Hi!
PFT (Pay For Training):
The US has it. You pay for your licenses and training, and pay to sit in the right seat. It is NOT very common, at all. I have found that MANY CAA places do this.
Current US Situation:
You need a Commercial to be an FO. You can have less than 200 hours and get a Commercial, and can be hired by an airline without a Commercial, as long as you have the experience requirements and written test done, so you can get your Commercial when you pass your SIC simulator checkride.
The PIC needs an ATP, which also requires 1500 total time, plus a bunch of other requirements, including passing the written test.
Proposed US Situation:
ALL -121 (airline) pilots will need an ATP. Currently, you need 1500 hours to qualify for the ATP, but a number of additional training items will also be added to qualify for the written/flight-test for the ATP. A lot of posters here are concentrating on the 1500 hours, but passing all the ATP licensing requirements is more important than the hours. If you just have 1500 hours, you will NOT be able to fly an airliner.
Note: Type ratings for the PIC are only required on aircraft above 12,500 lbs. For the small Piper/Cessna-type aicraft, no type rating is required.
Differences from JAA/CAA:
There is NO cruise-captain rating, and no frozen ATPL in the US. You either have an FO type, or a PIC Type. The change will require EVERY First Officer (for a -121 airline) to hold a ATP (similar to an full ATPL).
The CAA license I was most familiar with had 2 Type Ratings: Group 1 and Group 2. Group 1 was PIC, Group 2 SIC. That is quite similar to the current US situation.
On the training differences: The main current differences are the 14 theory exams, vs. one for the FAA ATP, and a difficult Sim/Flight test required by the FAA to get an ATP.
I am training now, and our situation it is not uncommon in US training. After losing our second engine, they tell us the weather is CAVOK, and we are cleared to manuever at any altitude and direction, and land on any runway...just let ATC know what we plan to do.
They turn off the electronic glideslopes and visual glideslopes, and tell us the radar is out (or that the airport we just took off from is closed, and to go somewhere else). We have to figure out which runway (and/or airport) we want based on the reported winds, fly our own pattern, and do the visual. Our authrottles don't work, but we can use our autopilot if we desire, and we can get some internal glidepath references if we set up our boxes properly.
Some of us shut off the autopilot and just use a visual glidepath and 3:1 ratio based on our distance from the airport (which is relatively easy to set up and present on our screens).
PS-Forgot the current FAA Oral Exam that is required for both PIC/SIC in the US. Weight and Balance charts, performance charts, checklists items, limitations, and systems questions, such as: How many/what kind of fire extinguishers are on the aircraft/where are they? When does that light come on? What does this switch do? What are the 9 modes that the outflow valves can be in? If you see a "Flap Drive" message, what does it mean, and what will you have to do?