Fullforward,
Interesting question and I really do not have an answer other than my own thoughts.
As you mentioned, these individuals are not type rated. I would speculate that at this time the majority of DEC's they are screening would either be type rated A330/A340 or NG Airbus rated (ie A320) pilots as we need those bums in the seats pretty quick. A full transition course offered to a candidate takes 3 months (plus 25 sectors of line training on top of that adds an additional 1 1/2 months) and we just don't have that much time (not to mention the additional pressure placed upon the training department resources if they have to run full transition courses on the DEC's). An A330/340 or even A320 new hire can be run on the "short course" and be on the line much quicker than non type rated pilots.
Last edited by Dune; 15th Dec 2003 at 13:21.