lives yesterday. How many 20 year olds do you know that could preform under that type of pressure. How do you know a younger crew wouldn't have paniced and left the aircraft while 150 passenger were left to scramble with out any directions.
As for you comment about modernizing or evolving, what are you even talking about? Are you not going to fly any more because the median age of US Pilots is 45 years old? Or would you rather have a 25 year old pilot at the controls when your plane suffers a dual engine flame out?
The crew of US1549 are heros, each and every one of them. They turned what could have been a huge disaster into one of the most successful emergencies in the history of US aviation.
Interesting. You claim that "age has nothing to do with this" just before implying that a 20-year old wouldn't be able to handle the pressure or that a 25 year-old pilot couldn't handle dual flame outs. This insults the abilities of millions of exceedingly talented and capable young people. The tendency to panic is not related to one's age.
As you mentioned, age is irrelevant in this (and most) cases. Today's airlines do not graduate any new crews incapable of doing their jobs in an emergency.
As good as the FA crew was (oh-oh, another threepoint controversy about to erupt), this is one of the few instances in which the result may very likely have been the same without FA input. The occupants simply had the luxury of time. Before you FAs get together in a lynch mob, I consider you all indispensable, and can think of many cases where FAs made all the difference. The Air France runway overrun in Toronto is a prime example where FAs ensured the survival of hundreds of passengers while under great stress (and in under 90 seconds with some exits closed).