Reddo,
I'm sure the only job you really want is as a full-time, paid, Ppruner! Don't know about old farts, girl, but we take peeps up to (I think) 57 years old, as long as they have the requisite 2500 hours (or 3000, or whatever it is today) on something a lot heavier than a J31.
Minuteman,
I'm intrigued! Tell me more - and remember that the above post isn't official Virgin policy or comment, just my opinion.
WWSD I'm sorry if my musings seem scary to you; that wasn't the idea!
The bottom line is that all airlines would like to employ experienced pilots - preferably with type ratings on the aircraft they operate. At the feeder end of the market (the bit you guys are interested in), that's not going to happen. So they specify what they think will give them the best and cheapest shot at getting useful pilots on the line as quickly as possible. That includes
some who have recently completed their ATPL training.
As I think WWW mentioned above, the system has recently changed to what you now 'enjoy'. However, most airline recruiting departments are still working with memories (sometimes very painful) of the old system, in which the self-improver could achieve an ATPL with far less supervisory training than now. Under that system, there was no doubt that the 509er (integrated) was statistically a far better bet than the self-improver (modular)
at low hours. Even now, an integrated graduate is more likely to be successful in line training than a modular graduate who has taken a long time to get his FATPL. That's why they ask the self-improver/modular graduate for more hours. As the new system settles down, and as long as airlines need to recruit such inexperienced pilots (which is not a given), the 'prejudice' against modular peeps with good continuity
may reduce.
Notwithstanding all this, an airline operating jet equipment is likely to prefer to hire someone with a good few hours and commercial twin or turbo experience, so the low-hour graduate of either system is not the candidate of choice!
Flying heavy jets is the pinnacle of your chosen career, not the bit you do just after training. Most of the current big jet pilots did long apprenticeships on smaller equipment in provincial airlines, and that maybe after some years doing military or air-taxi stuff.
Please be patient. If you were to end up in a 747 flight deck at 25, what on earth would you have to aspire to for the rest of your career? Go and get those hours, whichever route you take.
PS, WWSD: you're not going to get a job with Virgin without working for someone else first! Unlike BA, we don't have a fleet that lends itself to a structured career for new pilots. As you could expect a maximum of two or three landings a month, we like to be sure that your technique is firmly embedded in your subconscious before you come to us. As I've said many times before (including in this post), we don't take pilots with less than 2500 hours, and preferably considerably more.
As for how the market will be in two years' time, who knows? My opinion, for what it's worth, is that any recession will be fairly short and shallow. The industry has already suffered a significant drop in long-haul loads, and recruiting to the US and European majors is slowing. The UK IT airlines have been somewhat sheltered by the continuing strength of UK consumer spending, and so they are likely to recruit quite strongly this winter. UK commuters, also, haven't seen too much change as yet.
It all depends on continuing consumer confidence; if you think you might be unemployed soon, holidays etc are not likely to feature in your spending plans. Equally, businesses rein in their foreign travel. The airline industry then suffers as a result - and thus take on fewer new hires. This effect is displaced from the economic cycle by 6 months to a year, so if the slowdown ended at Christmas, I'd be expecting airlines to resume expanding by the end of 2002.
However, if my crystal ball's better than Alan Greenspan's or Eddie George's, I'm in the wrong job!
[ 01 August 2001: Message edited by: scroggs ]