SND:
Head above the parapet!
LOL, you should know better, you have enough posts under your belt :-) There is no tolerance for common sense or reality on PPRuNe!
Weave:
P.S There are probably pilots out there that can't spell or use spellcheck but are very good at flying and keep their passengers safe and happy.
Perhaps, but they should know that a CV is how they present themselves to a
prospective employer, one that we assume they would like to impress. Is sloppiness/laziness really what they want to present? When they arrive for the face-to-face interview should they be expected to dress the part, or is baggy sweats and flip flops sufficient?
D.Diver:
But what will happen in a few year's if all the experienced guys are going on retirement?
This means there will be a huge gap and no pilots to fly, right?
I have seen this principle in Dutch Airforce, they keep on hiring even if they don't have at this moment spots available.
If they don't do it they will create a big gap in the pilots pool when the majority goes to retirement.
Not only in the aviation but also DSM a chemical company is on the edge of going bankrupt because in 3 a 4 years 60% will have to retire.
So how long will it take before the helicopter world takes a hit like this?
Same as how long will it take that key man insurers of the customers will demand requirements nobody can deliver any more?
It looks like the rotary world is in a downward spin flight to the ground.
*my bold added* Militaries can afford to do this because they are, by definition, non-profit agencies. They are concerned with capability not, as long as they are within budget, making money.
The owners/boards/accountants that dictate the policy of adding or not adding unnecessary crew (in this case copilots but it applies to apprentice maintainers as well) to the budget are concerned with immediate profitability not the health of the aviation industry in 5 or 10 years. I've tried to argue the value of doing what you suggest and it is not easy. When you do succeed then one of these guys who gets the break will quit and run to the competition with his newly padded CV full of shiny new ratings and hours. Thus endeth the program....
Nothing that is happening now is new. I would argue that the fixed wing side is worse but it's all a matter of perspective. The 'industry' has survived this far and will continue. As operators become unable to fill the crew seats, then solutions will be found:
...bankruptcy or liquidation
...internally funded mentoring (higher rates or lower profit)
...higher wages to compete for talent
...customers look to other services
...or...all/none of the above???
But the world won't end. If one wants to succeed in it, then he (or she) must rise to the challenge, not cry about the reality.