Mikehotel152, I think you have made an honest and factual reflection about the current state of the industry. You mention experienced pilots; people who have been in the industry for many years. Traditionally, in my experience, I find these people coming from three routes - the armed forces, airline sponsorship, or self-improvement. Each one is an extremely enviable background to have, and I reckon 99/100 pilots would agree that these should always have remained the only paths into our industry. Yet presently each path holds very little or no value whatsoever.
Take self improvement for example. In my opinion this route would mould a pilot from basic SEP flying, to instructing, to air taxi/charter, turboprop then jet. If anyone were to ask me I would STILL argue it's case, especially the instructional path as it is an extremely rewarding challenge. In terms of initial outlay, the course was around the 6K mark when I embarked upon it. In terms of financial return; forget it! In terms of experience; unrivalled! In relation to making the next step up; debatable? Guys who I started my commercial training with 4 to 5 years ago are still stuck here. They are extremely disillusioned. More so than anyone here claiming to be fed up with their profession. They can't get charter work (what's left of it) because they don't have the relevant MEP time, they have struggled to make it into the RHS of a turboprop because the jobs simply aren't there and when the do arrive (take FlyBe for example - the biggest TP operator in the UK) the preference is to recruit 150-200 hr wonders from integrated schools. I have one friend who made it into the RHS of a well regarded regional operator from my neck of the woods. He waited years, swam in hold pools, was told one thing then another. He got there in the end (Hey Mike!) along with a few others; thankfully due to the fact of where they were from and the experience that they had (all instructors). However the case that I am able to refer to is now extremely unique. A mixture of good fortune, right place right time, and of course the ability to stay current enough to pass a sim assessment!
When I was going through the FIC, the kind of dross that was out there (when recruitment was considered to be 'buoyant') was a job in a B200 where you were bonded for 20K, with an added 6k recurrency bond for 300hrs a year and a 12hr 'on call' duty period. The salary was sh1te and would have led to my wife and small child claiming poverty. The flying, when it happened, would have been fantastic; but that's it. The experience, in the same way as instructing, would have been overlooked in favour of someone willing to pay for the SSTR. That, as unfortunate as it is, is where we are today. On another thread we have guys in FlyBe who are struggling with conditions on the Dash Q400. They have amassed thousands of hours but can't get out. Jet airlines aren't interested in their valuable experience. Why; because experience is expensive. Kids arriving in FTOs are now being informed of the new route. CPL/IR (soon to be a universal wide MPL) - MCC - Jet. Just hand over the 80-100K. They won't have heard of self improvement. I had a 200hr wonder sitting in the jumpseat the other day actually snigger at the fact that I had embarked on an FIC course and came within a baw hair of a job on a C406 (the operator has since went bust). I was astounded by his disregard - and I haven't even been doing this that long!
And as for the beancounters - they fully tap into this. The only way it will change is when people start leaving. When the experience void is too big to fill, when there isn't enough people to upgrade; when ultimately there isn't enough crew to cover their operation.
Last edited by Callsign Kilo; 8th Aug 2010 at 10:41.