Alteon and other training providers don’t really care or believe that their ‘pilot’ pilot sausage factory (as in preliminary) graduates will be better prepared for the right hand seat of a jet. It is just a business, and they have found a potential market – the growing airline industry. Cash is king I’m afraid.
I wouldn’t want to be a passenger on a flight where the Captain keels over with a heart attack, and all that is left up the front is a 300hr MPL graduate. Scary thought. Throw in a diversion due fog on arrival for good measure and kiss your @rse goodbye!
I also think comparing the MPL program to military pilot training is a bit of a stretch. Your cheque book certainly won’t get you your ‘wings’, and you won’t see most of your class mates fail either.
Safety comes from experience; flight experience comes from successfully completing flight maneuvers and tasks in real time without assistance.
Yes, safety does come from experience. However, flight experience comes from dealing with real in-flight problems by yourself. You can train a monkey to successfully complete ‘supervised unassisted’ flight manoeuvres in real time, but that doesn’t give it experience!
On second thoughts, they do only pay us peanuts.
