Originally Posted by
Kenny
Talked to a mate of mine, who’s been doing interviews for the past few years. We discussed the decrease in experience that my Chicago based legacy is seeing amongst interview candidates and his comment was a surprise…..”We’re going to have to start looking at Aussies, Kiwis, Brits and Euros, if we want to maintain the experience level”.
Kenny,
Your friend's comment is very interesting...especially since he's doing interviews. His comment that "...if we want to maintain the experience level." is a critical qualifier.
I can't forecast anything with certainty but will venture a guess that the legacies will accept lower experience levels vs the wildcard of pilots hired on renewable visas that are subject to political whims...and may be cancelled when it suits some political harlots. There may be some comforting certainty in being able to bring along lower-time pilots vs risking training cost and line utilization in accepting some 2K hour regional ATPs in lieu of visa holders ?
Your employer hired people with minimal hours in the 1960s and they worked out very well long term. True enough, they sat on the F/E seat and watched for a couple of years but that form of learning has limited utility. And today, there are learning avenues that may equal or exceed that (simulators, etc.). Eventually, there's no substitute for grabbing the bull by the horns and flying it. And people have done that successfully with limited total time but under controlled circumstances.
This is really fun to watch.