Unfortunately I know this is so true.. The guys we're blasting as 300 hour wonders will actually be considered the "experienced pilots"

 

I believe that the next generation of MCL pilots will have obnoxious and difficult personalities, but probably will be better trained for the airline environment. I have always thought that most of what pilots have to go through to obtain a standard Commercial Multi-engine license was a waste to someone with exclusive airline intentions.

The MCL will make it much cheaper to get professional credentials and they will come with a much better understanding of airline operations and air transport flying since that is all that they will have studied.

Years ago when I was a student pilot I showed a sectional chart to a Delta DC-10 captain. He was one of my best friends fathers and was kind enough to have attempted to answer an aviation question that I had. When I showed him the map he developed a twisted look on his face and then asked me what it was that I had presented him. He did not know what a sectional was since in his entire career he had never even seen one before. He went strait into the Navy after college and told me that he only spent ten hours in a piston plane before moving on. He has zero understanding of VFR operations and did not need to know either. Since that time I have encountered many airline pilots with a similar lack of knowledge of VFR operations.

Much of what we train for as civilian pilots is a wasted effort to a airline pilot. The MCL will offer employers and cadets the ability to focus on part 121 stuff.

Skyhigh

 

"I believe that the next generation of MCL pilots will have obnoxious and difficult personalities"

Where did you get that from?

"Much of what we train for as civilian pilots is a wasted effort to a airline pilot."

Disagree. An airline pilot is nothing more than a pilot who works for an airline. The seasoning and experience you get as a "civillian" pilot carries over to flying big airplanes, too. They drive different but there is a lot more to being a pilot than just driving...

 

I'm still hoping that the FAA will not buy into this idea. So far they seem to be very reluctant, probably because they know that domestic US is very different from almost any other other aviation environment. Most countries have very few, or zero, GA aircraft in service. Many smaller US airports and large metro areas are saturated with bug-smashers...an understanding of how that environment works is important before you operate in it.

Will we have to honor ICAO MCL's? Probably, but only when they are working on a foreign flag flight...they will only be operating out of the largest Class B airports. I don't see us granting US conversion licenses based on a foreign MCL.

 

Who is FLX?

 

I'm sure the unions will do all the can to fight the MCL, but who knows how effective it'll be. Age 65 did work its way to the US, most likely fueled by congressmen's fear of a looming pilot shortage disrupting air traffic, and causing tickets to go higher than $150 coast-coast. Depending on the mood of the time, the same fear might creep back in, and begin a large push for this "fix everything" pilot license, but only time will tell....

As far as the JET U types, i'd have to say they have quite a bit invested in the job. Granted, none of it is in years of real world experience, but, they've invested thousands and thousands of dollars towards training which would be absolutely useless and wasted if they don't continue to fly. Unlike a nice bachelors degree from a regular university, this type of training will only be geared towards one thing, and one thing alone, so i bet they'll do their best to stay in the industry, will they work for pennies...yeh, but so far, we all have too.

 

The future of Multi Crew License

Cadets could interview and receive a conditional job offer before they take their first lesson. Training could be company and aircraft type specific. Airline's could offer scholarships and financing.

Colleges and flight schools could merge training programs so that graduates could possibly skip airline ground school and go strait to sim training already knowing the profiles and flows. Or perhaps the sim training could become a part of the program and upon completion of the check ride the cadet would also be ready for IOE.

The benefit to the cadet would be a more predictable future and immediate transition into their career field.

The benefits to the employer is access to a constant supply of pre-screened cadets that are instantly slaves to your company since their training is company specific and because they are in debt to the company for the student loans. They also pay for most of their own training.

If the costs continue to skyrocket for pilot training and wages remain low. The MCL could rapidly take over the industry as the norm.

SkyHigh

 

You guys have some really good points. I agree with most of them. Coming from a "Jet U," there are a lot of pilots that dont jump into an airliner after 300 hrs. I learned so much from staying and instructing, Watching my students make mistakes and me learning from them is priceless. Cant lie though... I am starting to have some SJS symptoms.lol

 

Just wait. If you have SJS now in two years when you are still instructing you will really begin to wish you had jumped at a chance to get into a regional early.

SkyHigh

 

I agree. The FAA foreign license conversion process is quite involved; and that's even when converting over from another country with very similar part 61 rules. But trying to convert a foreign MCL to a standard Commercial certificate or, ATP? That would interesting to see.

Unless the FAA start's issuing MCL's (I hope not) in the future, foreign MCL holders that wanted (and were able) to fly for a US airline would have to get standard FAA certs. They would almost have to start from scratch due to the many areas where they didn't meet the CFR 14 part 61/141 requirements.