Happy to talk
Big number,
I would go so far as to say would be happy to talk to you on the phone about my views but thats not really the spirit of pprune. But if you really want to I can PM you my number.
Next,
In your last post you say that p2F is fun. I'm sure 99% of guys doing it are sweating because of the money they spent on it. The added stress of wether they secure employment afterwards and not just flushed another 40 odd thousand whatevers down the toilet in pursuit of the dream. If it was only cashed up super rich people doing it for a laugh then no problem. It's their money. The problem is that it's not very rich people doing it. Most will be paying it off for years. They won't be at Gordom Ramsey's recalling the experience to his/her toff mates!
As to why I hate p2F. Firstly, who came up with it? Did the pilots union think of it to give new guys a better chance of emplymont? NO. Was it a government scheme to get more guys into flying? NO. Was it thought up by an airline as means of raising revenue off desperate kids who think it's the answer? YES. It is not a recognised means of pilot training. It's a slickly advertised scheme that if you listen to the spin by the sales team they will have you thinking that they are only there to help you and the fact that you have to pay them a large amount of money is regrettable but we are not a charity you know.
I can't see how joining a golf club is the same as pay to fly. Most people go to golf clubs to have FUN. Oh but you think p2F is also FUN. You pay fee's to use the greens and equipment. No one at the golf club is promising you a job as a pro if you pay them a huge sum of money.
As for the life experience I judge it by how many things you have been through and what you took away from it. Sure having kids and mortgage's is part of gaining it but you don't need to have them to have life experience. A good judge of it is how easy it is to scam someone. Guess what? The younger you are and the less time you have had experiencing the world means less life experience.
"But its the only way to get the 500 hour minimum required by most operators" I can tell you the 500 hours is only there to stop them getting flooded with 250 hour wannabee's Resume's. I can honestly say that most applicants would have more than the requirement. They have to set the bar somewhere. Where I work the minimum is 500 hours, CPL-ME-IR and rated on type. The rated on type weeds out most of the low timers but the majority of Resume's we see have much more than 500 hours (750-1500 is the norm).
When the airlines run out of Resume's then the minimums will come down. This won't happenn for a while yet. So after you guys get your 500 on type and find out the minimim just went to 750 hours on type what will you do? Pay for another 250 hours?
Sorry for the rambling nature of the post, I couldn't ref Bignumbers one while I wrote it.
Last edited by tarmac12; 2nd Jan 2012 at 02:26.