EZY and Ryan have been going for 10 years, where are the crashes? You can't say "it's only a matter of time" forever. Of course it'll happen some day, but EVERY ex-BA, SA, VS, etc. old timer I have flown with at EZY says that the safety culture at EZY is remarkable.
And no I am not that naive. Airlines have been using cadets for decades. It's never been a problem at safety conscious airlines, otherwise they would have stopped. So why would it a problem when it comes down to safety conscious "LoCo" airlines???
Let's look at it objectively. Airline A has paid every penny of the training of Cadet A and they have to make a tough decision because Cadet A has failed his line check twice. Same situation with Airline B, which has spent next to nothing on Cadet B (since he/she is self-sponsored). Now can you honestly say that Airline B would hesitate more before chopping Cadet B than vice versa???
Out of something like 350 pilots to be hired at EZY next year, 50 or so will be CTC cadets. The rest will come from other airlines. That sounds like a reasonable ratio to me. Given the number of unemployed fATPL guys out there, EZY could hire 175 ab initio guys for the RHS if they wanted to...
Like the Airline cadet who recently failed his first comm/IF test, then proceeded to crash the Seneca on the second attempt. And the Airline sponsoring him from somewhere East ( India? ) said they are booking him a third IF test - he has to pass cause his 738 simulator was booked and he needs to be online at this airline in three months....
Like I said in my first post, my opinion is only based on safety conscious airlines (nothing to do with Low/High cost). The pilot shortage WILL make things even less safe at the rest of the bunch. And that's scary.