"The issue here ain't pussy. The issue here is monkey!" Gus Grissom in
The Right Stuff
Again and again we here Ppruners slagging other pilots. AIPA takes JQ to court. QF pilots tell GA pilots they can't do their job. GA pilots tell QF pilots they would do their job for half the money.
Not pussy. Monkey.
Thus far, no airline flying RPT pax is dispatching completely automated jets. They still need two pilots. Those pilots need to meet minimum experience and abililty standards.
GA pilots - sure, a jet is an aeroplane. But until you check to line on a jet, don't assume your skill set is adequate. You know you get fark all training in GA. You know your check and training, if it exists, is under resourced.
Until then, you will be held in the same regard as virgins giving advice to married men with children on how to please their womenfolk. Ideas, but no understanding.
Experienced jet pilots... the only difference between you and the guy on the navajo is you got the chance to do the training and fly the line. Sure, it took self discipline and commitment to drink from the fire hose without spilling too many drops, but it ain't pioneering stuff. You walk a well trodden path. Really, you know that is the only difference between you and her/him. So cut out the five or so years of line flying and what is the difference? Someone else's SOP and knowledge that you just happened to be exposed to.
Yet this acquired knowledge, skill and experience has value. Without it, aeroplanes sit on the ground and don't make any money.
After a few years we all have mates flying all over the world. I can name former C206 and C210 colleagues that did the hard yards that are now captains and fo's in cathay, emirates, qantas, virgin, ryanair, air nz, dragonair. You name it. They were GA, now they are airline. Which airline they got is dependent more on luck and timing than skill and ability.
So don't kid yourself about how good you are.
Start thinking like a member of a profession rather than a Labor party faction. Airlines can't buy 3,000 hr of GA experience for their people. It is just too goddamned expensive.
If you sell it to them for next to nothing, we have only ourselves to blame.
Nobody is holding a gun to our head to pay for A320 or B737 ratings.
Nobody has kidnapped your children and told you to accept less money in your contract. These things become 'industry standard'
because a fair number of us actually farking paid for them!
Market forces cut both ways. If you sell your house for $300k because you are scared, instead of holding out for $600k because you know what it is worth, you will be the loser.
Pilots are big on talk, but when it comes to the crunch, most pilots are soft-corks.
Sad but true.