Simple.

The integrated program (zero to hero stuff) was set up in the regulations in order for European airlines to hire, train and move pilots quickly into the right seat. The time was that BA or other airlines would put an ad in the paper looking for pilots. Thousands of people would apply, and after several steps in screening and a rigorous set of assessments, the very few who were chosen were sent to one of that carrier's contract FTOs.

Ground school and flight training was given by mostly retired airline guys or former RAF fliers. Very top notch stuff. Standards and standardization were of the highest order. If a student showed up late for flights or wasn't cutting the mustard in any way, someone from his sponsor airline would be down to interview this cadet and explain that there were thousands of people who would do anything to take his place.

Cadets would rarely fall out of line....if they did, they were gone.

9-11-2001 put an end to the sponsorship programs at most airlines but the integrated program still lives on. The difference is that the assessments are now simply potential "customers" who show up, listen to a sales pitch, and pass what I believe to be increasingly token tests. It seems these days that the only entrance requirements are that the applicant qualify for the huge loan required to attend the course. The quality of students in EASA/JAA integrated programs has dramatically decreased.

Also, one very large FTO has a sort of money-back guarantee that lets the student have a portion of his money refunded should he/she not pass his/her CPL skills test. Should the student wash out AFTER passing the skills test, he/she is still on the hook for the entire amount....like I said earlier, almost $100K.

Guess how many students wash out before earning their CPL in a business that is seeing extreme budget pressure from their parent corporation (a private equity firm that purchased the company back when times were good and had hoped to take it public by now, thus tripling or more their investment, but are now stuck with this turkey for the foreseeable future.)? Also, as a result of these paying customers becoming more scarce, formerly intolerable acts or behavior are now largely ignored, and corrective actions taken by instructors are oftentimes met with disciplinary action for said instructors.

Remember those top-notch former RAF guys? Replaced with FAA instructors with limited IP authorizations, poor JAA training and absolutely NO standardization.

I think that this is a recipe for disaster....it hurts the industry, the students, and the airlines that hire these poor saps. The only thing that makes this whole system work is that the upgrade time at most EU airlines is very long and hopefully these kids will learn a little something before they find themselves in charge. However, there is an incident from a few years back with RyanAir where a captain either keeled over became incapacitated for some reason...and guess who that left in charge? That's right!, a 300 integrated program grad that didn't have a clue what to do.

I guess it really wasn't that simple.