What is the world coming to, eh? I should first point out that I'm a wannabe, and not a professional pilot like most of you on this forum. Being a professional, you have special highly sought-after skills and should be paid to work, not pay to work. I have never met an accountant who would pay to do someones books, just as I've never met a plumber who wants to pay someone to fix their toilets.
This is a problem mostly confined to Europe, where there are opportunities to fly for airlines with low hours. Do you see people in the US, Canada, Oz, Middle East, Asia (apart from Air Asia), South Africa, etc. paying for type ratings? No. The vast majority of pilots outside of Europe build their hours instructing, in aerial survey, and a whole host of other flying jobs. Almost nobody in Europe wants to do these jobs, and don't even consider them when looking for their first flying job. Few people have the patience to instruct etc. and wait for an opportunity to work for an airline. Instead people pay big money for TRs without any guarantee of a job. Why?! If every low-hour pilot gets a job with FR and then decides to leave when they have the hours, there won't be enough well-paying jobs for even half of them. Maybe airlines should deduct the cost of new aircraft from pilots wages too. There will be a huge shortage of quality instructors in Europe in the future I think. But that's beside the point. Europeans should take note of the rest of the world, perhaps even take a leaf from the Americans book! Nobody in the US can get an airline job without building 1500hrs by instructing or other means. It's seems to be a much fairer system, and there is a much more level playing field for pilots.
Ts & Cs (particularly those for new recruits) are going to be eroded beyond belief if this situation worsens. Can anyone blame airline managers for taking advantage of this situation? Experienced pilots should put more pressure on management to protect Ts & Cs for new pilots. I haven't seen the actual advert yet, but I don't know if I want to. To be completely honest, the sound of it disgusts me. Enough apathy, say NO to paying airlines to work for them.
It's always nice to have a good long rant about something! I'm relaxed again.......rant over
