Actually, I think he's fairly even handed - he fired his chief pilot's daughter! In most other airlines, she'd have been a Captain as soon as she has 1,000 hours...
Nothing wrong with making your people pay for everything - teaches them responsibility - but at the same time you have to look after them well financially. I understand that FR does this - at least for those with plenty of time on type/time in the company.
For one of my African ops, I came up with the concept a few years back of flogging the crews shares in 'their' aircraft (Let 410s). You'd be amazed at how well those aircraft were looked after following that - and how much extra the crews earned as their profit-share.
Perhaps that's the next stage MO'L should look at!
