Be Excellent To Each Other

When I worked at Cardiff Airport the customs guys have us a tour. We were shown a large suitcase which was completely stuffed full of cigarettes. Those are just the ones who get caught.

Also, why take HP sauce to Holland, isn't it made there now?

Some years back, I was told that it was in short supply over there, and the ex-pats wanted regular shipments. Only my pilot friend wouldn't do it as something about "him not being licensed to fly for profit" by the overly strict aviation rules.

Was he, like James May, "not allowed to drive the plane at night" either?

Yes. From when my pilot friend lived with me for a bit, it seemed that there was an exam for everything to do with flying an aeroplane (instruments, night, over water, electronics), and each certificate cost more money. The exams, were, IIRC, multiple choice, and I was able to pass a test paper on hydraulic avionics first time out with no real knowledge of teh subject. It appears to me to be a massive racket to print money for those regulating those who aspire to be, not to put too finer point on it, glorified bus drivers.

There's also minimum hour requirements for many certificates. At the airport one of the dispatchers was an aspiring pilot and he spent almost every penny he earned on plane rental to build his hours.

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A good friend of mine is a pilot. When he was building up his hours we went and had a week in Florida. Even taking in the cost of flights to the US and accommodation, it was cheaper to do that than to rent a plane in the UK for the equivalent number of hours.

I had a chum who was considering that too. I think the weather helps as well - you're almost certain to get good visibility in Florida or Arizona if you go at the right time of year, which stops the expense of cancelled lessons and waster days.

commonly you'd get a job as an instructor, allowing you to build hours while getting paid for it.

That will only get you so far though, it's still excruciatingly expensive to get type rated on commercial planes.

I think you generally get type rated while flying as a first officer, after you have got a job. It is still very expensive to get an Airline Transport Pilot License, though, which is the thing you'll probably need to apply for a job.

A mod should totally split the pilot talk out.

I'm all for tight restriction and regulation of pilots. They drive a huge tube of fiery metal filled with explosives and humans over the major cities of the world. Making them sign a few forms is the least they can do.

As for drugs, I'm all for legalising everything, but making users register as users and submitting to regular health checks and the like. Heroine should only be offered under strict conditions, like making them use in a safe place. There are parks in Amsterdam that have been designated for drug use after a certain time of day. Users are able to get clean needles and access to medical support if needed and there is a constant police presence to maintain order.

Really? I would have thought for certain there'd be a minimum number of hours to become an instructor, to ensure you're not an idiot training other people to be idiots.

I think it was on another forum where I was talking to a guy who'd been accepted to be trained more or less from scratch by an airline (possibly BA) and would then be guaranteed a job as a first officer with them.

It was due to start October 2001. You can imagine the rest. Poor guy.

Yeah, I think you do PPL, then a few more things, then you can teach others to fly. That's what my friend did, although I ahven't spoken to him in years.

Yeah, my mate got his PPL and started up as an instructor pretty much straight away.

Yeah, it's not a case of jumping straight out of training, but the amount of hours is a fraction of what's needed for the commercial licence.

If memory serves correctly, the turnover of instructors was about 2 years. However, this was half a lifetime ago, so memory isn't all that.

Didn't know that! Dispatcher chap never mentioned it either, he was too busy moaning about how much it was costing him.

When I was a wee'un, I wanted to be a commercial pilot. To avoid the expense, most airline pilots (in Canada at least) joined the RCAF and learned there. In scenes not unlike young Zoidberg talking to his mother, I was warned off by my parents due to needing good math skills and also the fact that I evidently wasn't the type to join the military (joining the Air Cadets and getting a taste of military discipline, training, and also weapons handling and flying both gliders and light aircraft was both fine and actually encouraged, however).

So, while my dreams were crushed, the thought does occur that I'd probably have been in the RCAF and qualified just in time to go over to Afghanistan, so who knows?