3REDS
I agree with some of your post. A period of mandatory light a/c instruction and a period on turbo-props as you did may well present a better
prepared pilot to their first jet, certainly in terms of airmanship. Having gone onto a jet with few hours and no prior experience of public transport ops I very quickly became aware of the weaknesses of a low houred pilot in that role. You cannot substitute hours and experience no matter how much your training cost or how you went about funding it.
However, as I went onto a jet with 200 and something hours, using the rest of your logic I must have rich parents.Fact is I paid for all my training via a loan and am paying it all back without parental support. I don't have a dad, and believe me my mother is not rich. I understand your frustration that there are indeed some fortunate people out there who can afford to throw endless thousands away on thier training and not have to worry about the consequenses of failure. It isn't fair on the guys who risk everything to get that elusive first job. But there are those of us who take on a large loan and are lucky but not necessarily rich! We seem to get caught up into the generalisation that low houred people flying jets are rich kids.
This debate will never end, it is just another form of the hamster wheel on jet blast. If you want to pay for a TR off your own back without an airline expressing any interest then I think you are mad, but who am I to judge others - as was said before it's your money, or at least it will be yours to pay back.
Good luck to those in the hunt,especially you A320
