Law Pro Uniforms

Airline pilot career, airline pilot pay, cadet pilot …

This is an interesting video message from BALPA, the British Airline Pilot Association. The original video can be found here: Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyZxahxMD…
(On this one subtitles have been added. Non English subtitles are obtained with an automatic translator)
Whoever is considering to start training to become a professional pilot should watch this video carefully.
Transcript:

Hallo my name is Jim McAuslan and I'm the general secretary of the British Airline Pilot Association

eight out of every ten British commercial airline pilots belongs to our association

and between them they have fifty million hours of flying experience

that's a pedigree that allows our association to speak with authority

and that's a huge responsibility

one we take seriously and one of the reasons for this short information film

in a recent independent poll we discovered that 95% of our members were proud to be a pilot

proud because they manage hugely complex systems and fly million of people safely

365 days a year to every corner of the globe

95% are proud to be a pilot but only one in five would recommend it as a career to their children

why?

Well getting the licence is challenging in itself but getting a job is even tougher

and increasingly when a job does come along it's too often casual work on a zero hours contract

zero hours means no guaranteed work no reliable income no holiday pay no sick pay paying for your uniform

the list goes on

and now some airlines insist that you have to become self employed and set up your own offshore limited company to get any work

that's not right it's not just and is not acceptable

so our association has five key messages

message one

to all of you who dream of becoming a pilot we ask you to think very carefully before you venture into this profession

do not make dreams your master

to those who are setting off on the journey we are offering free membership

so that you can get a glimpse of real life and inside the profession before you start to try and rise the 70.000 pounds plus that will cost you to secure your basic licence

or the 30.000 pounds that some airlines are charging you to get experience on the real aircraft

a hundred thousand pounds plus is a huge investment in anyone's book

so before you take off research the reality

to help you we will be producing testimonies from those who have recently [tried out] the path

it's very sobering

message two

to those who have their hearts set on the career our message is this:

BALPA is not prepared to see this continue

we are going to challenge employers challenge authorities and challenge politicians

we will use every legal avenue at our disposal we will expose shoddy practices wherever they exist

because it is not right that a profession in which the public places so much trust

should be treated in this way

you have our commitment we will tackle this

message three

to those in authority who regulate this industry we say wake up

there is a real concern that this is an accident waiting to happen

just as it did in Buffalo in United States in 2009

the American authorities have woken up to this trend and have made substantial changes in their industry

so we ask our authority will it take a repeat of the Buffalo in Britain for you to do anything?

This is not scaremongering

independent researches support this analysis

and if you email us we can share that research

the conditions here in Britain today are almost identical to those laid up to Buffalo

sleep deprived flight crew who grab forty winks whenever they can in a rest room

who need to take second jobs to make ends meet

shelf stocking by day so they can fly big jets at night

pilots who turn up ill for a flight because if you don't you may not get any more work

so the authorities need to wake up

message four

to airlines we say it does not have to be this way

we have reached agreements with airlines that do provide quality training

with job certainty whilst operating in economic reality

our message to employers is join us in securing decent careers

and stop this race to the bottom

message five

finally to you the public

our mission as an association is to make every flight a safe flight

we take that seriously and we ask for your support in two ways

one if you can get an opportunity ask the airline you fly with what proportion of their pilots are on these contracts

they really should only be used in exceptional circumstances

and two if you get an opportunity to raise the matter with your MP

ask him a [at heart] to take on this interest and their concerns

you and your family deserve to fly safely.

Thank you.