Flying Without Wings - the new generation?

[bushy]

This is the future if they can afford the simulators.

This will be very unpopular with many. Flying schools do not like this sort of competition. They like to be able to train 50 or more pilots for every real airline job opportunity.
Those in the GA industry who are looking for that airline job do not like this sort of competition. Understandably. Pilots have to plan years ahead and commit time and money. Airlines have resisted any form of commitment.
The airlines do not want to have an ab initio training program, as they are not sure of required numbers. They would much rather pilots trained themselves and waited in a big pool. This leads to much uncertainty and almost desparate pilots, and a very low experience level and instability in GA. Pilots who are broke and uncertain of their future can be easily exploited.
So, how do we keep everyone happy and make the system work properly? By getting the airlines invoved in flying training (maybe by contracts with existing flying schools for specific numbers of pre-selected trainees) Getting airlines to commit to and sign provisional agreements with trainees and properly plan for future intakes. By having a "multi crew licence" for airline pilots so everyone knows where they may be going (or not going). This would not be necessary if airlines would plan properly and give some sort of committment to trainees.
Let's face it. Would a new pilot with 260 hours of glass cockpit training be able to do useful work in the Simpson desert in a C206? He would learn things the simulator did not teach him. Would he be trying to develope his C206 skills and desert knowledge, or would he be just trying to get out of there?
But the glass cockpit experience would be invaluable for airlines. And if you are aiming to be an airline pilot it makes sense to start the multi crew training on day one. This does not happen with the present system.
The simulator won't kill you, so the multi crew pilot will not have experienced that real fear that makes you pay real attention to the detail on the next flight ("i'll never do this again") The miltary do not have a monopoly on the "mindset, determination and guts" And it sorts out the men from the boys. Some duds will get through the simulator training. (yes some have)
There's merit in both systems,and room for both. There will be a transition period like we have now, when both will operate. But I think our airlines may have got a wake up call recently when they found that there was no longer an inexhaustable pool of pilots whenever they wanted them. Maybe they will start working with the pilots for mutual benefit.???????
One of the worst things that has happened is that some pilots have spent years waiting in GA and may now be too old and/or too experienced for airlines that want cheap, pilots they can bond for a long period.