Originally Posted by nicholasblonde

Seriously...if 10-15 kids at ERAU put their individual 100K together, they could buy a VLJ, hire a check airman, and run charters until they all had 1000 TPIC. At the end of the day it would involve less risk (i.e. no risk of being one of the 492/500 NOT selected to go to Spirit), be more fun, and probably make them better pilots (scary). Also they'd have a share of a jet at the end of the day, instead of the same FAA certificates for which everyone else paid a lot less.

Also, who is to say these 8 ERAUers didn't have close to the mins already? Maybe they weren't the typical ERAU grad (i.e. maybe they all already had lots of time from grandpa or daddy's plane).

I understand the euros do stuff like this all the time, but the US has plenty of qualified pilots who are much more qualified, and there is no need for this type of BS. I think the Spirit pilot group should do something about it.