LOCO Subcontracting
2008 we had Subprime mortgages, 2010 we have LOCO Subcontracting Pilot's for 6 months at a time.
Airline accountants have woken up to the SSTR schemes and see them as normal. The next step had to be P2F, especially now post Stock mkt crash. Why pay employees when P2Fers will happily pay you?
Along with the reduction in flying hours and exams with the advent of JAR regulations (remember when you weren't allowed to sit National ATPLs until you had a CPL with 700hours flying under your belt?) we also have the MeGeneration.
Now everybody has to deal with selfish attitudes whatever our age group but never before has a generation been through the achievement mill spurred on by babyboomer parents.
Dr Twenge has written a book on this generation and cites: "We live in a time when high self-esteem is encouraged from childhood, when young people have more freedom and independence than ever, but also far more depression, anxiety, cynicism, and loneliness. Today's young people have been raised to aim for the stars at a time when it is more difficult than ever to get into college, find a good job, and afford a house. Their expectations are very high just as the world is becoming more competitive, so there's a huge clash between their expectations and reality. More than any other generation in history, the children of Baby Boomers are disappointed by what they find when they arrive at adulthood."
So is it any surprise that they want to go from zero to hero (C152 to A320) in the shortest possible time and at least say they have worked as a jet airline pilot? In the longer term (assuming they get more than 6 months flying) the shortcuts to "success" make life boring. When they wake up and see all they have done for 5 years is program an FMGS and raised a gear lever a few thousand times just to pay off the debt they owe HSBC......
747JJ is spot on. NSF might be against P2F but his arguments could be used by EZY managers and others as justification of the scheme. In their eyes it's all fine unless safety is compromised. CTC actually sold their cadet schemes to Stellios on the promise of Safety. For regular flying they were right. Recent events have shown low houred, underpaid autopilot jockeys who may be well trained in SOPs are not always the backstop needed when things go seriously wrong.