Apples v. Oranges
Originally posted by duksrule
Now if someone paid to go to college and get a degree then was hired over someone without a degree, would the college guy be accused of PFT?. Where is the cutoff for hating someone who is able or willing to pay to get ahead?
Some jobs, like physician or attorney, require a college education. It depends on the job, doesn't it? At one time people who wanted to become lawyers could read law, take the bar exam, serve under a practicing attorney, and become an attorney without going to law school. That's no longer possible.
I would think that the F/O time even though you are paying for it would be a valuable asset. It is showing your potential future employer that you are able to fly in a structured environment and you are able to do the duties as a F/O. Yes that airline might do it a little differently but you have already proved that you can hold the seat they would be hiring you for.
You're missing the point. The point is those who've acquired the FO time in question
paid for training, meaning that they
paid for a job. In other words, these "jobs" were available only to those with $24K, assuming a Commercial certificate. That's bad policy. Moreover, for most people, that kind of money does not grow on trees. Using finances as a form of institutionalized discrimination is wrong in every way.
If I were an interviewer and was looking at a CFI and also a guy who was a paid F/O I would take the F/O because he has the experience and has proven he can do it.
The "FO" was "paid" only because he/she paid. Anyone with money can pay. And it was for only 250 hours, with much of that time bound to be a learning curve. That is really very little experience, if you consider it. Only three months' worth, flying at 80 hours a month.
Oh and for Bobby's example of being pissed if an officer was promoted ahead of you because he paid for it, how about this. In the Navy we have what is called "Direct Commission Officers" these are normally the JAG and Medical Corps officers. Most of them are brought into the military at 0-3 and some like my roommate here on the ship are even higher, depending on their credentials. So I guess my roommate is a "scumbag" because he and his family spent the money for him to go to school and become an Oral Surgeon and now with only one year in the Navy he is an 0-4.
Is your D.D.S. roommate a line officer or a staff officer? I suspect the latter. Your roommate did not join the Navy to earn a command. The Navy recruited him for a specific purpose, which was
not to hold a combat command or to fire the big guns or cruise missiles at Mr. Hussein. I would doubt the Navy will send your roommate to Command and Staff College. Now, I suspect that you probably went to college and ROTC, or OCS, or the Academy. You are probably a line officer. You cannot compare yourself to your roommate. Ergo, there is no P-F-T comparison.
Bottom line is that if you can PFT you are no different than someone else who paid for some form of higher education to make yourself more marketable to a perspective employer.
All of these points are apple-and-orange comparisons. There's a difference between paying for education and paying an employer for job. The difference should be apparent.
And it is also unfair that a less-experienced pilot can cut ahead of line of the more-experienced and better-qualified because of connections. Not everyone has a dad who is Chief Pilot or is the Chief Pilot's neighbor or lodge brother. It is a somewhat different matter if a connection gives an advantage to someone who is qualified. In an ideal world, connections should not matter. But the world is not ideal.
