Finally someone with a bit of authority, experience and courage to speak a bit of sense about the parlous state of a pilot's lot! I hope that some of you can find it in yourselves to support GAPAN as they seem to be the only one of several professional pilot's representative bodies publicly and vocally opposing the scourge of pay to train, and pay to fly schemes plaguing our industry, and reducing the professional status of a pilot to one of a comedy cash cow.
Status of Professional Pilots
Jun 7, 2011
“WOULD ENGINE DRIVERS PAY FOR THEIR OWN JOB TRAINING?”
“YOUNG PILOTS TREATED AS AN OVERRATED RESOURCE”
Safety is being jeopardised by the aviation industry’s reluctance to assist in the training costs for pilots
The drive for greater recognition of the status of professional pilots gains momentum after a rousing speech by the Master of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators.
Speaking at the Guild’s Livery Dinner at Drapers Hall, Captain Wally Epton spoke openly about the major issues affecting today’s professional pilots prompting an overwhelming show of support from the 200 guests in attendance.
Since taking over as the Master of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators, Wally has made it his aim to improve the training aid to future pilots and to also maintain the status of current professional pilots.
Wally suggested to The Hon Theresa Villiers MP and the Minister of State for Transport, who attended the dinner, a means by which she could help with her Department’s newly announced plans to cut costs on the railways.
“Why not for example, ask guards or engine drivers to pay for their own training before earning their salaries?” Wally asked. “Or better still allow the train operating companies to charge drivers for the privilege of driving trains, during their probationary period.”
While Capt. Epton acknowledged that it sounds nonsensical and could you just imagine the Unions’ reaction, worryingly there are many young pilots in the aviation industry who are being forced to do just that. Aspiring commercial pilots are forced to embark on self-funded Pay 2 Train and even Pay 2 Fly programmes to qualify for their jobs.
He said: “Operators, the Department for Transport and even the regulators need to look urgently at the value of British pilots to our economy. The general public might appreciate that skillful and well-trained pilots are essential to the safe conduct of their flight, but it would seem that amongst government officials, aviation management and to a lesser extent with regulators, pilots are increasingly being treated as an overrated resource.”
Wally’s speech not only addressed the issues facing qualified pilots but also those training to become a pilot. Airlines do not pay to train their pilots. Instead youngsters pay for it themselves, having to find upwards of £70,000 and complete their training with no guarantee of a job at the end of it. Wally is concerned for these youngsters who enter the industry with huge financial worries right at the start of the career when they should be free from distractions to learn their craft of flying safely and professionally.
“The love of aviation is driving these young people to self-fund their training in one of the most professional industries in the world,” he says. “Yet it is being abused by those who should know better.”
He adds. “The Department for Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Airlines claim safety is their first priority and yet safety is already being jeopardised by this present situation.”
To show that this is a problem unique to aviation, Wally spoke of how other companies invest in their employees yet the airline industry has stepped out of that chain. He commented, “Top companies in UK PLC include training as part of their remit, including the offer of internships and on-going training in industry. We need to change the way that the aviation industry and government treats pilots and redress the balance in quality of life.”
The Guild has been doing what it can to address these problems by providing scholarships and campaigning for the approval of flight training as an official form of further education. This approval would allow VAT to be removed saving trainees thousands of pounds. The Guild has also been urging aircraft operators to accept responsibility for type rating training.
Wally said, “We will continue to do what we can, but the aviation industry has to accept its responsibilities towards the cost of advanced flying training and recurrent training to ensure skilled pilots are there to fly the aeroplanes the public want to travel in.”