Unfortunately, that does not surprise me – when I sincerely wish that it did.
In the US, we have seen an unfortunate increase in the numbers of college graduates who choose major areas of study based exclusively on what kind of salary structure they can achieve. What happens is that we wind up with an increasing number of persons who are performing job functions – some of which directly affect the health, livelihood, and even in some cases, the lives of other persons – when they, themselves, are hard-hearted, mean, and somewhere between relatively and completely disinterested in the outcome of their work effort as long as they can afford the big house, flashy car, and membership in the fashionably exclusive country club. While a position as an airline pilot may not be nearly as lucrative as it once was financially, there are still those who believe that the “romance” of the uniform and the imaginative travel opportunities are sufficient motivators to pursue this profession when they would more likely be suited to other, less critically knowledge-dependent and skill-dependent jobs.
However, this fact must not interfere with the responsible decision makers from ensuring that those who DO choose piloting as a career are properly trained and evaluated to ensure they possess the skill sets that are necessary … and, in case there may be some who are not aware … this goes well beyond observing that an individual is able to “slop” his or her way through a course of training and blindly meet (or mostly meet) the generalized meaning of the “standards” that have been set out as a “passing score.” This means that if the salary structure offered attracts only those who may be considered marginally acceptable, it MUST become the responsibility of those who develop, manage, and actually conduct the training and evaluation to make absolutely SURE that those who are deemed “satisfactory” to ANY degree are, INDEED, satisfactory for all areas – without question … OR … they must be turned down! Once it is understood by airline managers that substandard applicants and even applicants that may, with one eye closed, be considered minimally acceptable, are only going to increase the training costs and endanger the overall satisfactory operation of the business, perhaps it will be easier for them to understand that increasing the starting and eventual salary structure will do wonders for turning this aspect of the industry back to the levels that must exist! Of course, marketing and sales, frills and extras, infrastructures and equipment, salaries and benefits are always going to have an impact on the successful operation of any business … we have to recognize that the training department, i.e., those who develop, manage, and conduct the training and evaluation can, and should be, one of the most important, perhaps the most important, department of every company that does business in THIS industry!