Airwork: Punching a Time Clock

Tom Benenson

Wednesday, December 08, 2010 at 11:07 PM ET

Verified

Logging hours towing banners doesn't
guarantee competency in an airline cockpit.

Key Takeaways:

Prompted by the 2009 Colgan Air crash, a 2010 law mandates a 1,500-hour Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate for all airline pilots, despite the crash being attributed to poor training and discipline rather than insufficient hours.
Critics argue this hour-based mandate is flawed, as accumulating 1,500 hours, often in less demanding instructional roles, does not guarantee the specific competencies or multi-crew experience required for safe airline operations.
Instead of raw flight hours, true aviation safety demands an emphasis on rigorous, competency-based training, professional behaviors, and comprehensive assessment by the FAA and air carriers.

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There are jobs in which you’re required to punch a time clock, and there are jobs in which your value is not measured in how long you do something but rather in what it is you do.

So what does this have to do with aviation? Congress, in its questionable wisdom, has passed a law that, in effect, determines a pilot’s competency by the number of hours he or she “sits” at his or her “desk” and not by what he or she does while “sitting.”