Hey MOR, you are finally talking with a cool head and not sounding so unreasonable...you may even be a decent bloke after all
sorry couldnt resisit.
Ok now that you have laid your objections out in a better more straight forward manner I can appreciate what you are saying. However, while I sympathise with your friends situation you know you cant wait around in this business for a job to come to you. you have to make it happen. easier said than done i know. It sucked you had to fork out all that money to re-train for a JAA license and good luck to people who are in a position to do so. If money wasnt a problem for me then I would have probably done it too but I freely admit I couldnt afford it after i completed my training. it's not just the exams but the flying afterwards, the mcc, and possible type rating and the amount of bloody time it takes. Hell, its damn expensive if you are starting from scratch, then to do it all over again...sorry thats too much to expect of anyone in my opinion!!!
I do not like the JAA system because even though its supposed to be EU wide it sooo is not. If you take your Irish or British JAA ticket to france...you will not get a job. I think the french are way more proctionist than the americans! Also its very hard or next to impossible for irish and british pilots to get jobs in other european countries unless you speak their native language fluently...and thats just a convenient way of putting up hurdles. Yet students from said EU nations come to UK or Ireland and we let them in. If anything we adhere to the rules and spirit of the JAA more than most other nations in Europe.
the other thing I think you are forgetting is that Ireland has only 3 million people. With a tiny percentage of pilots. While we are in the EU we are on the edge of europe and are an english speaking nation. I believe that what the IAA does makes sense in these situations. How many local blokes will be trained on the 146...practically none! They are all off to get a type on a 737 or 320, but thats a different thread topic. You are talking about one or two exceptions, who may be available as opposed to blokes who can start right away. and why should ireland hire people from say france if they dont return the favour?? america maybe proctionist but, once you are in the system you do get a very fair shot. I dont think the same can be said of most EU nations.
when you are running a small airline company you cannot afford to wait for a yr to train kids up to fly your planes. you still have bills to pay to keep the whole show going. Plus from my understanding, the US guys coming over are not fresh faced F/O's, they are experienced captains. its unfortunate for your friend, but perhaps he can look at other options...with those hrs i find it hard to believe in the current climate that he cant find work somewhere. hell, aer arann are looking guys with 500 hrs and 50 multi.
there really isnt any need for an ICAO license, though it would make things soo much easier. under the old exam system that the caa or iaa used to do, all that was required was an air law exam and a checkride if you had X amount of hrs. Im pretty sure if one goes from NZ to AUS they dont have to do 14 exams and do training from scratch and a new MCC and a new type do they?
nor should they, they are both ICAO countries
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The JAA system, I truely believed was written in collaboration with certain european schools to stop kids going to train in the states or canada and south africa and being able to convert at a later stage. lots of people in ireland choose the forgein route because the aviation facilities in ireland at the time were ziltch (some say it hasnt improved much) and cost a fortune. I knew of one bloke who took a yr to get his ppl cause the weather was so crap. plus before the modular route came about all there was in the UK was oxford or cabair, and those damn places cost a fortune. They had the most to gain under the new regs because there was now a deterrent to train abroad. that is a protection racket in the extreme, when you dont give people the choice to choose where they can fly at a top ICAO standard country then you are employing mafia tactics. well thats how i see it at least.