Mick, I'm sure you're a top bloke and I'm sure you're not a closet millionaire either.
But the fact of the matter is that the business model that you and ALL those other 700 "mum and dad operators" all rely on, and have been relying on since forever, only works by paying your pilots S.F.A. Most employers know it, some of them even feel bad about it sometimes and buy the boys a few extra beers on a friday, but at the end of the day nothing will change because they're all scared about
will john down the road undercut us for the next contract.
And he's probably worrying the same thing about you.
At the end of the day the vast majority of young pilots, whether they're good guys or idiots, all have one thing in common, they aren't there by choice, they will be out of there like a rat up a drainpipe once they get the golden phone call from an airline. Fine you say, I accept that, the guys are getting their hours, I know they will move on after a couple of seasons to better things and I wish them all the best.
At the end of the day we pay a pilot a good wage in return we are getting second rate pilots that through no fault of there own have been sold a lemon. Don't we have aright to expect a certain standard of training as the norm not the exception.
In a word, no. As long as you're paying your guys a few bucks an hour or or $30 grand a year or whatever it is, you absolutely do not have the right to expect that the guys in the schools will cater their training to YOUR wants and needs. Most of them are in hock to the tune of $100 grand plus and the only way they have any chance of paying that back is to get their ass into the airlines as soon as humanly possible. Even then these days, it's a bit doubtful, but that's another story
But anyway the point is, 99.9% of guys are going to cater their training to what is going to look good on an airline CV or get them through a sim check with minimum fuss. The least thing they care about is VFR map reading or short field grass strip takeoffs. Training for GA and training for airlines is a very very different beast these days.
If you've got specific needs of a pilot and you can't get what you want in the marketplace then as I see it your options are either take on an untrained guy, suck it up and train him to your standards, or poach someone else's guys. Either way it's going to cost you money. Well then mate I'm sorry but cry me a river, welcome to the real world of employment competition. Don't blame the schools or the student pilots for it.
To be honest I hope the trend continues, until the collective GA realizes it's actually more economical to pay people to make a CAREER out of it instead of constantly losing guys to the airlines, and pays and trains accordingly.