Upfront; I'm not an expert..........currently training for my PPL for fun. Could it concur that the industry becomes dominated by (wealthy) boys/girls that have had enough money to pay for their training?
Is it possible that this scenario could result in cockpits being full of people that are not necessarily the "best fit" for the job? The strict recruitment policies for cadets in the past ensured the "right" person was selected for training.
It was asked elsewhere on this forum " How many pilots that begin training actually make a career out out of it?, to which the answer was " those with the most money, 'cos they can keep repeating modules until they eventually pass".
That doesn't inspire me I have to say, although if I had 100K I would probably have a go myself.