Better pilot River, or Wash?

POSTED BY: OPPYH
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 28, 2011 12:23
VIEWED: 5965
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OPPYH

Thursday, September 22, 2011 6:22 AM

See, River could be intuitive and probably learn to fly the ship blindfolded bein Psychic and all, but Wash was just one of the greatest star pilots of all time.
There was a way about his skills that makes me say he is the better of the two.

What do yall think on it?

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70's TV FOREVER

LWAVES

Thursday, September 22, 2011 9:29 AM

This is one of those impossible questions to answer with anything other than personal opinion because we never saw enough of River's flying to make a fair comparison. All we saw was her taking off and heading into the black. No chase, no fancy moves or anything particularly outstanding.
But (just to go along with it) River is physic so she would be predicting and seeing things before they happened. Wash would have to pick up on them as they were happening so that once River had gotten familiar with how Serenity handled and exactly what the ship could do I would say that she would be the better pilot. Wash's skills would have put him pretty close to her though.
I'd even go as far as saying that if she'd been flying when the Reavers fired their EMP at Serenity in the movie that it would have been avoided because River would have seen it coming and taken action. What would have happened after that is anyones guess.

"The greatest invention ever is not the wheel. It's the second wheel." - Rich Hall

M52NICKERSON

Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:44 AM

I think it depends if River is a full blown physic, as in see future events, or she if she can mearly read people's thoughts.

I do not fear God, I fear the ignorance of man.

SISTER

Thursday, September 22, 2011 12:55 PM

Yeah; I agree. We just didn't get enough time to see how River does; Wash was just the best. Not to say River couldn't be better; we just don't know.
Makes me sad.

GWEK

Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by OPPYH:
See, River could be intuitive and probably learn to fly the ship blindfolded bein Psychic and all, but Wash was just one of the greatest star pilots of all time.
There was a way about his skills that makes me say he is the better of the two.

What do yall think on it?

----------------------------------------------------------------

70's TV FOREVER

Alternately, River, being psychic and still more than a little crazy, could crash Serenity into the first large obstacle she finds, laughing all the way.

I have always held that, despite the neat ending of the movie, Mal would be INSANE to put his ship in River's hands.

Let's be honest, just because she threw up a little on Miranda, the physical damage to her brain wasn't fixed. Sjhe may still be a little better, she may be in a better frame of mind, but still, ultimately, a major nutjob.

Do you want a person who can't necessarily tell the difference between a gun and a stick driving the ship? Yeah, me neither!

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

BYTEMITE

Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:37 PM

River could learn the mechanics and know the tricks, plus she'll have crazy innate figuring for the math and physics, but she won't have the muscle memory.

Also, that's pretty much how the RPG ranks them. River supposedly about matches Inara's piloting skills there, and Inara is about "half" as good at piloting as Wash.

If River and Inara ever tried a pilot and co-pilot configuration, they might be able to make up some of the difference.

BYTEMITE

Thursday, September 22, 2011 1:42 PM

Quote:
I'd even go as far as saying that if she'd been flying when the Reavers fired their EMP at Serenity in the movie that it would have been avoided because River would have seen it coming and taken action.

I doubt it, because she saw it coming even before the Reavers were after them. Guessing when the short story Crystal took place, River knew how Wash was going to die just after Ariel. She still didn't stop it.

So, it seems to me like River's psychic abilities may be the fatalistic self-fulfilling prophecy kind.

THESOMNAMBULIST

Thursday, September 22, 2011 2:02 PM

I'm going with Wash on this. Instinct over mathematics as it were.

River I'm sure would see things but in trying to avoid that which has yet to happen she could end up in further trouble...

Wash has that flyboy instinct that you can't quantify. It cannot be bottled, taught, or passed on. It's about feelings. For the sake of this argument I'd have to support that idea.

I suppose to give it some earthly perspective, It's a little like Ayrton Senna vs Michael Schumacher. Schumi was all about the telemetary, about being able to analyse the data and translate those figures to extract the best from the car; where as Senna was all about the feeling, about the senses being in tune with the vehicle, in such a way that the infinitesimally small became the Grand whole.

OPPYH

Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:28 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by THESOMNAMBULIST:
I'm going with Wash on this. Instinct over mathematics as it were.

Thank you. That is the answer I was leaning toward.

Remember people, of course this is speculative. Just form an opinion. We are not talking life, and death hard facts here. We are discussing a sci-fi tv show with imaginary characters. Lighten up.

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70's TV FOREVER

RIONAEIRE

Thursday, September 22, 2011 5:34 PM

Wash is better to be sure. He's been doing it for a long time, plus he has that love and passion, that flyboy instinct as someone else said, he was made for flying. River on lucid days is probably going to be a good pilot, but we still need to keep a good eye on her, check on her frequently to make sure that lucidity is sticking during her time on the bridge. I think River is a fine pilot when lucid, once she's had practice, but its good for Mal or someone else to fly when she isn't lucid as Gwek pointed out, though I fancy my way of saying it better. The revelation of a secret that you didn't know you had isn't going to fix a brain that has been cut into and rearranged. I do think that the revelation of Miranda and the Reaver fight has helped River understand what she can do and I think her nightmare load would decrease a bit, but she wouldn't be stable based on that one event and she definitely wouldn't be "cured". But like I said when she's lucid enough its good for her to fly Serenity, she enjoys it and so its good. But we always need a backup pilot for when she can't do it today.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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