Originally Posted by
Denti
The 1500 hour rule would work even less in the EU than it does in the US. In the US there is at least somewhat of an market segment that allows at least some to get paid while they try to get their 1500 hours. That market segment does not exist in the EU. As you so aptly noticed, the aviation sector is a completely different beast over here than it is in the US. And it has been different for a very long time.
I’m not advocating for the 1500 hour rule but a recent post on Reddit gave me the impression that the rule was a knee jerk reaction to fix a non-existent problem. So whilst it didn’t really work in that regard, what it did do was create a pilot shortage that drove up pay and conditions.
Just to play devil’s advocate, most US pilots get their hours by instructing. If EASA were to implement a similar rule I’m sure the market for FIs would expand and with a glut of instructors perhaps less people would go to the states for their flight training. Probably no good for post Brexit Britain though, our weather doesn’t favour intensive flight training. Nor does government policy in regards to investing in general aviation.