Dear Editor – A million dollar question that we have been asking ourselves of late is “Are local pilots really inferior and incompetent compared to foreign pilots?”
The above question begs an answer from the responsible bureaucrats currently posing as our administrators who are milking us dry at the top of the food chain.
As the domestic flight crew gradually becomes localised the privileges which were once mandatory back in the day when domestic flight crew was predominantly white are intentionally being thrown out the window.
Take housing for instance, the pilot compound at Tandai is now out of reach to junior captains and first officers.
The units in the compound can now be assigned to any paper pushers whom the administrative tyrants think fit.
Transportation privileges are now non-existent; it is on level grounds with any airline employees.
This is a far cry from saying pilots are any better than other airline employees but our duty time and flight time is highly regulated and subjected to the aviation air law to ensure peak pilot performance.
The duty time and flight time are not just records to be cooked up for accreditation and perusal of auditors.
They are there to ensure the safety and security of the airline industry.
Pilots and engineers on that matter are responsible for a multimillion dollar worth money making machine and the lives of every (P.O.B) passengers on board.
Local pilots’ progression to the elusive airbus is yet but another dream to materialise probably in this generation or the next.
So many walls have been erected to hinder our progression that it seems like we are slaving two steps forward and being violently and brutally oppressed 10 steps back by the administration with all the endless resources they have at their disposal.
But like the biblical great wall of Jericho they will come tumbling down with the might and wrath of our burning ambition.
To all our local pilots hustling and grinding this grave injustice remember that
“Smooth Skies Never Made a Skillful Aviator.”
Joseph Teingoa
Honiara
