Hi Fox,
This is a very good question, I have found pilots often preach 'paying your dues' but have trouble coming up with a solution, as the industry has changed significantly since many pilots had to pay their dues. When I was flying in Australia, my instructor was very impressed that I was a 'Flying Instructor' at my young age - he explained to me, that most of the instructors that teach career track pilots, are retired airline / air force / bush pilots whom are looking for a more stable 8-5 job, and be home with the family at night. The pay can and is very lucrative, especially at airline sponsored training facilities such as Flight Training Adelaide, where some of the instructors can easily make in excess of 100,000, annually. My instructor was quite shocked when he found out how little we instructors made in the states, and that we teach 'primary students' without any real experience.
Obviously, a pilot in an airline cockpit, as a 'first officer', as the 'Second in Command' is a huge responsibility. You are the second to last line of defense on the aircrafts flight deck, and is a position with a huge amount of responsibility. I have just hit my ATP minimums, and feel competent on the flight deck, but still make a point in letting the captain know, that I am still new at this, and welcome, and encourage any tips and opinions that will make our duties flight go as smooth, and safe as possible. I have ran in to a few colleagues, and even aviation professionals that parallel working for a 'regional' (b-Scale) airline, to playing for the minor leagues, and once again, we are 'paying our dues.' This mentality is the fundamental problem. Our 35 - 99 passengers did not pay for a minor league game, and they certainly did not pay for the errors, that often accompany a minor league game. They paid for the major league, and honestly they do not care whom the flight is operated by, it says DELTA, there for it is DELTA.
Back to your question. What needs to change is pilot training. The worlds militaries have been very successful in putting zero time pilots, and training them to the razors edge. This training needs to be duplicated in the civilian world, and yes, it was cost significantly more, but it would have significantly more oversight. Fortunately, (or unfortunately) the aircraft we fly now are so advanced that many poor pilots, slip through the cracks and never have the opportunity to prove their uselessness. This does not change the fact that training needs to improve across the board. As I type this, I see a banner below advertising a '90 Day Fast Track' - not to start a flame war, but it should take longer to become an airline pilot, that a hair stylist. I have read, and talked to a few lobbyist, and a solution that has been brought up is the 'National Civilian Pilot Academy' ALPA could, and should be a part of this, and make this program on par to a 'post graduate' program. This academy should be competitive entry, and free, intact the trainees should be paid. At this school, pilot are trained, and subsequent checked with through check-rides, that do not have fiscal motivation for an applicants pass or failure. I still believe that experience is key, and once this program is completed, the new commercial pilot, would be required to instruct, ferry aircraft, fly the academies leaders on time critical assignments, but with a significant oversight. There are a lot more facets of this, but think of a hybrid between our Militaries UPT, and JAA style FTO's.
I hope this will happen someday, but it probably will take even more accidents where lack of pilot experice is cited as a contributing factor, till things start to change.
Good luck instructing!
Cheers!
