Wow...I remember years ago the Mods were a LOT MORE active than of late...never slow to express an opinion either....Keg would remember the 'good ol' days'...they were a lot more 'wild west' than now...I don't remember the mods ever giving much of a **** about the feelings of disaffected posters either.
My perception was MA was just asking questions...but I think emotions seem to be running very high in Australian aviation these days....amongst the younger pilots anyway.
From what I have heard the only group of J* pilots who might be 'worse' off are those potential new hire FOs who will be on the 55% deal
but only for the first 12 mths...i.e. they don't even work for the company yet
The widely held view is that the bottom of the barrel is approaching in terms of the experience and skillsets the new hire FOs are bringing to the table...standards and experience are lowering but still have a very long way to go in Australia before it reaches EU equivalency of FOs with several hundred hours TT...I'd hate to be betting a career on the current situation lasting that long...I don't think it will ever get to that point in Australia...but I have been wrong before.
Personally I am a bit sick of reading how hard done by a group of young, inexperienced pilots feel they are being treated. The world is not, and never has been, as you wish it to be but just as it is. Just a few short years ago the experience levels of pilots now gaining entry into J*/
VB etc would not have got them a job driving a C404...and it shows...now they arrive in the cockpit of a A320/B737/whatever, not by skill but a fluke of birthdate, and in no time flat are convinced the industry cannot survive without them.
The wheels
will fall off this current domestic pilot shortage, and I doubt it is
all that far off.
Whether it is Yarpies with residency, expats returning home from the sandpit/Asia (and it won't take all that many to do so - I can come up with 5 names currently showing serious interest in accepting offers that are/were on the table without even trying), more subprime woes, high oil prices or interest rates and inflation...it will come.
Won't it be fun having a BB awash with threads full of anguished cries of "its not fair" or "WTF Happened"
from 1500hr pilots who are suddenly faced with the average reality of this cyclic industry
With all the stuff happening around the world at the moment Dixon et al are probably praying for this EBA to be voted down.