Studi - the exam question is how does someone become an airline pilot? To describe CTC as a scam is just nonsense. You say it is not the only game in town - where else then can you go to get that first airline job these days? Also to suggest that all you get out of it is a paid by the hour job is not true. I do not like the current employment practices of easyJet any more than you do, but there is nonetheless a clear path from 200 hour cadet to captain on a 5/3/5/4 contract. The key thing is that many of these guys have gone onto a great future, whether with us or with other large carriers - it is not all bad.
Robert G Mugabe - we have all once been 200 hour pilots, and I was fortunate at that stage in my career to have supportive captains who understood the deal. My personal obvservation is that large numbers of CTC guys and gals are great people, but just lack experience. You cannot buy experience - you just have to get it. Part of the process is that if an individual needs more support to maintain the required standard, they will get it. That means that, on occasion, someone may be taken off the line to undergo further training. That does not mean the system has failed - it means the training system checks and balances are in place and working correctly. We have a number of Captains who, for reasons primarily related to their own insecurities, have elected to make life incredibly difficult for our newest pilots and make them feel small in order to make them feel better about themselves. I frankly have very little tolerance for that attitude, and always try to be supporting to a new pilot finding their way in the world. Clearly we have a minimum standard that must be maintained, but within that limitation we can go to great lengths to assist our colleagues.