Originally Posted by
43Inches
What is 1 year to a pilot? A long time if you have the option of going right hand seat in an airline, and grow fat on a decent pay check. As opposed to working your arse off as a junior grade 3 on minimum wage, when you could have gone directly into a senior role and be paid for your experience. We could be talking tens of thousands of dollars in pay difference. That could be the deciding factor on whether the RAAF pilot decides to instruct, do the easy airline route or just retire and enjoy life.
It's not just RAAF pilots who have dilemmas, a civilian pilot could have a dilemma to stay at one airline where they have a command, or go to a larger company with slower progression but higher pay even if it means a demotion. That's just how the system works, so you're not going to get any sympathy for a pilot who's had a long taxpayer funded career and job security deciding he wants to skip the rules that every other pilot has diligently followed. From his biography he's well advanced in his career, having spent many years in the RAAF and teaching in Saudi. I'm sure he won't be homeless if he doesn't become a Grade 1 instructor overnight.
Telling a fresh out of the factory newbie pilot to suck eggs is one thing, telling somebody with decent qualifications and experience to is another, and just means they are less likely to do something that helps the industry.
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Despite what his lawyer thinks the civilian industry doesn't need him. If anything I'd prefer the rules to be altered to get more experienced airline pilots to mentor and teach ab initio students, as most civilian trained pilots will end up flying for airlines not the RAAF.