There is a perceived problem for EZY F/Os that the promotion system can come down to the whim of the Base Captain who initially puts the yea or nay on whether a guy goes forward for Command Assessment or not.
I do KNOW that as far as the trainers go, suitable candidates are fairly and carefully assesed without bias - I suppose as far as this happens in any Company.
There can be a problem that some candidates assume that because they have the requisite factored hours that they will automatically get a command, and I'm sure you would all agree that this is not necessarily so.
To have a candidate fail a Command course can not only hurt the Company's forward planning, not enough Captains, but more importantly, damge the confidence of the candidate himself.
I have had the example of failing a guy on his final Command check, failing a guy on his Command assessment, and seeing a guy that I felt was of some training risk pass his Command Course succesfully, which was of great gratification to myself and other trainers, all within theclast year.
The problem is increasingly becoming one of experience level, and no-one gets a god given right to a left hand seat, and of course, I hope no one thinks they should.