The directly comparable people are the experienced Harrier pilots and the experienced A320 pilots - compare like with like. In the past a Harrier pilot would walk straight into BA, Cathay, Virgin and would in most cases have turned up his nose at easyJet. The simple fact is that world is not the rosy place it once was for ex-fast jet military guys. There is still a way forward for them, but they have to pay their way like the rest of the world into a type-rating. Changed days, but I am frankly at a loss to know why a Harrier pilot should not have to pay for a type-rating but everyone else should.
Regarding the stuff about CTC, they have a rigorous selection procedure with every bit as much of a dropout from initial applicants to final success as the military system. It is absolutely not the case that the entrance qualification to CTC is the size of your wallet. What is true to say is that since the demise of funded loans from HSBC the CTC route has been limited to those with both talent and independent financial resources. The demise of those loans incidentally has been caused by a small number of unscrupulous cadets who went bankrupt to avoid their liabilities to their loan providers when they in fact had access to paid employment. Not surprisingly, HSBC saw disaster looming and pulled out the market - consequently that has prevented poorer people from coming in.
studi - I am not really sure what your basic argument is. It is clearly a tragedy that someone can attempt to become an airline pilot without the basic talents. There is nothing I have seen that tells me CTC is trying to do that. Do people without the basic talent reach the cockpit of an Airbus? The sad answer is 'yes', but not often. The exact same happens in RAF front line flying - I can remember young lads getting onto the Squadron and then failing at the last hurdle, primarily due to a lack of basic talent. You seem to be suggesting that CTC are in the business of putting untalented pilots in the cockpits of commercial airliners - that is not my experience.
Where I think we have gone wrong at easyJet is not with the individual low-houred pilots but a lack of balanced recruitment. We can no longer say we recruit the best - we recruit the cheapest. We need to return to a range of recruiting options - i.e. ex-instructors, ex-military, ex-North Sea helicopters, ex-turboprop and current commercial pilots from suitable companies. That is the most credible way forward and I am disappointed we have not done that. My own view is that the days of company-sponsored type-ratings are over - you can argue whether that is right or not, but that is the future as I see it. In the meantime we have to recognise that market forces will ultimately decide the future of pilot recruitment.