Stu,
I also have a traditonal view that getting into this industry should be about your personal abilities and not the amount of risk you are willing to take financially
I agree but it is the risk thing that gets me. Not that I've had any success, but the concept of a virtually fatalistic and blind acceptance of what amounts to massive and potentially debilitating financial risk and debt strikes me as the antithesis to the concept of planning minima diversions, points of no return, minimum fuel and the other veritable myriad of risk management activities that are core to a pilot's life. Finding one's self in the financial equivalent of coffin corner surely doesn't really mark one out as possessing the appropriate skills. Maybe I'm just naive.
Perhaps the ultimate irony is that some of the most suitable potential pilots are those who have walked away from this industry's requirements shaking their heads in disbelief.