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Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

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191–200 of 358 posts

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#191

I don't think most people appreciate the level of regulation that ensures safety and quality of life in Western countries. Go to many countries outside of that spectrum and you may still see beautiful architecture and more. Now did the team that worked on that project have the necessary experience to drive a safe and long lasting solution? Does the concrete and steel used follow good standards? This means that it may…

>Go to many countries outside of that spectrum and you may still see beautiful architecture and more. Now did the team that worked on that project have the necessary experience to drive a safe and long lasting solution? Does the concrete and steel used follow good standards? This means that it may not have critical structural problems today, but in 5 to 10 years, you may have to reconsider your infrastructure. By doi…

If the contractor illegally adulterates the concrete mix to save money because they're politically connected and know they can get away with that, it hardly matters how good the building design was.

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason I didn't use an absolute in my initial comment is because I can definitively see situations where someone qualified but not licensed would wind up in the co-pilots seat because one of the pilots scheduled to make a flight couldn't and cooking the books was seen as a lesser problem than the flight not happening. You have to remember that in rural areas "but that's illegal" doesn't really carry much weight.…

Who exactly would be "qualified but not licensed" at a commercial airline? Your scenario is beyond absurd.

>Who exactly would be "qualified but not licensed" at a commercial airline?

The mechanic.

Maintaining a commercial license takes money and hoop jumping (not that a private license doesn't but commercial takes more). Small commercial airlines (like what you find in Alaska) are littered with people who let their licenses lapse (or were medically disqualified) or never pursued a commercial rating but are rated to fly that type privately. They're working in roles other than pilots. It's not a stretch to see how someone who usually turns wrenches or haggles on the phone for their paycheck might be willing to be the co-pilot on a flight and cook the books for a buddy.

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#193

I don't think most people appreciate the level of regulation that ensures safety and quality of life in Western countries. Go to many countries outside of that spectrum and you may still see beautiful architecture and more. Now did the team that worked on that project have the necessary experience to drive a safe and long lasting solution? Does the concrete and steel used follow good standards? This means that it may…

My folks witnessed a death as an adhoc concrete structure was pulled from a pier onto a person below. I guess noone anticipated someone would use the structure as a boat tie off point. By happenstance the person crushed was the person who put up the structure some decade or more back. I don't know if its callous but I only remarked that kind of structure would almost certainly be illegal in the US.

A sad inadvertent application of Hammurabi's Code.

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#194

I heard this anecdote in India, and I'm not sure if it is apocryphal. There was a small airline flying turboprops to service a Himalayan region. Someone asked whether it was safe to fly these planes and the response was as hilarious as it was scary: "Yes, sir. It is very safe. They used to have 11 planes, 10 of them crashed and now they are really really careful with the one left" :)

Reminds me of a story I was told while learning how to design experiments and a/b tests. In World War 2, some company was experimenting with the kind of material to use for combat aircraft wings. When they did their initial trials, they saw that the planes coated with the new material came back with more bullet holes. Off hand, that would seem like a reason to dismiss the new material. But, digging into the data, the…

That seems to just be about picking the correct success criteria. It seems here the key success criteria should be which version of the plane makes it back most often. Which plane has more bullet holes is clearly secondary to that.

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#195

I heard this anecdote in India, and I'm not sure if it is apocryphal. There was a small airline flying turboprops to service a Himalayan region. Someone asked whether it was safe to fly these planes and the response was as hilarious as it was scary: "Yes, sir. It is very safe. They used to have 11 planes, 10 of them crashed and now they are really really careful with the one left" :)

Reminds me of this anecdote from Guatemala. They are boarding the plane and the women notices that the pilot is very young. She asks, "Are you sure you're old enough to be flying this plane?" He replies: "Don't worry ma'am, I come from a long line of pilots. My grandfather was a pilot and my father was a pilot too."

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The USSS has minigun-equipped SUVs, for example; you wouldn't necessarily know they're there until the six barrel gun pops out of the sunroof and opens fire. So that scene with Nick Fury in Winter Soldier isn't far removed from reality?

Correct. There's very 90s video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIu4wVBfT30

Not sure if you intended to link to some QAnon propaganda account, but there are other sources of that same info.

Here's a video showing the vehicle in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j0eJ0xB7LU

Vendor's product page:

https://dillonaero.com/product/convoy-escort-vehicle-cev-2/

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#197
post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you want to give them more money even if you know that money is systematically misused? Pakistan will become a vessel state of China, its totally inevitable. Pakistan is 1000x more valuable to China then it could ever by for the US. The US should stop the idiotic believe that Pakistan is an ally. They simply are not, and have not been for a long time. It is well known that the support the Taliban. It is well known…

> The US should stop the idiotic believe that Pakistan is an ally. Do they actually believe it, or do they just pay lip service to that idea for realpolitik reasons? The US has repeatedly accused China of assisting Pakistan with their nuclear weapons program. It's hard for any of us to say what the truth is in that matter, but either way I don't think the potential relationship between Pakistan and China has been ign…

I don't know about the nuclear weapons program.

But I defiantly believe they are a bad ally. I don't know what exactly they have done to get such a high status as an ally in the US. I think it never made sense really and the US has not benefit from the alliance.

I know some of the history of how it came about but even if you read those, the strategic calculus behind it was flawed.

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#198

I heard this anecdote in India, and I'm not sure if it is apocryphal. There was a small airline flying turboprops to service a Himalayan region. Someone asked whether it was safe to fly these planes and the response was as hilarious as it was scary: "Yes, sir. It is very safe. They used to have 11 planes, 10 of them crashed and now they are really really careful with the one left" :)

Reminds me of this anecdote from Guatemala. They are boarding the plane and the women notices that the pilot is very young. She asks, "Are you sure you're old enough to be flying this plane?" He replies: "Don't worry ma'am, I come from a long line of pilots. My grandfather was a pilot and my father was a pilot too."

Took a while :)

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#199

Older article, but apparently Pakistan carts its nuclear weapons around in regular delivery vans: https://www.wired.com/2011/11/pakistan-nukes-delivery-vans/ I personally think this is a bad idea.

There may be substantial non-visible security assets nearby. The USSS has minigun-equipped SUVs, for example; you wouldn't necessarily know they're there until the six barrel gun pops out of the sunroof and opens fire. There's something to be said for subtlety. The US President travels around in a giant motorcade; the UK PM travels in an unmarked Jag with a couple motorcycle escorts.

Meanwhile the Finnish President heads outside for a beer after the massive Trump and Putin motorcades have driven off (shutting down half the city in the process).

https://www.hs.fi/politiikka/art-2000005762136.html

Re: Almost 1 in 3 pilots in Pakistan have fake licenses, aviation minister says

#200
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of a story I was told while learning how to design experiments and a/b tests. In World War 2, some company was experimenting with the kind of material to use for combat aircraft wings. When they did their initial trials, they saw that the planes coated with the new material came back with more bullet holes. Off hand, that would seem like a reason to dismiss the new material. But, digging into the data, the…

I think that account gets it a bit wrong. Here's what Wikipedia has: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias#In_the_milit... > During World War II, the statistician Abraham Wald took survivorship bias into his calculations when considering how to minimize bomber losses to enemy fire.[10] The Statistical Research Group (SRG) at Columbia University, which Wald was a part of, examined the damage done to aircraft…

That's coincidental; according to Wikipedia, Wald and his wife perished in a plane crash in India.
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