With regards to future sponsorship: pilots within BA say no, however I think that will ultimately be incorrect as:
1) Although there are no shortage of 200 hr pilots, there is a shortage of qualified pilots, and of people who are capable of stepping onto a jet at 200 hrs and making it without first having hour-built (so they say...)
2) With having to pay for a full integrated themselves, the pool of people willing to do so is diminishing, leaving modular graudates and - perhaps - people less suitable whom integrated schools take on as the pool of keener and more skilled people decrease. BA would need to make a choice whether or not to take modulars at 200 hrs, which I don't think they are prepared to take (snootiness or experience-wise, take your pick). CTC being the exception that proves the rule.
3) The pool of RAF people is far, far smaller than it has ever been in the past, and the competition pays far more than it ever did.
I think there are a lot of keen, capable people who cannot afford to pay for training themselves. The RAF recruits some of those, and others are lost to non-flying jobs at the moment. Some may get in through raising the funding but the risks are too large to bother doing that for many. On the one hand one might say that it is an insufficient commitment to a flying career, so stuff those who are lost - others might say that a certain level-headedness to make that assessment would mean that group make better decisions. A mixture of those would of course be best.
Though the company is not a charity, investment for its own future growth will - in my opinion - be required in the future, if not now, when the Multi-Crew pilot's licence is up and running.
It does strike me as slightly patronising that they require people who will think outside the box, with qualities of being better managers, then patronise them with some of the working practices and pronouncements from management that are experienced. Maybe however they are seeking people with a wider mind who can see why the company operates as it does, and therefore more likely to put up with BS that comes from operating in the bombsite that is Heathrow...
Caveat - I don't of course have any idea what they want not working there.
Last edited by Re-Heat; 28th Apr 2005 at 14:32.