It seems like the big companies are only hiring near-astronauts as new pilots!
Quite frustrating!
Nl_lynx,
You are not alone my friend. It's happening right across the board here in the UK and undoubtedly across Europe from what you say.
The 'long and the short of it' (British idiom): 'Astronauts' are cheap because they require little training. If the 'Astronaut' in question already works for your company - even better. It's, currently, all about cheap and you can blame sub-prime mortgages, Greece...blah...
The other thing that's going on here at the moment is that really low timers are getting the nod - 2 to 400hr guys with only the twin hours they gained on the ME IR course. Their salary is cheap, they're happy just to have the job, they won't move on quickly, they won't move up quickly...
There's a lot of us in the same boat; JAR-FCL, 3000hrs, heavy, medium, light, ME, IR, MCC - I never thought I'd find myself over-qualified in this field but it's happening...
