Yes Virgin...
... I WAS young once... but even at 18 I knew that if I couldn't stand the heat I could get out of the kitchen. Whilst I am hugely saddened that so many of you young folks have worked hard and borrowed fortunes, the industry is what it is...it's evolving and changing like it always has. I certainly never considered joining a ragbag band of (sometimes) near-illiterate Seneca pilots trying to change things in their favour! It wouldn't have worked then and it won't work now.
If you don't want to pay for a TR...don't do it! If you don't want to be bonded..don't do it! Each and every one of you young (and youngish) folks with 200-230 hours and a frozen ATPL made a choice and took a risk... and I'm the first to acknowledge that, tragically, many of you will never make it into the airlines. For some, bankruptcy beckons. For others, maybe spending the next 15-20 years paying off your debts.
What some of you guys hope to achieve by stirring the media is lost on me.. and I am gravely concerned about how many of you "rebels" will treat SOPs... if you get that far. The learning really starts when you get that first RHS position.
Rant over, sorry. Even we old timers know it's really hard for you out there and I, for one, wish you all well.
Cheers, bm. PA23, 31, DC3,C500,550 and 650. Be90, 100 and 200.F27, B733. B206, S61 and 76. Not bragging..just saying!