walker.alex•19d agoProlific Poster

Rant: Overheard a pilot in Denver say all our gear is just 'expensive toys'

I was grabbing coffee at the FBO in Denver last week and this captain was telling his FO that our test sets and analyzers are just overpriced gadgets. He said, 'You guys just plug in boxes and follow the lights.' It really got me thinking about how little some crews understand the actual system knowledge and troubleshooting we do. What's the most clueless thing you've heard someone say about our job?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher_hunt18d ago

Heard that same talk for years and honestly, he's got a point. We do follow the lights on the box a lot of the time, that's what the book tells us to do. The real skill is knowing what to do when the lights say something weird, but that's maybe 5% of the job. Most of the time it is just plugging in the expensive toy and reading the result.

claire99918d ago

Wait, only 5%? That seems crazy low...