The Flight Safety Bridge Program

[bobbysamd]

Generation gap, ignorance and impatience

With all respect, you sound like my crazy grampa with your "when I was your age" story.

Your grandfather was not that crazy. He probably came from the Great Depression era, where people were lucky to have any job and were just happy to work. My parents came from that generation. They did not like it when I proclaimed that I will do work I like because, in so doing, I will be happy, which they took to mean have fun. Years later, after being in and out of work and having little stability, I realized that my parents were right. Work is not supposed to be fun; that's why it's called "work."

n my humble opinion they are ignorant. They just don't know any better. It's not until they start flying the line that they hear their captains talking about the ills of PFT that they can even conceive that not everybody agrees with it.

I would count a great many (but, again, not all) career changers among the ignorant and impatient. I read it here on the boards. These people see P-F-T as a way of shortcutting the process, but cannot conceive of the evils of doing so, and do not want to hear otherwise. They apparently believe that because they are older that starting at the bottom is unnecessary or inapplicable to them. These individuals do not understand that aviation is no different than any other vocation; no matter who you are or how old you are, you still have to start at the bottom and earn your way up.

In all of my careers, I was happy just to get my foot in the door and to get a chance - and I got those chances through my own doing. I would have never embarrassed and humiliated myself by bribing an employer via P-F-T or otherwise into hiring me. Once more, it is still only a job.

I have never engaged in PFT and strongly oppose it, I just don't think that my generation is lazy.

Not all younger people are lazy. But, for the reasons I set forth in my last post above and which I stand by, so many of them (again, not all) are spoiled and indulged, undisciplined, and impatient. They never had to work for anything in their lives and see no reason to start now.

 

[DrewBlows]

Bobby,

I'm sure there are many reasons why people do PFT, including the reasons we have discussed. In my original post I didn't even ponder career changers. So it goes to show, there are a lot of people out there with a lot of different motivations. I think we can agree that any motivation that leads to PFT is flat out wrong, for what it does to the industry as a whole.

Now if we could just get currently employed pilots to stick together, we may just get somewhere.

 

[bobbysamd]

Anti-P-F-T solidarity

In my original post I didn't even ponder career changers. So it goes to show, there are a lot of people out there with a lot of different motivations.

Career changers might be one of P-F-T's major audiences, along with impatient young people. Because of their age, they are in a hurry and are looking for shortcuts, despite educational efforts that shortcuts could set them back further.

Now if we could just get currently employed pilots to stick together, we may just get somewhere.

I would submit that most pilots loathe P-F-T and will blackball P-F-Ters if given the chance. They just need the chance.

 

[DAS at 10/250]

Why does ASA hire PFT pilots?

Because ASA used to be a PFT airline.

 

[DrewBlows]

I would submit that most pilots loathe P-F-T and will blackball P-F-Ters if given the chance. They just need the chance.

I agree. My original statement was directed at the currently employed pilot group in terms of general issues (pay, work rules, ect.). I think that really the only pilots that can do anything directly about PFT are those on hiring boards. We can all do our part by educating young pilots about the broad effects of PFT.

 

[rausda27]

I don't want to get involved in the whole PFT thing, but I am an instructor at FSI for the ASA program. I have personally been involved with 10 candidates all of which have made it to a class at ASA. Since starting with the program last May, I cannot think of a single person who received a COE from ASA that didnt make it though the training at FlightSafety and get a class date upon completion. There are many people who don't make it though the initial phases which are offered to candidates that did not complete their initial training at FlightSafety. These two phases are short evaluation type lessons which occur prior to interviewing with ASA and are relatively cheap. They are not much more than a BFR/IPC in both the single and multiengine aircraft. If the clients instrument skills are not up to a certain skill level, they don't get an interview, save the cost and leave FSI having been giving some pretty good instrument instruction. If you have any specific questions about the program, please dont hesitate to ask or PM me. I would be interested to know who you have been talking to at FSI, your experience doesnt seem the norm for our marketing folks, normally their are completly upfront and honest about these programs.