Oh, those captains are not lazy, they're just not getting paid what they deserve. As a matter of fact, 4 captains are ready to leave at any point now...why? They're not making money.

It’s a time building outfit and not a destination airline so what’s your point.
People come and people leave.
People come and pay and leave early.

"Training contracts exist precisely because of dishonorable pilots who can't live according to a handshake"

Jonathan Ornstein circa 1995 said he was doing it because he could, it was the market. No handshake, but a shakedown. Very few pilot jobs available. The pay was about 14K for first year and the training contract costs were about 14K. ALPA Randy Babbit said when he was the MEC Chair it was not an ALPA issue because pilot was on probation and between new hire and the company.
Learned a few things in those ancient days.
The market is how management looks at pilots- widgets- that they can charge if they can.
They pay bonuses now. Not because they want to pay a new hire a bonus. Its the market. Any company can't wait to furlough if they see a savings.
Just business. Pilot market overall right now. Management still going to squeeze back wherever they can. Its business after all. Management poaches other management teams pilots. Its just business. A pilot taking the offer is following the management model. Just business.

Sorry to break the news, but 1995 is hardly “ancient”; it’s barely half a career ago. Surprising, we had email, Internet, airbags and phones in 1995. RVSM was 2 years away, but FANS was starting in the Pacific. Kids, these days.

Did you fly the Scooter AND post this?

GF

GF
LOL
Yep. 23 years ago is ancient to all the young uns flying these days. As I'm told. Am an ole Scooter flyer :)

This, airlines declare bankruptcy yet pay out bonuses to mgt, purposely under fund retirement plans then use the legal system to cancel said plans, out source jobs, whipsaw labor groups.

It is business, the company is not your friend it is a machine.

This is correct!!! and people wonder why pay for training became the norm. The real answer to this question resides with the original poster and it is “how would he feel if someone else was doing this to him”?

There are several things that the original poster said that jump out at me.

There are no type ratings required. This is apparently a part 91 or 135 job in light airplanes. There is typically very little flight training required for a reasonably experienced pilot to pass a checkride, when no type rating is required. The FAA does not specify any minimum flight hour training requirements.


The 135 regs require quite a few different subjects be covered in ground training, but again no minimum hours are required. This ground training was apparently conducted on computer, not by a live person.


The company wants to charge for the computer lessons and instructor time. Was the instructor a company employee, and was he being paid flight pay or straight salary? If salary, it would be unreasonable to ask for instructor reimbursement, but if the instructor was being paid for flight time the reimbursement should only be at the rate that the instructor actually earns, not the price that is charged to outsiders.


Was the pilot being paid during this period, or was he expected to train for free?


If he was being paid during this period, then I would offer to pay for the hotel and the employee price (normally discounted from the full price) for the airplane flight time only.


If he was expected to train with no pay, then no money for the company.


Joe

The instructor was a company employee on salary.
No paid training. No per-diem, no money whatsoever. I was going to start getting paid after the initial checkride.

I don’t think that getting stuck in the minutiae is helping any.
Was the instructor wearing a company uniform? Was this during business hours Mon-Fri?
This is called rationalization and it gets taught during your CFI as being a common defense mechanism.

Either pay or you don’t.
I’m saying take the high road.
Have you considered what you’re going to tell the HR interviewer at your airline job?