I expected more posts about the flights in Indonesia. As I previously explained this letter was just a testimony of what I saw and did during this period without being able to bring any piece of evidence on the table. Facts matter of course, unfortunately the only way to be convinced of them is to go and fly there. And yet you would still not call it facts. I provide you with the information, It is up to you to use it, believe it, or not. I am aware of the situation in the rest of Asia as well; I have no hope to change it by myself. I simply report a problem. I certainly would have written it differently, more neutral and professional, if I had to do it now on this forum. I already explained the conditions in which I wrote this letter and the reason why I decided to copy and paste it without modifying.
About the language, I for sure don't pretend to have a level of writing which allows me to publish like a journalist would, when so many native speakers would not be able as well, I presume. However I honestly don't think it was a real problem for the Indonesian newspaper, since I told them that they were free to cut and edit the form. Would they have had a real intention to publish, they could also simply contact me to talk about it.
But I understand the point; a bad use of the language makes the reading more difficult and the message harder to accept, especially for the native speakers. I wish I could have done better about that.
The best solution would have been to write it with another native speaker who flew with me and could understand the technical problems and the situation. It was not possible for two reasons: the first - and it is really hard to imagine for those who never had such conditions, even hard for me to remember it nowadays - we had absolutely no time together. As I described, we didn't sleep enough most of the time, the social life was almost nonexistent.
The second is that nobody wanted to talk or testify about it. No wonder why...
This brings me to one comment: when native speakers tell me that they saw the same things over there, the question which immediately comes to my mind is: why didn't they post about it themselves? Maybe they did afterwards, but I read most of the forums about this part of the world before I left for Indonesia and asked for a few advices. I had a good general idea but there were plenty I still had to discover when I arrived. Never assume that everybody knows. Isn't it the philosophy of our job to always clear a doubt and report a problem? I am sure that a native speaker would have done a much better job if he really wanted to.
I don't consider taking anyone's job, if anything it's my job which disappeared one day. I also went via the "right way", learned and progressed step by step during several years to the jet aircrafts. I never thought I would have to face this situation. I did nothing wrong, always had fair and good recommendations everywhere I went; before, between Indonesia and now. And even if it was not the case, one should never be blamed for saying the truth.
Many years ago, you could read in the forums that paying for a type rating was unacceptable. Now it is not considered anymore like paying to work, but paying for a line training is, still. The reality is that the situation has evolved and not in the good way. Am I happy about it? Clearly not. But do I improve the situation when I avoid admitting it? Do you think that the more you say something and the more it becomes true? The economical recession is not an argument, it's a reality. I don't even understand the idea of denying it. If you fly in a place where you don't fear for your job, then just stay where you are and enjoy what you have now.
Like I said in my previous post if you do everything you can to find another job and after too many months at home, your savings running dangerously low, your skills being devaluated on the paper then you have to do what it takes to survive, nothing less. Would you feel guilty for that? Of course not. As I said, I don't expect anyone who has not been already in this situation to fully understand the problem.
And what about the richest countries where you have this social security? Where the state will provide you with unemployment insurance, not as much as your previous salary for sure, but still a bit of something which will allow you to wait for better days while you keep looking for a job. It can last during several months or even years depending of the countries. I know a few pilots who used their indemnities until the end. Do you really think this is being part of the solution? Don't you think that increasing the cost of the work in Europe won't also have a bad result on the job market?
I had a difficult time in Indonesia but then I could get a good job again and be back to a normal life. I don't have any personal interest in posting here. As you can imagine from someone who has really no problem to openly talk about such kind of subjects, I don't need a general approval on this forum to be happy in my life. I didn't do it for that. I left this country more than a year ago and never looked back until now. Because I believe that testifying is important. I was fully aware of the situation before I went there and, during my time in Indonesia, I did my best to try to improve the things around me. Those who flew with me know that, in spite of the difficult conditions, I was very active to email about technical queries or problems, it's the way I am. I did many air safety reports (most of which were probably not considered as I mentioned) and when I left, I naively tried to slightly change the situation there when I wrote this letter. And now this thread for the pilots. I don't think that I have to be ashamed of anything I did in this country.
About the young pilots, you could find two kinds: the ones who paid and the ones who were paid. Exactly the same experience, I even met more experienced ones in the first group and only pilots coming for their first job for those who had a salary. I don’t know the statistics of course. The only difference was the place where they did their type rating. The one who paid had to go through a screening on simulators and only 60% passed it when I joined. Like the ones who had a salary, they could be fired during their line training or after, and the company would have to reimburse one part of the money but deducted from all the expenses. As I already explained these expenses were high and not so much money would remain out of it. Therefore, assuming that a pilot who paid to fly had less chance to be fired and would be less qualified because he could take it easy, is wrong. He actually had more to lose. And assuming that they would all be replaced by more experienced pilots, if none of them would agree to work under this condition, is even more wrong. Why choosing a young pilot when you could hire a more experienced one for the same salary in this part of the world? I don’t have the answer to this question - something to do with the profile as I heard - but I know that, many companies do it and not only limited to this job and this sector of activity.
Now if no pilot would agree to pay to fly, of course the companies would have to hire. Although, in a sector where the salaries of the employees and payments of other contractors would represent, let’s say around 30% of the total expenses; we must consider that a company, which plans its strategy based on free workers or people who are ready to pay to work, would not expand as much if they had to pay everyone. So we cannot make the assumption that for each pilot who pays to fly, one could be hired. It would be less than that.
Of course I am in favour of training bonds, I started with one myself. But the reality is different now; you can do everything right and still not find a first job. I met some pilots, not so young anymore, who couldn’t even find a paid job as an instructor in an aeroclub when they started. The supply and demand is not balanced anymore. So what do you say to these young pilots who realise that they will never realise anything else since the situation is too bad in their country? They tried everything and still cannot find, unless they go abroad and start like that. You tell them that they should forget about their dreams and sacrifice themselves, for the profit of other more privileged pilots (who maybe don’t realise it: remember the story I told you about the pilot who was on strike and didn’t know that in Europe, we had to pay for our training) in countries with a better (or at least developing) economy? This is what they should do? Yes I am sure that we would all do that…