A Safe Way of Selecting Pilots

Just after the recent German Wings accident the prosecutor was very quick to blame the accident on co-pilot Andreas Lubitz. An aircraft investigation takes time and all elements have to be analysed before being able to figure out the cause.

I have talked quite a bit about pilots in some of my recent articles and the problems they face today.

Are your Pilots Safe?

Airline Pilots under Financial Stress

The Pilot Pays for your Ticket

Lufthansa has been training its own pilots for more than 50 years. The future flight-deck managers spend about two years training to become commercial pilots in Bremen and Phoenix, Arizona.Of the 6,350 candidates who applied to Lufthansa in 2008 and 300 were selected to train for the sought-after career above the clouds. Another 240 places will be available for 2009. The trainee pilots have to handle a wide range of tasks and prove their abilities in the classroom, in the simulator and in the cockpit of training aircraft. A team of 111 teaching staff, including 82 flight instructors, teach the trainees. All the training costs are paid upfront by the airline and the pilot starts paying Lufthansa back once they start flying on the line. This gives Lufthansa the opportunity to really choose the best and puts very little financial pressure on the pilot.

Back in 1998 I had the opportunity to interview Captain Dieter F. Uchtdorf, former Chief Pilot of Lufthansa who had spent 3 years in Arizona running the Flight School for Lufthansa. Captain Uchtdorf really enjoyed working with the young people and would always have 1 to 1 interviews with them to find out more about their lives and counsel them on matters outside aviation. He also advised pilots to get married and be faithful to their spouses, this would give them more psychological stability and help them in their careers as aviators.

Lufthansa is one of the few remaining airlines that pays to train pilots. All other airlines like British Airways, Virgin, US Airways, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific go out there and recruit people either from the military or from smaller airlines.

The media frenzy on the German Wings accident is certainly not putting Lufthansa under a positive light and this is very sad thing for the pilot world.

Most airlines put pilots though a battery of tests before hiring. I remember having numerous interviews with psychologists as well as Chief pilots, followed by a two hour simulator check ride.Some airlines have more thorough section processes than others. However, the best way to recruit good people will always be word of mouth. It costs less money and offers more guarantees of success.

So what will happen next?

A pilot has to have a medical either every 6 or 12 months, depending on age. They then have a simulator test every six months and an annual line-check. You have to pass these tests in order to be able to continue to work and this produces enough stress. The flight simulator is defined as a STD=Synthetic Training Device. Unfortunately, some airlines use it to chop pilots they don’t like instead of using it to build confidence.

I imagine annual psychological assessments will be done on pilots following this accident. This will put even more strain on an already stressful profession.

I must admit when you work for a large airline you end up flying with many different people. I remember the briefing stations in Ryanair Stansted’s base at 6AM in the morning. There you are briefing with your crew and another 40 other crews.

How is it possible to get to know all your colleagues well if you fly with a different person every day?

Will pilots be checking on each other?

Will cockpit conversations be listened to by airline psychologists?

And above all will this actually increase flight safety or make it worse?

I can see all this encouraging a trend of more people using private jets and pilots leaving the airlines to fly for small outfits with 1 or 2 aircraft…

Fabrizio Poli is an Aviation Analyst & Managing Partner of Boutique Aviation Company Tyrus Wings. He is also an accomplished Airline Transport Pilot having flown both private Jets and for the airlines. Fabrizio is also a bestselling author and inspirational speaker. You can tune in weekly to Fabrizio's business Podcast Living Outside the Cube.Fabrizio can be reached on:

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