Its horribly sad how defeatist it seems so many pilots are and how willing they are to get stuck in and destroy the industry.
It's not about 'hollywood' dollars or Kantian philosophy but about fair terms and conditions commensurate with the job. Sure the metrics are difficult at times because many pilots will enjoy a career without any singificant emergencies, incidents or accidents. But the 'happy place' where the industry has arrived in concert with advanced technology is at danger because too many people are starting to treat commercial aviation as a hobby where fees to engage in said hobby are paid to airlines who have started to think of pilots as sitting in yield producing seats.
In many countries there have always been more potential pilots than there are jobs, my home country is a perfect example of that. It can be and for the most part is a wonderful occupation but it is just that, a job.
Times may be bad for aviators who are out of work but there are many parallels in other industries as well where hard times and/or vast restructuring have purged jobs - Freezing works, dock yards, telecommunications, railways, the list goes on and on. Where are the parallels to aviation that large numbers of people in these industries go on to pay significant amounts of money relative to initial salary for another job? People re-qualify into other industries and I am not saying there is an issue for paying for your initial pre-employment training (that is an accepted standard across many technical and professional industries).
I have readily acknowledged that I may never fly anything more than turbo-props. If I cannot gain employment on larger aircraft with a respectable operator who does not require you to pay for your job then I'm probably not meant to be there. Meanwhile as a fare-paying passenger I never book myself on flights operated by airlines that have guys upfront who have contributed to the destruction of an otherwise great profession.
You can't just go through life be willing to sell your grandmother down the road at a moments notice.
If you are going to pay for a job then you have to reap what you sow. Complaints from the people who have purchased hours with Eagle Jet are laughable, nothing that has been written comes as a surprise to anyone who has ever done casual research. To a lesser extent the same can be said for JetStar, many people saw what was happening long before the JetStar brand came out but desperate people jumped on board saying it won't be that bad. Down the road some of those people then started complaining about what is befalling the industry.
Yet some of them seem to feel ripped off and cheated. Perhaps karma does exist after all?