Or maybe this is the fact that the airlines are working to further erode the respectability and pay of the profession. Look at how the VA just today announced they are going to be using more Nurses with the ability to write prescriptions. (as if somehow prescriptions were the solution to every ailment) Doctors disagree with this practice but of course, they are not being listened to by management. A terrible VA is just about to get even worse!

Make no mistake... this program is to reduce pilot pay by saying that someone far less experienced, far less educated can do the same job. A company doesn't really care if you get violated because it is YOUR license, not theirs. The company will defend themselves saying they had operational control, the pilots had training, and of course all the legal language in the operations manual always makes the pilot culpable. Lastly, what makes a pilot experienced is not hours necessarily -- it's the type of experiences he has had (e.g. emergencies). Airlines are using statistical observations to say that operations are far safer now, airplanes are safer, and thus the chance of an emergency occurring (with an inexperienced pilot) are very low. And in the event an emergency does occur, the company will always say that it was an emergency and that the pilot is to blame. From a legal standpoint, the company sits pretty if anything were to happen meanwhile people will have died.

They can make all the arguments they want about the military taking inexperienced pilots but it's an apples to oranges comparison. The military persistently demands discipline and affords significant training opportunities (every flight includes training). I somehow doubt that these guys are going to go do 6 instrument approaches with touch and goes in the real airplane every month. I also doubt they will pay a small fortune to have them at the sims every month practicing emergency procedures. What they want is not impossible but it requires a great deal of money to do correctly and no airline will ever pour that much money into training.

And one last point about discipline... in the military you are in a rank structure that is very real because it is re-enforced by military law. This promotes discipline whether the young pilot wants it or not. Usually the Aircraft Commander is not just the guy who signs for the airplane, but also the guy who outranks his copilot and rest of the crew. Not to mention, performance in the cockpit is also tied to various records kept on the pilot all of which are actionable by the unit commander. The civilian world simply has no equivalent -- not even close. A chief pilot is about the closest you can get but he has no real authority over the young pilot. This is because no civilian is above another and all employment is totally optional. Remember, a civilian can have a bad attitude and simply quit his job. They can also be extremely undisciplined and unruly in their job until they decide to quit or go elsewhere. So, I wish the JB would quit making the military comparison. The truth is they are navigating uncharted waters with this programme.