Just on the age barriers, I don't know if European regulations are the ideal way to bring in some fairness and equal opportunity but certainly we need a bit of a revolution in UK aviation to bring the culture into the 21st century. In the US, no matter who you are, if you work hard you can and will eventually progress up the ranks... just about anyone can get a class 1 medical, anyone can afford to get a PPL, and from there it just takes dedication and the right aptitude to get on. Observe the flight crews milling around in major US airport terminals and you can see a full cross section of humanity, all sharing just one thing in common, a love of avaition. Contrast this with the very strange demographics of British pilots; they all even
look the same.
I'll happily sign up for sponsored training if offered, at 26 I'm still eligible for some current schemes and may well succeed, but even so, having seen inside now, I have to say that the whole ab initio cadet concept, which churns out a big chunk of the workforce and crowds out other pilots, is a very objectionable socialist idea... it of course originated in the dark ages with state-owned European airlines.
Bureaucrats 'select' the people they think will make the best pilots for their firm, using whatever barmy methods they want -- ranging from reasonably sensible aptitude tests, thru to personality and handwriting assessments and, of course, age, height, weight. The one thing missing is
effort and achievement. Any young Tom Dick or Harry with a few A levels can, for the cost of a stamp, apply to be fast-tracked into an airline job and if successful will be handed it all on a silver plate, yet those who wish to work hard to get on by themselves are looked down upon and may get nowhere.
Obviously this is not new, but, it seems at this moment to be getting worse and people just casually comment on it like by-standers watching an accident in progress. The only good development is the gradually relaxing class 1 medical regime. It's very sad that the pilot employment market is going to need European regulations to liberate it!
Why do airlines want to create new inexperienced pilots when there are plenty of people keen to work hard and make themselves into experienced pilots? Sure, GA in the UK is underdeveloped/overtaxed but not
that bad. Apologists can argue it's about quality, airlines choosing who they want, but I think it's actually about an elite airline clique, operating in cahoots with the CAA, BAPLA, and others, preferring to oversee a closed-shop of self-perpetuating clones rather than open the doors to the fresh air of diversity.
