Mr Hat. Well done
One of the few people on this website that can discuss and articulate on a debate or issue without turning it into a brawl. It seems that most on this website grow about 6 inches through the power of a keyboard.
I also agree with Capt Biggles' thoughts. I agree with you Mr Hat on not giving these individuals a hard time and the system IS letting us all down at ALL levels but surely they must be able to take responsibility for their choices ?
As Biggles said they can never plead ignorance. Cadets may be extremely green but they are not idiots. They know that starting as a single piston driver is hard work and they may encounter some scary dark clouds. They just decided it was tooooo hard and Mummy's and Daddy's money can get me anything. And if anyone says "What is wrong with that ?" My parents have been there from day one with an open cheque book to support me and most of my colleagues through life but I must have been brought up differently. I worked full time, studied in the downtime and payed for my training . I am now EXACTLY on the path I wanted to be on and have found myself to be surrounded by other hard working pilots who are great human beings who actually want to fly an aircraft VS telling the world that they are a pilot. On the subject, To the Skippers pilot that drives around Perth with the roof off the car,music up, bars blazing on the shoulder, looking around to see if anyone's watching you, YES, We are watching you and thinking one thing. Take the massive aviators off, look in the rear view mirror and then give yourself an uppercut.
SOAR 2384 - I know of 3 people (very well) that left Skippers to greener pastures and one of the major reasons was the Cadet system they have in place. It is laughable. Cadets that have paid $55,000 plus extras to be a wage of around 55k. Opps.... hang on, Superannuation is included in that figure, do we all know that ?!?! So take another 9 % off and you are left with a large loan, average pay,NO REAL EXPERIENCE but all you top guns can all tell the 18y/o girls you stutter at that you fly a pretty turbo prop while some great people actually took the time to do an apprenticeship and really learn the trade of Flying the aircraft and making critical command decisions. And to the ones did actually spend 2 seconds in the bush before collapsing in a crying heap- YOU ARE WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS INDUSTRY !!!
I know that some pilots with a GA background leave a lot to be desired as do some Cadets. This is a human condition. We are all different. However, the general attitude of Cadets, (JQ cadets included) is woeful at best. It is the biggest plane in the quickest time, usually for an embarrassing salary. If you didn't take the DISGUSTING terms , conditions and in a lot of cases pay, the programs would not exist. The terms and conditions you guys are accepting are continually setting the bar lower and lower for the entire industry !!!
