Quote:
Originally Posted by ASAP
Last question in jest or jets- 737 or A320?  |
Flown 'em both, like 'em both.
Put it this way: I drive a 737, and every car I've owned has had a MT with the fewest bells and whistles I could get-- in other words, minimal automation.
My best friend? Is a left-seater on the 320 and he drives (and raves and RAVES about) a Tesla.
Neither of us would trade seats.
That pretty much sums it up. The 737 is one of the last aircraft that you really can "fly"-- the automation is... ok, fairly basic, and will (mostly) do what you want it to do, but you have to keep an eye on it. But at the end of the day, you're working pretty hard to get the jet to do what you want-- at least compared to the newer jets (i.e. pretty much anything else out there with wings). Yes, that Max9 that you're driving might have rolled off the assembly line a month ago, but at its heart, it's still the flower of mid-1960's technology. Basically? It's the golden retriever of the airline world-- it's got a good heart, but is dumb as a post.
The Bus? Great airplane-- and specifically designed for "Third-World" markets in that it does a pretty good job taking the pilot out of the equation-- the joke's always been that you're a "non-voting member of the board". That's not a bad thing. It's a LOT more comfortable from a pilot (and passenger) perspective but I always found it to feel a little... disconnected. Sort of like you're playing a video game instead of pushing a jet through the sky.
Our Senior Manager of Training had a pretty good quote at the last Standards Meeting-- "Do you want to *fly* the jet, or do you want to go for an airplane ride?"
I thought he had a good point. Guys love or hate either. There are pro's and con's to each. I'll easily admit that I work FAR harder moving the jet than my Bus Bud, but I also like the fact that if things go to hell, I can kill *ALL* of the magic and hand fly the jet with no computers in the way. To me, there's value in that. I don't want a computer to say "No, I don't think you should do that", even if I'm seconds from putting it in the dirt and trying to pull off a "Hail Mary".
R.