Originally Posted by
LuvAirFrance
One of the "biggest issues" is that if you make piloting a job of emergency judgment, the judgment won't be what it was if it is dumped on the pilot as the plane is failing. You know, in some of these later disasters, the pilots were not tenderfoots. They were extremely skilled. The worst accident anywhere involved a pilot who taught other pilots. No one will ever really know why he took off into a space where he couldn't see there was a plane on the runway in his path. When the top guy fails, then what's the answer? Can people really say "He shouldn't be piloting a plane"?
These are very well considered observations. The PIC of the KLM 747 in Tenerife was very well qualified. He was the chief pilot of KLM at the time. The constant questions are ones that ariose at the worst times. Then, every human being needs all the help that can be obtained. To assume that pilots will rise to overcome incredible odds is to perpetuate the "heroic myth". We should n ot need pilots to be heros, just competent ordinary human beings. Anybody who thinks pilots should never make mistakes should also take great care to avoid surgery.