Originally Posted by
cessnamann
1000TT regulatory/contractual requirement would benefit our profession greatly. Also a lot of people (myself included) love to bash ERAU/UND and other collegiate aviation programs because of their cost. Imagine what it would do for our pay if these institutions were the only ones certified to provide commercial pilot training. The almost limitless supply of 6 month zero to hero graduates for the airlines to choose from would go away really fast. I’m not trying to sound like an elitist, but hiring pilots who did not graduate from college degrades our profession and our pay.
Let me guess...you went to college for aviation? Ah ha, this is why it should be this way. Funny now everyone's take benefits their personal situation.
This is such a screwed up profession. I was thumbing through Flying the other day and saw an ad in the back for Eaglejets. You can write them a check for $18,900 bucks paying for your own training, to then get interviewed and put into the hiring pool for Eagle. Mind you, you have to have commercial multi before even showing up. And furthermore, when is American Eagle EVER going to hire off the street again? ITS JUST INSANITY. It is nothing short of taking advantage of SJS affected lads.
One interesting thing about this field is that a significant portion of the total revenue created in commercial aviation is in training more pilots. Everyone out there in the profession wants to make money above all else. Thus, in the case of ERAU, AllATPS, DCA, or whomever, getting pilots in and out quickly is what makes them money - whether you succeed or fail as a pilot is irrelevant. This is why you thumb through the magazines and shiny brochures and see the young pilots with their eyes aimed upward, the jet flying overhead, four stripes, and a Mona Lisa smile on their faces that speaks, "I've got it made". I've never seen that person, EVER! But the propaganda out there promotes that and it works. The education side of this industry is a self fueled engine unto itself.
I still believe that however you arrive at the doorstep with the qualifications, if you can pass the training program, you deserve to be there. Does that mean you are as good a pilot as anyone else who also made it through? No. But most professions are this way. You pass the bar exam, you can practice, CPA exam, you can practice, etc.
It'd be interesting to discuss what the ramifications of a board of professional pilots who govern the profession would be vs. the government. For example, the CPA exam (which I am familiar) is administered by the AICPA (American Institute of CPAs) and overseen in Florida by the FICPA (Florida Institute of CPAs). Neither of these are government bodies, but are created by the profession to govern entrants into the profession. The exam is made up and graded by them and certification standards and experience requirements are determined by them. One HUGE difference is that pilots learn to fly for fun often, whereas accountants only do it for money, thus there is a huge spillover of piloting standards outside of the professional arena that must be governed my someone, aka the government. So it muddies the waters a bit, but the idea is potentially sound.