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Mick F wrote:
$120K might be a lot to save, but what about loans?
And secondly, if you don't do a cadetship, it's a LOT cheaper!
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Correct. But considering couples are struggling to afford a home loan and live out the "great Aussie dream of owning your own house", $120K for a newly fledged school-lever very much seems like trying to buy a house. I.e., it can be quite daunting to know you have a big loan + interest to pay off as a young adolescent, especially when there is no guarantee that you will indeed achieve your goal/dream of making it into an airline or high-grade GA pilot career.
Quote:
Owen H wrote:
There is no doubt that the cadet route is one that the airlines are pushing. With Jetstar, Rex, Sharp, QLink running them, and Virgin and Tiger talking about it, it seems to be the way the industry is going.
There is no way that the GA industry will be able to provide, medium term, the number of pilots that will be required in Australia, and despite many nay-sayers there is really no evidence that a cadet pilot is not of equal quality to a "GA" pilot throughout the world.
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Once again all true, but I just get the feeling that the airlines are slowly working to a system where the majority or all of their intakes will only come from cadet programs, resulting in any hope for people in GA looking for career progression being dashed.
Quote:
Mick F wrote:
I'd be a bit more supportive of "other" airlines cadetships if they weren't there to rip off cadets, place them on seperate agreements to the rest of the pilot body and to ensure airline execs received bonuses because of the 'success' of the cadet sha... ah there I go again, scheme.
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And that in itself is my main concern with these cadet programs. I get the feeling the airlines seem to love the idea that cadet pilots cannot really bargain much for (what I would call fair) higher pay because they don't have the hours experience to demand a higher income. E.g. if someone from GA with say 3000+ hours rocks up and tries to negotiate a certain entry-level pay with an airline, the airline could easy turn around and say "fine, we'll just get a cadet pilot instead at a lower wage". Such a scenario is sad not only for the GA pilot, but the cadet pilot as well, and the only real winner is the airline and its executives.
Quote:
Mick F wrote:
...I (and also shared by many others in the industry) am growing more and more concerned about the number of young people who are so tunnel visioned on getting an airline job, that they don't explore all possibilities and avenues that are available to them. In particular, training and the range of jobs available to them once they are qualified.
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That is a fair statement, and I would be kidding myself if I said I wasn't one of those young people only think aviation = airline or military. If it wasn't for this message board and me beginning my flight training, I would have never really realised that GA even existed. But having said that, I know a lot of senior instructors and other pilots (in or still trying to get into GA) who have/are trying to get into a major airline but have found themselves knocked back repeatedly despite being well qualified (at least in terms of hours and ratings etc). So its not surprise that for young up-and-coming pilots, a cadet program seems the easiest and best way to get in.
Anyway, that's just my views of all the issues surrounding cadet programs and career progression in the industry itself, but I am sure there are plenty of people on here much more knowledgeable and better informed on these issues than me. So I'm quite happy to just enjoy flying for recreational purposes for now.
