The current system is not perfect, but what would you replace it with?
Schools (good and bad) closing because their will be 99% less students (using the 1% quoted)? And then competition will diminish, bad thing in any free market and even worse should training become a closed domain (especially if gov'ts got more involved).
Be in no doubt that training is cheaper for all because of throughflow and competion,
cheaper for those that have lots of natural
ability and really do belong in the Heli.
Even the highest time pilot in the world (don't know him but I do know one with 30,000) must have had 105 hrs sometime.
We all must start somewhere.
I think that the 'natural selection' I have mentioned on another thread does most of the weeding out.
I agree that 105 is not enough. until very recently it was 400 P1 in UK, until JAA.
But I can't agree with the linking of 'cowboy' to 'low time'.
Quote- "Helicopter aviation needs to remove the cowboy element and raise the bar."
You were low time once but I guess you would have been wounded if called a cowboy by association?!