snuble, I truly wish you well - but in my opinion you are a very brave individual!
As I have said (and why the question was aked in the first place) no-one knows how this license will pan out. And even if it does become the norm/is found to be an excellent route into jets the teething problems will take some time to iron out and you will suffer all of them!
When the JAA exams came out they were farcical (and even a few years later they had no rotary ones so helicopter pilots were learning all about things happening at 30,000 feet becaus they just had to do the fixed wing ones - has that even been rectified yet?). It gat to the stage where questions were non-sensical mistranslations and training schools were advising candidtates to put 'b' for every question that they thought didn't make sense (if it was right no problem - if it was wrong then enough people got it wrong to have the question withdrawn and marks awarded).
The JAA system probably works quite well now, but I would rather have been the last CAA candidite than the first JAA one!
And as has been mentioned - you will probably still take the financial hit anyway?
Previously 200 hr candidates could not fly jets (the old CAA self-improver route) and everyone had to build 700 hours before applying. When that changed wannabes expected jet jobs straight off and do you think they are better off for it? The £75,000 course came into existance, add on to that the £25,000 self-sponsored rating, or perhaps the 'work six months for free with no job guarentee at the end' airline affiliated route. How about the, join us but on a reduced salary for 5 years (BA) - and don't even start with O'leary air.
At the moment a type rating on an airbus without 500 hours on the line is nothing more than a very expensive peice of paper; probably pretty similar to the MCL - but with more flexibility.
As has been sai the MCL is effectively an airline sponsorship (with you paying everything) so however it is set up there may be a job with that airline. I wouldn't expect it to be a huge financial benefit in the long run though! Airlines will squeeze terms and conditions as much as they can until pilots go on strike and they have a balance. Do you think hundreds of pilots who are either so far from thier training they don't care or are new and paid a lot will risk their jobs for your MCL T&Cs? And you will be very limited in your flexibility - Captain (no) company change fleets (no) company want you to mve base with a different fleet type (no). And in 15 years time as a junior FO with kids you will probably have to resign and do an ATPL before applying for a Capt's job (and if you are in a seniority based company would have to join as the most junior FO - so that probably restricts choice even more)
As I said - I wish you all the best, and someone has to be first,
but with my entire future career at stake I'm just glad it isn't me
