MadDogDriver has actually raised two issues which are, to my mind, completely separate:
Paying for a type rating - although I agree in principal with the idea that airlines should pay for a type rating, I can also see why the current situation has arisen. Simple market forces dictate that if someone has the money to do something which they think will give them an advantage, they will do that, and the market will accomodate it. They then raise employers' expectations, until what started off as something which one or two rich people might do becomes something which everyone is supposed to do.
Then there's the completely separate issue of:
Hiring people with experience. Sorry MadDogDriver, but with respect you're talking complete crap on this one! Put yourself in an employers' shoes - you have a choice between hirnig two people, one with 250 hours on light piston engined aircraft, and one with 1500 hours, of which 500 are on the type you want him to fly. Which one do you hire? It's a no-brainer. There are no laws against it, and the reason there are no laws against it is because it's common sense. It happens in every industry - I have done a reasonable amount of CV screening in the IT industry, and if I want someone with a bit of experience then the CV of anyone who's straight out of university goes into the bin immediately.
There are three reasons why employers will hire people with no experience. The first is that there are no experienced people on the market. This is clearly not the case in aviation at the moment, and probably won't be for quite some time. But logic dictates that if no one ever hires brand new pilots then old pilots will retire or loose their medicals, and eventually the supply of experienced pilots will dry up. The next reason for hiring brand new pilots is because they are cheaper, something which is particularly important to low-cost operators. And the third is because there is no immediate chance of promotion to the left-hand seat, so experienced pilots won't be interested in the job. Those three reasons exist in every industry.
FFF
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