Which rating is most difficult to get, and why?

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iflyforpie
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Re: Which rating is most difficult to get, and why?

Post by iflyforpie »

Panama Jack wrote: I did have a chance a couple of years ago to ink "B732" onto my licence. Just a nice, souped-up Cessna 172 with two rockets under the wings. I love low-tech.
:lol:

The son of a friend of mine was working for SkyService on the A330 before they went TU. Got on with WestJet and he had to get used to the 'ancient technology' they had on the NG.

My favourite large aircraft was the 727. It was even simpler than the 732 and just seeing what those Boeing engineers came up with in the 1950s without even any computers to design it is just amazing.

The Lockheed L1011 though was as good of a case as any for going digital. What an unbelievably complex plane.
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oldtimer
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Re: Which rating is most difficult to get, and why?

Post by oldtimer »

What I found the hardest to learn were the shower controls in a layover hotel.
Biggest challenge was to convince the females to show me their tits.
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These feelings just don't involve anyone else.
seafeye
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Re: Which rating is most difficult to get, and why?

Post by seafeye »

Float rating wasn't that difficult for me. The instructor was great and flying on the west coast is fantastic. Just a great flying experience. My CFI was a test in patience. Learning what the feds want you to learn. That was tough.
My first airline flying a turbo prop the ground school was really hard. The instructor was this woman who was pregnant and hated when people asked questions. Expecially the ones that she didn't know the answers to. The quality of the ground school was very poor. Then my sim instructor was furloughed from another airline and altough a nice guy just didn't care to be there. Switched to another airline and the CRJ training program was great. Well structured, the instructors were happy to answer questions and the stress level went way way down. Not a very complicated airplane but that is only 20% of the airline experience.
I believe the hardest rating is the one where you have limited resources. Or the instruction is poor. Students need direction and need to know what is going to be expected. You can't just give someone 10 books and say in 2 weeks you are going to be tested on them. The results will be dissapointing.
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Nark
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Re: Which rating is most difficult to get, and why?

Post by Nark »

seafeye wrote: I believe the hardest rating is the one where you have limited resources. Or the instruction is poor. Students need direction and need to know what is going to be expected. You can't just give someone 10 books and say in 2 weeks you are going to be tested on them. The results will be dissapointing.
That is exactly what happened to America Airlines, and the bridge from Eagle. They're having nightmares getting the Eagle guys up to speed on the super 80.
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