Silly me - I forgot the MOD doesn't procure anything state of the art! The KA is a 1969 design - nearly as old as the Jetstream!:ugh:

wdd

Now that did make me laugh... Very True and very funny...:ok:

You see, where the BAES went wrong was not making a "iJetstream or Jetsream-i". It seems by just putting an "i" in the title these days and "hey presto" it's bang up to date!

Beechcraft King Air 350i Turboprop: Overview

I think it's actually QOi - it's a bang up to date QO

Qualified Looker Learner - i.e. one who instructs Observers.

In the world of Business and Finance a QOI is a Questionable Outside Investor!!! :uhoh:

Harsh, Kreuger Flap, harsh.....

















...but fair.

So isn't that a valid point in itself then? Where once there was a post for Servicemen, now there isn't.

In these times with little easing of Op Tempo in sight, what's wrong with a post that our folk can relax a little and see their families' for a tour? There is no doubt that this has already had an effect in the RAF with the numbers of posts available for QFIs being reduced (though not for the same reason).

What happens after the last generation of ex-Service instructors retire - will the through-and-through civvy instructor be able to offer the same product? We will, no doubt, find out in due course.:ugh:

By which time it'll be too late to do anything about it.....:mad:

There won't be any money to repair the damage; neither will there be sufficient people to train as QFIs by the remnants of CFS once this whole sad, sorry mess collapses in on itself.

Does Anybody know what Ascent plan to pay?

Are they expecting you to rely on your pension?

Ta.

Fatty.

Rule No. 1 is never seek employment from someone expecting you to 'top up' your Service pension with their salary!

For pilots, they will need to compete with the salary scale and Ts&Cs for a line captain with airlines such as flybe or Eastern Airlines at the very least.

If they cannot match them, WALK AWAY!!

Wise words Beags. Now if you can just get them to offer a half decent salary...

Why should they need to pay any more than (say) Cobham pay their King Air pilots?

Rubbish! Why would they be required to do that? Because the pilot job market is so competitive in the UK right now? Because pilots are so difficult to find?

By your argument, Flyby and Eastern would have to compete with BA and Virgin at the very least?

Bolleaux!

flybe and Eastern effectively define the basic market rate for twin turboprop aviation. There's no reason why some mercenary MFTS organisation should attempt to undercut that rate - or to offer lower Ts and Cs - just because they think that ex-military pilots will fall over themselves in a headlong rush to top up their pensions with a low salary.

In any case, they will have factored pilot salaries into their business model. If the civilian market picks up in a couple of years and MFTS are not offering a competitive package, they will very soon end up with no pilots at all.

Oh dear, what a pity, never mind.....:hmm:

Trouble is BEagle is that not everyone wants to strap an airliner to their backsides and go from A to B and back again 3 times a day without touching the controls! At least in the contracted mil jobs, you get to fly the a/c on a variety of different profiles with a different baby looker to beast each time.

variety is the spice of life! - its not all about salary! And I bet at Ascent, you won't have any Sh1t secondary duties!

WDD

What makes you think that ex-mil pilots should measure their worth against the salary levels of experienced airline pilots? Ex-mil pilots generally have relatively little experience that is relevant to the airline business, often a bit of an inflated opinion regarding their capabilities (standing by to be flamed, which will prove my point..), and are competing against experienced civ pilots with considerably more relevant experience of civ ops, and an established track record of putting up with endemic job insecurity, unsociable constantly changing rostas, constant bull**** from the beancounters etc.

And as WDD pointed out, there are horses for courses, and some ex-mil pilots may simply prefer to fly with Ascent within their comfort zone than go into civ flying with its own panoply of stresses and general crap.

Sorry TS - was that the Military or Civil side you were talking about there?:confused:

Without biting to your obvious hook, i think there are many in the 2 Gp empire that would beg to differ with several of your comments above...

Half a bottle speaking; seems to me that Descent would have been a more appropriate handle?