High failure rate on experienced FO's in RYR. Probably because they expect much more from experienced guys, besides the fact that the cadets have never experienced anything but the RYR-factory!
It seems like the attitude in the training dept is-you know nothing, dont come here and think you are any better than guys without experience!
As for winter, that only goes for internal upgrades. Flew with a guy that had 16 yrs experience on jets in the caribbean, RYR took him as a DEC, he admitted to never having experienced any kind of cold weather ops.
And as everywhere else-facefactor is important!