blackred
I am not having what I posted descend into a bitch-slapping contest. I have been there before. I don't have the energy. And don't construe that as a big 'F' You, what you say isn't all wrong - you have a point, of course. I'm not that naive.
I don't know how long you have been in aviation, though I am judging several years. You probably either got there off your own back (the old self-improver route), via the armed forces or if you were really lucky, sponsorship. You didn't arrive here during the era of the lo-co. This in my opinon changed everything. The SSTR, an iflux of 200hr CPLs expecting the next step up from a light twin to being either an Airbus or a Boeing. The old self improver route was becoming and in my opinion has become obsolete. A real pitty I will add.
The stepping stone from PPL to CPL to FI to Air Taxi to Turboprop to Jet is gone. Airlines aren't interested because they know what they can get. And they have had it for years now. It leaves people with little choice. I would have been more than happy to take the old tried and tested route if it was as justifiable as it once was. I was on an FIC (best investment I ever made in aviation so far in terms of learning and experience) however if I had continued this with the club where I trained, I would now be jobless. I was offered a Kingair job, however the bond was an utter joke, the money was crap, the terms were awful (I know, you will laugh - I fly for Ryanair and all that) and the hours I would aquire each year were a third of what I fly now. I agree, you must start somewhere but progression would have been difficult. Self-improvement is dead. The airlines aren't interested. And I genuinely mean it, it's an utter shame. I'm not some jet snob at the end of the day. I feel I have missed out on a lot.
I started training in 2005. I have been flying in light aircraft since 1989. I have been in touch with the GA world, but through that have watched the commercial world go through some real changes. The SSTR was hardly in its infancy when I decided to go for my CPL. As I admit, I'm now one of its followers and I also said that if you had shown me a better path I'd have been all over it. So what do you want me to say to you? I should have sat idly by, spurned my investment, lost my currency and ratings and placed all my dreams and ambitions on pot luck? While every other sod invested in SSTRs?. I'm not saying thats right. It's crap to be frank. But it's fact!
Two more things - No bank of Mum and Dad for me and being well paid is relative to what you have been paid before. It supports me and supports my family. Thats more than enough.