Plovett and Druglord,
We appear to be talking at cross-purposes. I read the topic again and 'The state of aviation' I guess means different things to different people. If you work on the side of aviation which makes revenue and ostensibly profit, such as training schools, private hire etc then any restriction on bringing prospective CPL students with nice bank accounts into the system will be opposed. No argument here, after all those owners have to make a living too.
However I still think that a more rigorous selection process into CPL programs would benefit the industry as a whole due to a better quality of pilot (and not quantity of pilot) filtering through to commercial operations. Hopefully safety and professionalism would be enhanced and wages for new GA pilots would be more reflective of their contribution to the industry.
I am sure the owners wouldn't dream of holding their young pilots to ransom (allegedly occurring in Darwin over the last few months) if there were no sausage factory lining up new fodder for employment. And before you ask, I am not a CPL pilot, only PPL and happy to stay that way. But from my ATC perch I have seen too many prospective CPL's walk away from the industry because the jobs they thought were out there simply don't exist and they spend the next ten years paying off their flying debts with a very bitter taste in their mouths.
Remember I am NOT advocating restricting private flying. The more PPL's the better. But providing a system whereby selection through to CPL (and thereby through to an industry with scarce paid positions) based on merit and not only on an ability to pay must be a fairer and more equitable way to go. What's wrong with providing better job opportunities for CPL's? Obviously flying schools etc won't agree as they have a vested financial interest from pumping CPL's into the market with gay abandon and if the original idea of this topic was to promote ideas to enhance flying schools then clearly my suggestions are ill advised and I apologise for posting.
But if the GA industry includes the pilots as well as the operators then surely we can examine ideas to achieve benefits to both.
"Entry to the professions is not limited by the professions but by the entry score necessary to gain entry to the university"
By the way Plovett, those tertiary entrance scores are governed directly by the professions. They are essentially a barrier to entry. The scores are calculated to provide only the MOST academically predispoed number of year 12 students, through the tertiary system, into those industries with a DEMAND for new entrants. Without tertiary entrance scores year 12 students would be choosing career paths based on desire, glamor factor, earnings potential and interest in the profession alone without any consideration for the requisite academic ability that might be required to succeed in such a career.
Would you advocate allowing all those with the intellectual ability and cash to pay for the tuition into medical school if the jobs for those doctors didn't exist at the other end?? If the mandatory retirement age was suddenly increased by five years I can guarantee tertiary places temporarily drying up. The demand for new employees must exist first no matter how many suitably qualified or cashed up youngsters want to join the industry.
That's why bodies such as QTAC in QLD exist, to screen and funnel academically predisposed individuals into professions that REQUIRE new entrants. The demand for those new entrants MUST first exist. GA has no such screening process.