interested why on earth do you think I would ban you for your views? Surely I am a benevolent despot? Seriously though, I have enjoyed the level of discussion and as you say we are going around in circles. We will have to agree to disagree on this one.
Thank you for your compliment on my feeble attempts to express my views, from whom I think is a writer by profession. You are a pilot and derive the same enjoyment from having achieved that skill whether you do it as a hobby or as a living and therefore you are of course entitled to put your point of view across on these forums. The fact that we are debating it shows you that we have been considering it.
Let me put it this way, if someone truly believes that they have what it takes to be considered for the PPRuNe Career Development Scheme they will get their application in. Part of the process involves being able to understand how to get there. If someone has the licence with the ink still fresh or a slightly faded one with a lapsed IR it will still not be enough. We are looking for the 'total' person. Privileged or underprivileged, it doesn't matter. You have to stand out from the crowd. Before you even get near the simulator you will have to have made an impression on us. We are offering five places and there are probably at least 500 people here in the UK alone who meet the minimum requirements we have set out, never mind all those other wannabes in a similar position in the EEC and they are applying too.
Of course I take time out to ponder what if my own circumstances had been different. It probably would only have taken the flap of a butterfly’s wing on the other side of the world to change the outcome for me but I had to play it as the cards fell and so do everyone else. We are human beings and we are at the top of our evolutionary tree because of our resourcefulness. Whatever ones beliefs there is a certain amount we can do to put or keep ourselves in a position to give us the advantage over someone else. The fatalistic approach is only a part of the equation. If I had not been with that partner at that time I may well not have been here to type this reply to post. Then again there may not have been a PPRuNe Career Development Scheme to argue the point on. There may not have been a PPRuNe! Who knows? Please don't think that we haven't pondered over the fate of some pilots who fall just short of our requirements.
Your philanthropy in loaning your aircraft to those in your acquaintance to help in keeping their costs down is commendable but surely you have to realise that the minimum requirements we have put in place are there to define the standard we require. If you were to publicise who you were I have no doubt that you may be inundated with requests to borrow your aircraft. We here at PPRuNe and the pilot management at Astraeus have all been through the difficult process of getting that first job as a pilot. Most of us are approachable and you will find us on here.
Finally, you stated "After all, Hamrah (and/or some of his colleagues) can surely exercise their skills to pick the worthy, irrespective of currency.". I think you will find it is his many years of experience conducting precisely this kind of assessment that has driven us to set that particular requirement. The main point is that it is not just the fact that you have passed the IR test but that you have one way or another maintained some sort of proficiency with those skills. I will repeat Hamrah's statement here so that we can all take the time to understand it: [quote]If, during the early phases of selection you could demonstrate that you have an IR, that you have been actively using the IR, and that you have booked a renewal, then it would be worth your time applying. However, if you have not been actively flying in Instrument conditions, the sim assessment would be a very difficult challenge indeed.<hr></blockquote> There are only a limited number of sim assessment places and as I mentioned earlier you have a lot to do to impress us before you are even considered to be in a position to prove your flying skills.
As an aside, one way to keep your instrument skills from getting rusty and to get a feel for what is involved in handling a jet why don't some of you arrange with Raw Data to use the Trident sim? I am not sure if he still runs the sim days but from what I can remember an hour in it was less than the cost of a night out on the town. Surely that doesn't keep the underprivileged out of the loop?
[ 29 January 2002: Message edited by: Capt PPRuNe ]</p>