There’s a letter from the President of IFALPA in today’s Flight International (2-8th Sept 2003), commenting on the article written in Flight International issue 19-25th September 2003 re Astraeus/Bond Aviation solutions Boeing 737 type rating and line training.
Headlined Stop this troubling practice he raises the issue of inexperienced individuals occupying the Co-Pilots seat of a passenger carrying jet ‘under the guise of gaining experience, when in essence the goal of the operator is primarily financial gain.’
He comments on safety, which lets face it should be every operators main concern, ‘individuals are selected on their ability to pay rather than what might be considered to be the more important attribute of skill and ability. Clearly safety must be compromised by such schemes and IFALPA believes that they should be stopped forthwith.’
He then suggests that passengers may find this practice ‘extremely troubling’ and that many would ‘think twice about flying on an airline operating such a scheme.’
It's worth reading, unlike the jobs section.