I read an article about this (MPL) recently and want to know if anyone has any info on it?? I believe they're starting training for it in Austrailia now and it'll be a worldwide license with less hours and cost needed. Sounds good for the new pilots as it will teach you things directly related to Commercial Aviation and flying the "big birds".

Many foriegn countries have been putting low-time pilots in large jets for a long time. This may work out in certain places and on certain routes, because most countries have little or no general avaition. It doesn't take much to fly an airliner in straight line across the pond to the IAF for an ILS to a large international airport.

But this kind of thing would be very bad in the US...we have two significant differences...

1) LOTS of general aviation crowding the skies.
2) Lots of routes to small, uncontrolled airports (also with a GA presence)

Our traditional routes to the airlines, CFI and military, providede the entry-level pilot with plenty of down-and-dirty experience in the low-altitude system, mixing with non-IFR traffic...which is exactly what he's going to be doing when takes that RJ into some small town airport at 2230 after the tower closes.

Our pilots need the 1000 hours in real airplanes, in the real low-altitude system in the united states. You can't learn that in a simulator, and you don't learn it with 30 hours of "supervised" actual flight time.

Hey, I take offense at that.

There are small airports too. I do a lot of flying into smaller single strip airports in Europe. Shannon, Bristol, etc. Visual approaches, short runways, etc. I still think that's easier than London, Paris, etc. International and larger aircraft is not harder or easier, just different.