I too think the old style full sponsorships squewed things a bit too far.
Many airlines had pretty random recruiting practices. Producing a heck of a spectrum of results. I've seen 12 on a course who covered the entire spectrum of both personality and aptitude. One wonders if 12 names weren't plucked out of a hat at times...
A better system, on balance, might be a CTC style cadet one.
Whereby Joe Wannabe has to rock up at CTC with a clutch of good school grades, a well judged haircut and maybe some demonstratable enthusiasm for flying, e.g. a PPL, Air Cadets, Gliding. He then has to convince some professional recruiters (not some line pilots who've been on a 2 day 'course' plus some HR bint) to take him on.
He then enters a highly competitive pool of cadets, who are funding their training through loans arranged by CTC - ones that you couldn't get. The risk is all the cadets and they risk being chopped back into the free market.
The ones who make it now have to compete in a beauty parade before a host of airlines who can pick and choose from a pool of pre-selected and graded cadets.
Said cadets join the airline that liked the cut of their gib on the 6 months fly for expenses deal. Only after that are they taken on.
This system, places more commitment and effort on the shoulders of the cadet, reduces the risk to the airline, professionalizes the selection and evaluation process and levels the playing field somewhat from being good at 3 days of selection to being good throughout 18 months of training.
I think this is already the way things are headed, wish I'd thought of it before CTC. Be a lot richer than being a pilot.
Cheers
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