It's a few months old, but
this thread contains some relevant stuff.
For what it's worth, everyone I have asked, either on these forums or anyone else, has given me a pretty similar answer: the cost of this license, and the fact that it will be type-specific, make it very unlikely that self-sponsored students will be using it. It's success, therefore, will depend on how many students airlines are willing to sponsor through ab-initio training in the near future - and judging by the current situation, it will be a very small minority of people.
Flopsie, you are missing Send Clown's point. Yes, this is a co-pilots license - which can then be upgraded to a full ATPL once the relevant hours requirements are met. Therefore, the captains of the future will be sitting in the left hand seat of jets with very little P1 time in their logbook. (Unless there will be a requirement for P1 time, in which case where will it come from?) Personally, I think this is a very bad thing. It may be true that the hands-on flying skills developed in a C150 aren't directly relevant to a B737, but the decision-making skills and captaincy skills surely are?
I'd also question your confidence in the airlines' ability to 'determine if this concept of training produces "real pilots".' The airlines are in the business of making money, and if they see a way of potentially cutting costs they will jump on it. They are not in the business of improving the quality of ab-initio flight training, they merely regard ab-initio flight training as an unavoidable nuisance, the cost of which should be dumped on the student if at all possible, and reduced to absolute minimum if they have to bear the cost themselves.
FFF
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