Our Celtic friends, WWW and mad_jock make very valid points.
Just to add some Avgas to the fire, I was visiting the CAA not so long ago and it happened to be the day that some ATPL exams were being held. Waiting for my host to collect me, it was very interesting to compare the types of people turning up to sit exams. From the polite, smart but casually dressed youngster to the scruffy "Oi, mate - where do I park" oik who was extremely rude to the reception staff.
I mentioned this to my host - he confided that well over half the number of fATPL holders were simply unemployable because of their interpersonal skills. They'd obtained licences and ratings through paying for them, but no-one had ever, it seems, assessed their likelihood of obtaining employment. So nowadays the bottom-feeders of the airline industry just sit and wait until someone suitable crosses their path.
After 11 Sep, demand for airline pilots fell. Even PPL applications fell. But the larger schools started turning fATPL holders into instructors to teach more fATPL hopefuls, who in turn perpetuated this obscene process.
I challenged one of the more well-known FIC providers about this, asking why they kept churning out FIs for which industry had no demand. "We can't stop people becoming FIs, if that's what they want to do", came the reply.
There is only one honest solution - airlines should be required to invest in training by selecting their trainee pilots, paying for their training and then recovering their costs over the first few years of the trainee's employment.
Paying for A320 / 737 type ratings privately is another nasty development which has gained strength in recent years; some of the 'unemployable' wannabes who pay for such things will simply become unemployable-with-debt wannabes.
mad_jock, if some of those 'debriefs' were given in the RAF, the 'debriefer' would be up in front of his boss PDQ.
Oh, and I understand that the 'Armageddon' story about the unfortunate gerbil turned out to be an urban myth....
