Air Force jets collide in mid-air

ap ^ | 06-11-2007 | By JAMES HALPIN

[Constitution1st]

Thank you for your intelligent and thoughtful answers to my query. I appreciate them.

I would like to disagree that the older pilots would be lost in the newer planes; they were very smart and able. If you put them into today's planes, I think they would do a fine job.

[LibKill]

I would like to disagree that the older pilots would be lost in the newer planes; they were very smart and able. If you put them into today's planes, I think they would do a fine job.

My dad was a USMC pilot in the '50s when the Corps was changing from prop to jet planes. They lost a lot of pilots figuring the new technology out.

Not taking anything away from the older pilots, but new tech can be dangerous. At the least they would have to be re-trained extensively.

[Old Student]

“I would like to disagree that the older pilots would be lost in the newer planes; they were very smart and able. If you put them into today’s planes, I think they would do a fine job.”

Some would adapt fine, of course, but I was present when General Welch (CINC-USAF, IIRC) was talking to the Turkish Chief of Staff, who had just completed a check-ride in an F-16, and they were talking about how much more fun the F-100 was...

Given time and the need to adapt, they would, but some will always resist change.