No wonder Qantas can't find pilots.
Sounds like they are scraping the barrel with Chief Pilots as well with comments like this:
Qantas promises cooperation on pilot drought
Qantas chief pilot Chris Manning has described the imminent pilot
shortage as the biggest catastrophe he has seen in a 37-year career, bigger
than the Ansett collapse, bigger than the pilot strike.
Speaking at last week’s RAAA Convention in Coolum, Manning said that
Qantas needed to induct 68 pilots in 2006 and that it already had 66 on the
books, but because of the growth boom the airline this year needs 178
pilots.
Even though pilots can now work through to 65, in Qantas most of them
are retiring at 60 or 61. The airline has also relied on retiring pilots to become
simulator trainers, but is now finding that they are not interested, if they
want more money they just keep flying.
The crisis is also soaking up GA flight instructors, and Qantas is having to
pay some second officers around $130,000 to go back into GA training to fill
the gap.
Manning also highlighted the difficulties associated with getting a
student pilots licence and suggested that “they should be given away at
fairgrounds and in cornflakes packets, just to get people interested”.
Manning promised Qantas would cooperate with the broader industry,
describing the situation as “so far everyone’s been just managing, but it
hasn’t hit yet. This is very serious. We have issues right across the industry
and we have to let the government know that that’s not acceptable.”
ps
FOG&
FOC