OnceBitten, something along those lines was indeed said. Sadly this is the attitude that pervades Airline Management, even he Chief Pilot (sitting on their side) said that experience is overrated as everyone including cadets completes their checks to the same standard. We said that ‘an interesting comment from a pilot who has done so well out of an industry that has paid him for his ‘experience’’. I truely believe this is the problem, to ‘attract’ the experienced pilots home to Australia and NZ you would have to put better contracts on the table, I don’t think that Airline Management see the value in doing that, they have a theory that they can set up their own academy to ensure a flow of cheap pilots who are of the same standard and as a stop gap if they can just get visa’s for pilots from other parts of the world where living standards are not great then the Aussie dream will attract them as opposed to better contracts.