and then of course there's the practicality of major airlines such as BA and Virgin training experienced captains in their 40's and 50's to get TR's on the 78's and 380's - it's really not a long-term solution, and surely they'd much rather have younger pilots in who in the long run will be more efficient after the expensive TR training?
I am curious how old you think "experienced captains" tend to be? These aircraft are going to be new and senior fleets, certainly for the first few years and beyond. As such, airlines will tend to put their senior captains on this type of equipment.
The great thing with being 40 or 50, is that you potentially have 15-25 years of employment ahead of you (you will be 42 then!) There are no end of replacement people advancing into this age range. Much as we all look forward to the "
planet of the teenagers" it is still only a frightening scenario at this point.
Before you are too quick to write off the 40 and 50 year "oldies" take a look at the age of the people who will be potentially be training you. Look at the ages of the airline interview panels. Look at the ages of mum and dad who will no doubt be expected to finance all of this.
When you graduate from Oxford and are "fighting for those jobs" I suggest you take a slightly broader outlook on the real world. Of course, you could suggest these ideas to those who train and recruit and then train and promote. Maybe they will agree with you?
