For most of your career in aviation you learn that experience and good training count for everything. It’s the very foundation that makes a competent and safe pilot out of each and every one of us.
To top it off we have always been presented with goal posts by big companies like Qantas, these hourly requirements have established a certain level of safety within the industry and provided pilots with a clear strategy about what type of experience they need before they will be eligible for employment.
The USA have recently changed their regulations so that anyone who operates an aircraft under air transport ops must hold the full ATPL license and necessary experience levels. Why else would you have an ATPL license? The requirements are there so why not meet them before you can operate public transport?
Big waves need to be made about the Qantas / Jet Star move to operate their $150,000 Buy A Job Scheme. For most of your career you’ve been told you’re not experienced enough to operate public transport until you have 1500 hours and 500 multi, but all of a sudden Jet Star say you can throw $150K down and in 12 months you’re good to go? THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Yes Qantas have had their cadet scheme running for ever, but the QF cadets spend years in the simulator before they finally upgrade to a first officers position. The Jet Star guys get to jump in the right seat of an A320 on the completion of their course with 200 hours!
Where does it leave all of the aviators who have looked far and wide to obtain valuable flying experience? All those years living away from home in crappy small towns just to climb the ladder and gain some hours.
Those positions that would have been available for G.A. pilots will no longer be there when the cadet scheme ramps up, which means that guys stuck in G.A. will be stuck there even longer! By allowing this to happen you’re doing yourself out of a job and you’re allowing safety to be jeopardized.
I’m not much of a writer but here’s what needs to happen. A standard letter of complaint needs to be written in a professional format that we can all edit our details on and submit to CASA.
The same letter needs to be sent to :
GetUp! - Action For Australia - www.getup.org.au “Get Up Action For Australia” The team from “Get Up Australia” rally for donations and then run professional media campaigns for good causes. If we get enough people to ask for a campaign then they will run large scale advertisements in The Australian newspaper high lighting our concerns.
The public need to know for their safety and pilots in G.A. need to protect their future – Airline pilots need to protect their own conditions and support this cause.
This is one crime that Jet Star cannot get away with.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT >>
YouTube - Jet Star Pilot Safety