RFDS Instrument hours requirement
Today's "Australian" carries an "Expression of Interest?" for potential RFDS pilots. Among the usual minimum qualifications of flying hours is 250 hours of instrument time which must include a minimum of 125 hours of instrument flight time.
No doubt there are hundreds of pilots who have most of the minimum qualifications wanted by the RFDS, but it is the 250 hours of instrument time that will effectively cull the majority of hopefuls, eager to win a slot with the RFDS. Most pilots are aware that there is no paper audit trail when it comes to logging instrument time once you receive your first instrument rating.
It can be open slather to the unscrupulous to fake instrument flight time because there is no way CASA can detect it. From talking to CASA personnel there is no knowledge of anyone ever been caught logging false instrument flight time. Not because it does not happen - but because it is impossible to police.
RFDS recruiters have their head in the sand if they think that all applicants for the job have genuine instrument hours of such magnitude - especially as it is legal to log automatic pilot hours which as we know requires no skill at all. Non pilots "flying " Microsoft Simulators are a case in point.
Because honest instrument flying hour logging is highly dependant on the integrity of the pilot concerned, it is clear that the RFDS advertisement inadvertently invites forging of instrument hours (especially in flight hours) in order to meet minimum hiring standards. And the beauty of this is that no one can prove the instrument hours are massaged to suit.
Another angle is that the 250 instrument hours are a good way of culling other hopefuls with several thousands of hours but who don't have the I/F hours. Out-of-work airline pilots will have no problem meeting the RFDS requirements because most will have a couple of hundred simulator hours and lots of automatic pilot FMS hours.
The old system where you could only log I/F time when you flew the aircraft manually in IMC was more of a true indication of I/F experience. The RFDS should realise that their requirements of 250 hours instrument time means little in terms of real instrument flying skills.
It will be a pity if so many otherwise well qualified pilots miss out on an interview because of their perceived lack of instrument experience. The final eye brow raiser in the advertisement is the requirement to have a minimum of two instrument rating renewals. It simply does not make sense to lay down such a high instrument time requirement allied with "only" two renewals.