It is quite unfortunate that the DGCA has come up with the rule not allowing expat FO's to fly after June'2008. And i also agree with the fact that there are a lot of these FO'S who's livelyhood depends on this Job. However, I am a fresh 250 hr Indian trainee pilot and after having spent 50k USD on my training, i am arranging finances to pay up another 35k USD for my type rating. And as sadistic or mean as this may sound, the news of this new rule from DGCA bought a smile to my face. I guess they should have just chosen a better way to introduce this rule, like may be give the expat FO's a 6 month or a 1 year period.
There are a rising number of unemployed trained Indian Pilots today and a lot of them are my batch mates. The figures, mind you, are catapulting to the top daily. I dont see any reason why a ''DEVELOPING'' country with the 2nd largest population in the world and a booming aviation sector should face a problem like the above.