Tired, you seem to be attacking wombat for stating the truth. His comments were directed at pilots but did not imply any disrespect to Flight Engineers or indeed Ground Engineers. He is merely pointing out the ineptitude of Virgin management - something we all know to be right at the heart of current problems.
His comments about future recruitment problems are also spot on. I will shortly be leaving and I doubt anything but a wholesale change in the management of VS and a substantial increase in salary could persuade me to come back. Let's face it the only reason many of us stayed after the last pay round was because of the expected short time to command which has now vanished into thin air.
VS management is storing up a great deal of resentment among its workforce and when the good times return people will vote with their feet.