Green Hornet wrote:RobBurson wrote:To kinds of pilots. Those who have bent one and those who are going to bend one.
I do believe Mr. Roush may be wise to hire a good pilot. The one he was using seems to be ah, um, how do you say it nicely..............lacking the needed skills.
It's not like he was at Mile Hi or Dewey Moore
Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe it is required to have two pilots on a jet?
You're wrong....
Lots of relatively small jets out there that are single pilot certified. Single pilot certification is required of BOTH the aircraft and the pilot, however.
All Turbojet powered aircraft require a type rating, but a type rating does not dictate that two pilots fly the airplane, nor does a maximum takeoff weight of greater than 12,500 pounds. Greater than 12,500 requires a type rating as well, but again, does not dictate two pilots. There are airplanes out there approved for single pilot ops that weigh over 12,500.
Gump, you are precisely correct, and that is my point. While many Alaska operations are operated under VFR rules, they are in fact operated in a sort of never-never land, and depend heavily on the pilot's skills and decision making. By comparison, actual IFR flying in Alaska is a lot more "civilized". Certainly there are a few sort of unusual features of IFR flight in Alaska, but most of those have to do with the transition to VFR, as in flying an approach to FYU, then scud running to Chalkyitsik, for example. Not done a whole lot in the Lower 48, but only because so many airports here have approaches. More and more airports now have GPS approaches as well, so much of that type stuff will go away as well.
VFR flying leaves the vast majority of decisions up to the pilot, often without a lot of help from the "system". IFR flight is much more regimented, and fewer of the decisions are left to the pilot, though pilots often depart from procedures and get themselves into deep kim chee. My point is that the argument that general aviation doesn't do a very good job of managing safety as compared to the airlines is somewhat of a specious argument.
MTV










