Fact is, the "sponsor" sends "cadets" (whom they believe to be fit and suitable for pilot training after a rigorous selection process) to a flying training school to train, teach and shape such cadets into well-rounded, fully capable qualified commercial pilots
Well said MAINTAINVERTICALSPD! Couldnt have put it better myself. The last part says it all "train, teach and shape"
not "intimidate, pick on and subject to prejudice". Doesnt matter that the student is an airline sponsored chap and the instructor a wannabe. It's not a competition of dreams. Envy or prejudice have no place in a flying institution that trains Africans in Africa! Many an instructor have wondered how the 'dimwit'(their words) I train will end up in an airline job. Am better than he is now - PICK ME!
The fact that the students are preselected and have a higher chance of succeeding is enough against such rubbish talk of a 40% wash rate. Funny bit is that the Private sponsored students who are not subjected to any pre-selection have an almost 100% pass rate is pathetic and yet they dont take longer. Bias for everyone to see!!! Logic puts it that you are more likely to drop students from a group that has had no pre-selection than the one that has had one. Plain and simple. 40%:1% is too big a disparity! Wake up and smell the coffee and let's call what happens at 43 for what it is. Some have taken the attitude akin to: 'it may be a "shaggy" dog, but it's our dog'.
I stand to be corrected but I heard SAA cadets had similar sh1t happening and SAA stamped its foot down and the crap stopped. That energy is now directed to...... you guessed it.
Students have talked of instructors hell bent on making sure they get washed and do everything short of admitting it by mouth. Where's the priority - train or wash?
And for crying out loud if you wash a cadet be brave enough to state why? The training file is a good starting point where progress can be clearly seen. A favourite of 43 is to change Instructors for a student every other lesson to confuse him/her and then brandish the wash card from the blues. Funny bit, even though this is known to have major implications on a student's training it never appears in the
infamous report. It's a good cover up. If a student is truly weak why bother to hide the training file - facts should be able to speak for themselves.And let's not kid ourselves about flying being 'in the blood'. Taking a decision to pursue aviation is commitment and to take the dream further to a flying institution is part realisation but to be denied that chance because of prejudice is inhuman.
Me thinks private student = money for the school and if I mistreat them there will be no more of those. My bad! I'll treat them well.
Sponsored student = company and company = money. The dimwit doesnt pay me, the company does. All I have to do is present a pretty face to the company that all is going on well but down here pick on a few nut cases to bash. Play these against the rest -"all the others are doing ok but you". It's a win win situation for me - I pretend to enforce high standards while the company will replace the washed cadets and that's more $$$. Ching!$$ It's a psychological thriller! An art perfected by the fixed wing chaps. Rotor guys have no problems or so I heard. They have a better chap who's beyond this prejudice packaged as 'high standards'.
That's my take.