A Sign of the Times

Makes you wonder where they think the pilots for the big stuff they’re so fond of will come from if all the flying schools in the country are closed down.

That is easy to answer. They will come from EASA:rolleyes: Just like milk now a days does not come from cows, but from bottles.

The latest in EASA (and ICAO for that matter) madness, is what is politically called the MPL (Multi Pilot Licence). It is a licence to have people, that do not even have a PPL, fly second in command on a commercial jet:eek:

To get an MPL, you need to have a total of 150 hrs. of which 60 are in an aeroplane, but all are under instruction. So, no PIC time there! The rest of the required hours are done on simulators. The airlines love it, as it is a very cost effective way of getting an F/O with out too much trouble, but I think everyone else hates the idea. Not the least the poor captains having to put up with that kind of nonesence. I would not want to be on the first flight where a former MPL with no prior “aeroplane” experience is a Captain with a newly licenced MPL as an F/O:eek:

What is Signature’s thinking for hiking up the prices by so much that local GA & probably much of the light visiting stuff is forced away from ABZ?

Are they expecting a boom in more lucrative bizjets, both oil & Trump/golf-related??

That’s where they are obviously looking for their trade in the future, it seems.

Makes you wonder where they think the pilots for the big stuff they’re so fond of will come from if all the flying schools in the country are closed down.

Unfortunately suitable licensed airfields around this area are few and far between. Any Flight Training Organisation setting up in the locality would therefore have the additional expense / complication of licensing the airfield.

The alternatives for training now will be Kinloss, Perth, Inverness or Dundee, all of which involve at least 1 hours drive. Also has a knock on effect for locally based commercial pilots wgho still like to do a bit of instructing. Don’t imagine that many of them will be willing to have a 2 hour drive (round trip). Not sure how much instructors get by the hour, but would venture that there wouldn’t be a lot left after fuel for the car is taken into account.

Seems to be another one of these situations where everybody loses…..

Sadly ‘big’ airports don’t seem to want ‘little’ aircraft anymore, see also Southampton and Bristol pricing out the GA activity. I do not suppose the ‘soaring rent’ applied at Aberdeen was applied without some knowledge of the hardship it would inflict.

Personally, my experience has been that the further from an airport you can operate, the happier you will be- however it is very rare that the squeezing out of GA goes hand in hand with an opportunity to relocate elsewhere. Facing howls of outrage from the tree-hugging, carbon-obsessed, snail-loving nimbyists, flying facilities seem to be a lot easier to shut down than to start up.