On the good pilot and not-so-good pilot...

I don't drink in the past. Most alcohol smell like gasoline to me, and never appeals to me. This is one part of the Western culture in general (and binge drinking) that I never really get. The only alcoholic beverage that I consume is beer. Light cold beer in a hot day or barbecue can be a delight.

My husband grows up in such Western culture, and he drinks. It's thankful that he doesn't indulge in it. He consumes relatively small quantity, and he enjoys good ones.

One of the things that he has introduced me to, is the concept of tasting. At various points in time, we sample-taste different kinds of things, including boutique beers, vintage ports (it's heavenly with blue cheese), apples (I grew up knowing only Washington applies - the delicious reds - that taste good, but I've come to realize it actually tastes quite bland), seafood and fish, alcohol (whisky in particular) etc. Amazingly, he even convinces to try a sip of whisky. I can't say I enjoy strong alcohol like whisky, cognac, vodka and the like. But I now realize what is smooth, and not so smooth.

What does that have to do with good pilots and the not-so-good pilots? It does, because much as in tasting, we would come to distinguish the good ones from the bad by juxaposition. Putting them side by side, sample them, and the result can hit you right in the head. The effect can be so powerful that you simply cannot ignore it.

Why do I say that? Normally aircraft accidents don't happen that often, miracles even more rare. Although news and FAA reports always reveal the true nature of the accidents, because these incidents happen so infrequently that we normally treat them as isolated incidents. We read them, and we move on.

That's not the case recently, when we have the Miracle on the Hudson, witht the hero pilot staying laser-sharp focus, keeping his cool, saving the whole plane and everyone on it, by landing the plane on The Hudson due to total engine failure. You can't get cooler than that.

And then, we have a subpar pilot, and an inexperienced co-pilot, who didn't even realize the deep sh*t they're in, engaged in idle small talk, thereby bringing down the plane and burying everyone on it, including themselves.

I look at it like we were sampling apples. You take a bite of Red Delicious, then a bite of Fuji, then a bite of McIntosh, and you'll immediately realize the differences in their tastes. Without doing that, most people can't tell or won't remember the tastes. The same is true with these two pilots.

How the company could allow such a mediocre staffer with subpar standard to become captain and pilot of a plane, is quite beyond me. Perhaps there's the issue of salary difference. But does anyone know if these two pilots might have been paid in a widely different scale? I have my doubts. The only reasonable guess that I can put forth is that, the company (and people in general) cut this subpar pilot slack, enough slack over a period of time, in fact, to allow him to slip in through the door, to eventually become a pilot. I'd imagine, that doomed co-pilot could have made it in the same way this doomed pilot had made it in. Scary, isn't it.

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I remember I used to date a guy in college. We're both in college, and he's good at computer science. He was accepted by medical schools, but he decided to do computer science. Granted that he likes both fields, both his reasoning for choosing computer science is quite simple: If he makes mistakes in computer science and doesn't catch a bug, the worst that could happen is, his program fails the testcase. But he can always debug again, and re-run the tests. In the medical field, there's no such luxury, and he doesn't want to deal with life-and-death.

Back then, I thought to myself, that's a rather lame reason for picking computer science over med school. Perhaps there's some wisdom behind it. Naturally, if he truly loves the profession, he could have strived to be error-free and excel in it. But he's not the aggressive type. So, he eventually becomes just another programmer.

Perhaps those two pilots in the doomed Flight 3407 should have realized their own limitations, rather than letting money and vanity take precedence, and pursued other professions that do not involve life-and-death decisions. Perhaps then, they wouldn't be bringing the doom to themselves and all those poor souls on that plane.

Maybe they couldn't help themselves in the career choice. Perhaps I shouldn't sound too harsh in judging them, now that they're all dead. But I can't help it in laying the blame squarely on their slack and sloppiness, when so many people (and surely all those who fly on their planes) place their lives in their hands.

It makes me wonder how many other subpar (co)pilots are out there. Can anyone tell me??