Criticism
I read the forums very regularly and the most common posts I see are someone being chastised for paying for a type rating, wanting to be a pilot or asking for advice. It seems these forums aren't a place to go for anyone who can't get advice.
I agree pay to fly schemes are immoral and ruining the industry but I understand why people go down that route. If you get told before you dart training that there will be jobs when you finish and all the predictions say there will be a pilot shortage in a year, but it all turns out to be false,, what do you do? Say oh well and go and get an office job? Or do you go and pay another £X thousand to get a job. Every airline job at the moment requires a type rating, thousands of hours total time and 500 hours minimum on type.
It's very easy when you have a job that other people are dreaming about to tell the dreamers they should give up. I know everyone should go and get an instructors job or find a new route to an airline but there are far too many to do that.
Now I want to ask the criticisers what they expect people to do? The airlines are taking advantage of young pilots and it is up to the industry to stop it from the inside, however I feel that this is how aviation will be from here on in. Only time will tell.