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      07-11-2015, 10:36 PM   #310
tony20009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by B-1Pilot View Post
Not to derail, but your example is way off.

Here's a more realistic comparison... A Cessna is like a pedal car your kid operates in your driveway. A 747 is like a double trailer semi on the autobahn. Just because the autobahns nice concrete roads with people who ostensibly know how to operate there, doesn't mean you would put your kid in a pedal car out there with that semi. That giant semi has its own challenges, not so much because of its own size, but because of the scale that all the others out on the road have imposed.

Oh by the way... add Kabul or Kandahar Afghanistan to your "hard" list for 747s... seeing them come in there is some sketchy shit.
Off Topic:
Truly I think your comparison is far less realistic for it doesn't at all speak the fact that the range of skills needed to operate any of those crafts are vastly different. The truth is that I think that if I found myself flying in a small jet, I'd sooner have a pilot who's got lots of experience flying small jets than have a pilot who's got lots of experience flying big jets. Similarly, I'd feel safer in a small prop plane with a pilot who mostly flies prop planes under similar environmental and airport circumstances rather than jets under any circumstances.

I don't really think it's all that accurate to think or claim one type of pilot is better than the other because the skills needed vary quite widely, particularly at the extremes of aviation where the differences in skills will matter most.

I cited the "Mt. Everest" airport because it's the only one I know of for which there is no "do over" option for misjudged landing approaches. The pilot, once he commits to being on approach, has no place to turn around and try again and there is literally a mountain at the end of the 1600 foot runway, that is, the runway's pavement stops and and just feet later the mountain stands and at that point on the mountain, it's wider than the runway -- hell, it's wider than the whole town -- and goes basically straight up hundreds of feet.



And that's what you see on takeoff, never mind that there's a 2000 foot drop at the end of the runway when you take off. The next photo shows what you see at the other end of the runway upon landing.




Now, as I said, the skillsets differ, but find me a 747 pilot that has fly his 747 into conditions comparable (given the size of the planes) to those at Lukla. I know San Diego, St. Maarten, or even Gibraltar are no cake walk, but I don't think they are even remotely close.

All the best.
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Cheers,
Tony

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