Bruce - couldn't agree more.
As to the experience or otherwise built up in 1500 hours of GA flying, I think you're spot on. Some people may indeed do something useful in that time, but the majority do not seem to.
When I finished my fATPL training, I would have quite liked to have worked for a TP operator - but guess what? Very, very few of them wanted any pilots. The ones that did, offered pay that would literally barely cover the rent. So I took the un-welcome step of paying for a Self Sponsored TR with Ryanair. After tax relief and a VAT refund, the cost was somewhere North of £13,000. Certainly nowhere near the 30k that is the standard quote if you talk to the likes of G S Willy. Yes there was an initial period that was quite financially tough, but by the end of the first year I was already up on what I would have earned with Flybe, for example. So who is really paying to fly? Not me. People are very quick to criticise the "pay to fly culture" of some operators, but their schemes are no worse than the pittances being offered by some airlines that "pay for your type rating". We all pay one way or the other. And forever it shall be...
Last edited by D O Guerrero; 10th June 2010 at 10:21.