Flypuppy,
W.r.t. '
I dont believe it is some lucky coincidence that there is spare training capacity' - Actually, there isn't any spare capacity.
Indeed both Astraeus and Bond have recently had to recruit extra trainers, e.g. ground school instructors, sim FI's, line training Captains, TRI's, and TRE's - and just why is this ?
You can be very certain that neither Astraeus or Bond recruited these people in advance of customers walking through the door. They recruited them due to the demand being made by an expanding airline, and ( I'm almost afraid to say it ) an expanding TRTO.
There is, quite obviously, a demand.
Indeed I often wonder if we've got more training people onboard than 'normal' pilots.
W.r.t. ‘
This would have protected the AOC during the lean months in winter’ - Err, what has an AOC got to do with lean winter months ( the AOC is to do with safety of the airline ) ? What I suspect you mean is the Operating License ( OL ) which is to do with the fiscal fitness of an airline.
W.r.t. ‘
This can only benefit the operating company by easing the stress on "full time" crews by allowing additional bods to fill the roster - especially during the busy summer schedule.’ - Actually it causes a rostering & crewing nightmare !
The reason being that nobody can say, for definite, that TRTO candidates will indeed have their licenses issued on or by any particular date, e.g. maybe they won’t be up to scratch, and / or there are delays along the way, etc… and also head-count planning is difficult, i.e. will Bond actually have enough people wanting line training, or not ( crystal ball time ) ?!
W.r.t. ‘
It would also allow "full time" crews to avoid unpopular destinations like West Africa.’ – What are you on about ?
One of the great things about flying for Astraeus is precisely that you do get to go to the more ‘exotic’ locations.
W.r.t. ‘
the ethics of it dont seem quite right’ - Basically some people have the money and are prepared to take a
measured risk with their time and money in procuring a type-rating, it’s not like any of the TRTO’s are holding a shotgun to anybodies head and forcing them to sign up.
W.r.t. ‘
It will only take one small incident caused by a paying line training pilot and they will be all over it like a rash demanding the practice be stopped.’ – Sorry, but I fail to see the connection.
What you have is a properly licensed and type-rated pilot being line trained by a properly licensed and highly experienced Training Captain ( along with the initial sectors also being covered by an experienced pilot riding shotgun on the jump seat ). This takes places under the auspices of a properly licensed TRTO, and all of which is conducted under the auspices and approval of the CAA.
In the event of an incident, I genuinely fail to see that whom is paying who for the training is of any relevance.
Wr.t. ‘
If paying for a type rating become the way of the world then the cost of getting a job will be *at least* 70,000 pounds.’ - I once worked out that getting my own license ( under the old CAA system - anybody else remember 'penalty marking' ? ) cost me something in the region of £56,000 - and that was well over a decade ago, when £56k seemed like a lot of money !
W.r.t. ‘
I cannot and will not pay that sort of money for the possibility of a job.’ – Then don’t !
However it won’t be lost on you that you have probably already invested a small fortune on exactly what you say, above, that you wouldn’t do, i.e. the
possibility that by gaining a (f)ATPL somebody might give you a job.
Aviation has never been a cheap club to join, but it's a good club to be in, if you can get in ( and there’s the rub )
Do remember that I know what it feels like to be on the outside looking in, as I too, some years back, embarked on a huge and risky financial undertaking when I took to gaining my profession license - all in the desperate hope that one day I might get lucky when I said to an airline "gizza job, I can do that".
Indeed the very thought of it still makes me shudder ( and in many ways I'm still paying for it ) - but, at the eleventh hour, I got lucky ( thanks to Hamrah !
) which is just as well, or else it would of meant that I'd have blown £56,000 with only a nice little license and some log books to show for it !
Except for a very lucky few, trying to break into aviation has always been, and will continue to be, a big and very expensive risk - and, with hindsight, if a child of mine was to ask me if 'they too should be an airline pilot ?' I'd probably try and dissuad them from it.