You know what, I work for Jetsgo, paid my 30K and let me tell you that it was never my plan to pay to get to exercise the pilot's profession. Also, as some have stated above, I am neither a prostitute nor a spoiled kid with rich parents, and I think that after having succesfully completed training in the military and spent 10 years in the Air Force I think I have earned some valuable experience as a pilot and under more normal conditions it is fair to say I could probably have , like a lot of my military friends, landed a job at Air Canada. It was the logical and realistic choice after a career in the Air Force (aka "Air Canada training plan"). But the fact and the matter is one september morning a few years back a couple of guys decided to ram airplanes into buildings and the whole picture changed. If that had not happened chances are I wouldn't be here writing this post.
However, with a family to look after, with a spouse that has a permanent (and non-transferable employment) in Quebec, the only viable option to me one year and a half ago (short of going back in the military) was Jetsgo, 'cause you know I tried everywhere else and somehow I could just not justified to my family going up north flying a twin because that was probaby the only job I could have found post 911, if that.
I would appreciate if the guys on this forum could widen their way of seeing this and not put everybody in the same boat. Have a bigger picture is what I'm trying to say. Sometimes you don't have many choices; it was my case. I am still bitter about it today because my professional pride took a hit the day I gave the money; I've been dedicating myself to aviation for 15 years now and always worked hard at maintaining a high standard; I never thought it would come to this.
I somehow try to see the positive sides of things, as little as they sometimes are. For example, many jobs out there today require a type rating that guys willingly pay, and that costs sometimes up to $30 000. Do you call these guys prostitutes-with-no-pride? Are they destroying our profession? I also was lucky enough to get it the left seat of a 160 pax jet after 6 months as an FO. Not many companies can offer that. 6 months from now I will have all my money back, with interest and roughly 2000 hrs of jet time (from which 1300 or so will be PIC) I didn't have leaving the Air Force (apparently one of the most important thing in an airline pilot resume as I understand since I started my civie- ilot life) So I totally disagree with the person who said an MD83 or Fokker rating is useless. It might not be as sought after as a 737 or Airbus, but certainly not useless. Again, an observation lacking perspective.
Don't think I'm saying Jetsgo is great; it has a long way to go before it can compare to, say, Wesjet. We are below industry average for pay and work conditions for example, but currently are negociating and seeing some improvement. What I'm saying is I will suffer from depression if I don't try and force myself to look at the bright side of things right now.
The pilot profession is in a sad state nowadays, and I somehow just cannot accept that Jetsgo pilots wear this burden of responsibility by having paid 30K. The pilot group did it to itself well before our days. The CEO of Jetsgo in the Royal days for example had guys freshly trained on the A310 leave for Air Canada. Do you think he feels bad today about making pilots pay money to get a position? Hell, even then at one point the company had a few hundred resumes on file. Do you think he has a great deal of respect for pilots now? Have we earned that respect?
Bottom line is Jetsgo is a product of years of pilots always seeking for the greener pastures, coupled with the crisis aviation is trying to emerge from since 911. The pilot group never stood together and I don't think it'll start anytime soon seeing how guys are back-stabbing each other in this forum for example. However, there is a price to pay for such a behavior, and for me that price was $30 000. In the meantime, I have kids to feed and a mortgage to pay, so I did the right thing under the circumstances.