Devaluing the role of a pilot
Personally I feel Recession's post is somewhat bitter, but there are parts of what he said that strike a bell with me. I'm following the advice of some long time posters on Pprune and gradualy training modularly from my ow savings, job as a modest loan towards the end of my training should I need to pay for my own type rating (Please don't hit me for saying that !!). It strikes me that all this remortgaging of houses and masses of easy credit has probably totally flooded the market with low hours pilots over recent years, resulting in Ts and Cs which apart from flight training being enjoyable and flying being a good job, would barely seem worth training for (I mean come on, 80 k to Oxford to potentially end up on the dole or working as a contractor and even then only if you stump up another 25k for a type rating... sure as hell wouldn't wanna bet my parents house on that... i'd go and find something else to do for a few years until things improved). However, if indeed the recession does dramatically reduce the numbers training via the integrated route, i'm all for it. It will hopefully reduce supply and help to drive Ts and Cs backup, as well as result in more openings in the future. If this does happen it would also signal a return to people having to work hard and strive for their position in the front of a jet, as opposed to just bashing out 100k and having it all laid out in front of you. This is my perspective on it anyway... As an after thought... I wonder how many of the integrated lot would have still had the patience to train if they thought from the outset that it was going to take 3 - 7 years? Probably far fewer i'm guessing. Something which will hopefully mean better times around the corner for those who really do love aviation and who are willing to go the distance no matter what it might take.
Grouse