I post the quote below, from the BALPA website, merely for info. I don't know what it really means or entails. If you are a military pilot, and an associate (?) member of BALPA, as I was when in the RAF (subs were then £24 a year), maybe you should contact them and see what they can offer.
BALPA STEPS IN TO HELP REDUNDANT RAF PILOTS, WARNS OF SHORTAGE AND CALLS FOR SUMMIT Commenting on the news that a quarter of the RAF's trainee military pilots are to be made redundant (some a few hours short of their Wings) Captain Mark Searle (Chairman of the British Airline Pilots' Association) said 'This is bad news all round, but it is not an uncommon experience for many civilian pilots who have invested £130,000 of their own money to get a commercial licence and then find they face life as a casual employee or being "let go" without warning.
'But the military announcement should ring alarm bells with anyone who cares about UK aviation.'
With many military pilots eventually finding themselves at the controls of commercial aircraft, today's cuts, he said, when combined with the increasingly cyclical hire and fire nature of commercial aviation, will mean that in the mid to long term UK plc is going to find itself with a pilot shortage and less able to compete as a nation.
BALPA's tactical response to the announcement will be to step up the help it gives to its military members with support on job opportunities, guidance on entering the world of commercial aviation and access to pilot mentors.
'But the more strategic approach is to continue to press individual airlines to shoulder more of the responsibility for training,' said Jim McAuslan, General Secretary of BALPA.
' With few exceptions airlines have walked away from their responsibilities to put something akin to apprenticeship back into the industry. The military's decision adds to the problem.'
Captain Mark Searle said that the Government has tough choices to make on public expenditure, and no one envies them. 'But it could do more to help. For instance, now faced with making 100 skilled trainees redundant, it could call a high level summit to look at 'joined up solutions' between military and civilian operations. It could knock some heads together in the industry to get apprenticeships moving.
' Longer term it could look at a new loan scheme (akin to student loans) to get able students, whatever their background, into the profession rather than the commercial loans that have to be repaid over three years.'
BALPA, Jim McAuslan said, is ' bristling with ideas - all we need is to be asked.'
Bad times, really bad times ......
