Let's make our Profession prestigious again

[Bona Fide]

We can whinge about it all day (and we do) but at some stage you have to face facts and they are that our profession has changed (and it is a profession).


On restricting supply to improve T’s & C’s:

Errrr no -if you think this is going to improve your lot then think again!


Pilot numbers have ballooned. Why? Because so has air travel!! Not because of self-sponsored pilots or people buying type-ratings, etc, etc. Stop blaming things like this for your predicament because this and many of our other complaints are effects and not the cause. Much of this growth has come from LCC’s who operate on an entirely different philosophy. Have you not heard the term ‘New Model Airline’?


And what is more:


More passengers = more airlines = more aircraft = more jobs

There is one thing that trying school cannot equip new pilots with and that is experience. The target is the LHS so if you maintain appropriate experience requirements and standards to attain this (which all operators should) then this creates a barrier that really is worth something: experience cannot be bought. I fully appreciate that it is F/O salaries that are the worst affected by this contemporary state of affairs but you just have to keep in mind your long-term objective and find a job that gives you a clear path to your goal. And in reality this is really no different to any other profession.