Well, basically this is an English version of a (never ending !) discussion that goes on on the Dutch PPRuNe (www.airwork.nl)
A few things from my perspective :
1) YES, most Dutch airlines hire non-Dutch speakers. The usual requirement is to speak English and that you are willing to learn some Dutch. See AeroBoero’s post. (Hi AeroBoero, what’s up
?)
2) I am also a bit sad to hear that the NLS has found another convienient ‘parking stand’ for it’s surplus pilots. The NLS and KLS have already dumped some with Austrian, Alitalia (when things were still going well between KLM and Alitalia) and Lufthansa. There are a lot of unemployed pilots out there (low timers OR high timers) that are working very hard in order to make ends meet and they should be given an equal chance and NOT be excluded due to some “I’ll scratch your back, if you scratch mine” deal.
3) In the Netherlands, a lot of pilots who have done their training at the NLS or KLS feel superior over pilots who have trained with other schools. I AM sure that the NLS and KLS ofer great training (if you can afford it !) BUT the bottom line is that we all have to meet JAR-FCL practical exam standards, or don’t we….?
4) Flying in the States. This is a popular bashing ‘item’ but also a bit strange since most KLS/NLS graduates and Dutch Examiners have NEVER flown one single mile in the US
!!! Most of these folks think that everything is sh*t, if it has USA written on it. The license is sh*t, the pilots are sh*t, the FAA is sh*t, the hours in your logbook are sh*t……the list goes on and on.
Perfect example is Bangkok’s post on this thread. Bangkok has 200 hours, (all “done” in Holland
) and claims that flying in the US is “like driving a car on a parking lot.” Thank the Lord that he/she has flown “different approaches on different fields and abnormal procedures” here in Europe, most likely to ‘exiting’ and ‘difficult’ airports like Budel, Hilversum or Lelystad. I’m sure that this experience will be 'invaluable' when flying on Ryan’s 737 NG’s !
5) Question: do all pilots have to pay $ 25.000,- for a type, or does this only apply to NLS pilots ?
[ 31 August 2001: Message edited by: Bokkerijder ]