Pilot Apprenticeship

200hr Wonder · Post by **200hr Wonder** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 8:48 am

As a business owner I need an employee with experience on certain equipment. So I go and I post an employment ad. In the aid I say why type of equipment the employee will be required to operate. No if I get 100 resumes for the position and 8 of them have go the required government training and certifications for the job, who do you think I am going to hire? Some of the other 92 applicants? Of course not I will narrow my selection down to one of the 8.

I am sure this happens on a regular basis with Cps when posting job ads. If you get a guy who applies with a PPC already of you course you are going to put them above a guy without one. You are saving the company several thousand dollars in training costs. I think that purchasing your PPC is not the right way to go by any stretch of the imagination, but can you blame an operator for hiring guys who come knocking on there door with training in hand? I don't really think so.

So the question I pose to group is what can we as a group of pilots do collectively to make the non PPC candidate look more attractive? We can't work for less money because even the PPC holder is still getting nothing. In the rest of the world it seems that if you hire someone you have to train you pay them a fair bit less for the first years of service. It is called an apprenticeship. There you get to teach them things about operating in the real world and you train them on your equipment. The next job the person takes they either already have the training or are much cheaper to train because they have already done similar training before. Is there a workable solution to a professional pilot apprenticeship that goes above a CPL or an ATPL. Can something of that nature be made workable so that there is a clear way for companies that operate equipment that low time guys can get on can get a break on the cost of bringing a guy in. Many apprenticeship programs have at some point been government subsidized. What is everyones thoughts on a program of this nature? Is it workable? What form would it take?

Ray-Ban · Post by **Ray-Ban** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 9:23 am

It's called "working on the ramp"

bizjet_mania · Post by **bizjet_mania** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 9:27 am

I'd do it if it guaranteed me a seat. I wouldn't buy one and run door to door. Lucky for me I am guaranteed a seat

Ramp work doesn't make you a better pilot, maybe a more obedient one. If anything I would have pilots work in the hangar with the maintenance so when they snag something on the plane or are explaining it to the mechanic they know what the part is called.

cyyz · Post by **cyyz** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 12:44 pm

bizjet_mania wrote: Ramp work doesn't make you a better pilot, maybe a more obedient one.

If anything I would have pilots work in the hangar with the maintenance so when they snag something on the plane or are explaining it to the mechanic they know what the part is called.

An extra notch(hr) in the log book doesn't make you a better pilot either.

Pilots working with the mechs isn't a bad idea, but, it can only go so far, without that TC kind of "special training."

200hr Wonder · Post by **200hr Wonder** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:35 pm

Maybe I should clarify what I mean. The program I envision would be a four year program that when you are done you would get a PPC on the companies operated type of aircraft with say a minimum of 1000 hours on type.

So first year would be grunt work washing planes, working the ramp etc.
Second year more grunt work and doing the PPC
Third Year would be more grunt work with a half time flight schedual
Fourth Year would be a full time flight schedual.

Of course there would be training throughout... the whole purpose of an apprentice ship.
A company would be free to increase the amount of flying they get out of you of course as well as how long they take to move you into a plane. The whole purpose being that the company will get your for a guarnteed four years so they are willing to invest in you.