Originally Posted by thecontroller
i am baffled who on earth has the money for a JAA IR? where does it come from?
after spending £40k+ on getting the CPL/FI rating...
This is a problem. If no one paid for the IR, the companies would have to. However, people are paying for the IR.
I guess it's something like this. You've got 200 hours CPL, but couldn't or didn't want to Instruct, and can't afford to build hours any other way. How can you compete with the ex-instructor, ex-mil or spare-time flyer who has a 1000 hours?
Answer, blow a lot (but less than paying for 800 hours) on an IR. You may have to wait 6 months to start but it's quicker than instructing for a year or more to get the hours.
So at the door of the North Sea Three you've got - ex FI, 1000 hours no (JAA) IR, CPL who gained the hours pleasure flying with no (JAA) IR or 230 hour CPL with JAA IR.
230 hour guy costs a type conversion and is ready to go. The others cost a lot more and are a training risk if they fail the IR.
I wonder if there were a "union of student pilots" who basically agreed to stop self funded IRs, if there would still be enough work for the all the CPLs with no IR (assuming they were all to get sponsored IRs of course)?
BG