In the world of flying training the aim is to get the student to be able to pass the licence test and then move on. It is unfortunate to record that often the candidate does not receive the knowledge that is needed to be a real prospect to be employable as a first commercial job candidate.
Such things as looking after the aircraft, topping up the oil, tying the aircraft down, having flown into dirt strips, having remote area experience, using a paper chart instead of a panel mounted GPS map, doing overnight trips. Having flown aircraft with round dials, have flown aircraft of the type a prospective employer may be using, (not only having experience on glass) The list goes on. Too many students are told that fly with us in our brand new composite aircraft with its glass panel and you will be easily snapped up for an airline job. Oh, and the Government will pay for your training!
Absolute Bull!
What an employer wants is a pilot who has big Cessna or Piper or GA8 experience. Can fly on a paper chart, has more flight hours than the bare minimum from a Part 142 ticket, knows how to fend for themself in the outback. Again the list goes on. All Part 142 school does is create a pilot who may have a new CPL licence but are effectively unemployable.
A lot of this can be put down to the level of instruction that the student received. What experience did the instructor have? How much of the above. In recent times I have seen new CPL pilots who cannot write up the MR and the flight record, cannot keep the oil level at the stated amount, do not report minor snags, do not turn up on time, have a log book that looks like a kindergarten crayon book, look like anything but a CPL on the way to a job. Turn up with facial hair, an arm full of tatts, a crumpled shirt, and are going to fly a load of pax who are paying on the north side of $400 an hour and who wonder if they will get home alive.
Get real!
In recent times, post Covid in particular, the level of experience of instructors on average has gone downhill. Experience is the stuff that a competent instructor has to pass on to the candidate. Passing on skills that will get a CPL candidate that first job.
If one is planning that big drive north join the convey with other budding first flying job pilots. Sure there are job adverts to be seen in the media and online but all ask for experience. Put another way there are too many new CPL pilots being trained who are competing for fewer first time jobs.
This is where the recent trend of doing a GA Ready Course has come into play. Doing such a course may not get you that first job overnight but it will bring you into the real world of commercial flying. Maybe the flying school should have an off shoot that runs a GA Ready Course as a tack on after the candidate gets a CPL.
Food for thought.
R