Luke,
You make some good points, but the problem, as I understand it, is that other airlines (EZY included) are watching with interest to see how Ryanairs scheme goes. It is kind of reminisent of the mid '80s when British Midland first introduced bonding in the UK, that has now become standard throughout the industry.
Why do I get fired up about this? Well, I will have invested the thick end of GBP60,000 and over a year of my life into getting a CPL/IR (fATPL/MCC). My own preference is to try and get a job working for a TP operator in a 2 crew environment driving bandits/shed/atr42/F50 or anything anyone will give me and then graduate onwards and upwards.
Instructing in the UK (and also here in the Benelux countries) is, from what I have heard from people that are currently instructing, becoming a much more difficult option. Fewer people are training for a PPL since the introduction of the JAR PPL. Add to that the current oversupply of instructors and the low pay (GBP500 per month basic plus GBP5-10 per flying hour) means for some of us older guys that isnt an option.
Air taxi work is a non starter, JAR rules require a pilot to have >700 hours before you can do that. (once I have completed my IR I will only have 500hrs).
OK, so imagine life a couple of years down the road, Ryanair's scheme has been a great success
for the shareholders and all the airlines are now requiring pilots to pay for a type rating. So even after doing the apprenticeship in the traditional manner, you still get shafted for at least GBP15k. I guess thats why I get hot under the collar about it all.
I dont understand this notion that it is "good business sense" to buy a Type Rating. If a business makes an investment it requires a Return On Investment, normally in the region of 2% above base rate. This would equate to a 6% ROI at todays rate. So on an investment of GBP75,000 (CPL/IR plus TR) that would mean an income of GBP79,500 in the first year. That is never going to happen, and that I can accept. Becoming a pilot is not a good business decision, there is too much emotional content in that decision. That companies cynically take advantage of our enthusiasm and bank accounts is a pretty low thing to do.
Brock Landers, you are right of cours, BALPA SHOULD be involved in trying to stop airlines charging for TR's, but as a union they seem to be pretty ineffectual in general, and all but useless for low houred guys, the employment conference being the exception to that.
www
First you tell us
"As a shareholder I think its a great idea."
and then you say
"I'm not actually a share holder."
Make up your fecking mind, then we can figure out what your intentions and motives are.
One of the jobs I do here is to stir up and create interesting threads.
So what is this forum? Entertainment or information? I can tell you I am not so much cross with you as deeply disappointed. Maybe for you as 737 sky-god it is fun to tweak our tails and watch us get upset, but the situation that wannabe's face now is
very different to what you had to face.
I no longer have any respect for you or your viewpoints, Andy. If any inexperienced wannabe's have bothered to trawl this far through this thread, I certainly hope they have learned that you arent quite as well informed about what is happening in the aviation market as you would like people to think you are.