Virgin Blue to train cadet pilots

[Greg McDonald]

From News.com.au:

AUSTRALIA'S second largest airline Virgin Blue will start training cadet pilots within the next year, a parliamentary inquiry into air safety has been told.

Previously, the airline had hired pilots from other carriers instead of training its own.

Virgin Blue's chief executive John Borghetti said the company would not rush into setting up the scheme, preferring to take "a good 12 months to get it right".

The airline's operations executive Sean Donohue said the proposed scheme was a long-term investment for the airline.

"With our pilot turnover of less than one per cent, it is not an urgency," he told a Senate hearing in Canberra today.

"Obviously it is to make sure we have a pipeline of skilled, trained pilots for the future."

Mr Borghetti said he placed a very high degree of importance on safety and being accessible to his company's pilots.

He told senators that he met with the chief pilots of Virgin Blue and V Australia on his first day as the airline's boss.

"The same day I sent an email to every captain in our group of airlines providing my work number, my email address and personal mobile number inviting their feedback and comments at any time," he said.

Virgin supported the immunity provisions for pilots reporting on safety matters in legislation before the Parliament.

"However, this would have to be subject to amendments that protect against the use of immunity for industrial purposes or protect against actions that are willfully reckless, negligent or non-compliant," Mr Borghetti said.

[Jakef]

Interesting, perhaps if their program isn't as criminal as the other in Australia (In regards to what they pay cadets on completion) I may consider doing this...

[NickN]

A lady I work with, her son has been offered to join the program. They are asking him to pay a HUGE amount up-front to be trained by VB. In excess of $120k to get in. They are re-mortgaging their home to get him in supposedly.

[Radi K]

Nick are you 100% sure?

Nothing has been announced either internally or externally. She might be getting mixed up with the JQ cadet program which is $120k.

I don't think you will see the VB program for quite awhile. That's if it ends up happening at all.

[Hugh Jarse]

Virgin don't have to rush into a cadet scheme, because they don't need to.

There is a steady stream of highly experienced pilots from the various regional airlines applying for positions at the moment.

I suspect the cadet scheme is purely a stop-gap measure in case this stream dries up (which I doubt) in the next 3-5 years.

[D Chan]

Originally Posted by Jakef

Interesting, perhaps if their program isn't as criminal as the other in Australia (In regards to what they pay cadets on completion) I may consider doing this...

I wouldn't bet my house on that.... why would they set one up if there's no financial gain for them?

[Jakef]

Originally Posted by D Chan

I wouldn't bet my house on that.... why would they set one up if there's no financial gain for them?

Most likely not, I'm not holding my breath.

[Matt_L]

A lady I work with, her son has been offered to join the program

Sorry mate, but not possible!

The Cadetship hasnt even been formalized yet let alone made public for applications, so I find that a bit hard to believe

[Mick F]

A lady I work with, her son has been offered to join the program. They are asking him to pay a HUGE amount up-front to be trained by VB. In excess of $120k to get in. They are re-mortgaging their home to get him in supposedly.

As Matt has said, the program hasn't even been formalised or anything, so it's not possible to even apply yet.

And as for my bolding, whatever happened to kids earning their own money to go do things? And what is wrong with just going to a flying school, getting a licence, then going up north to fly around in General Aviation for a few years first? It's a hell of a lot cheaper and it gives you some life experience (not to mention aviation experience) before you get let loose into an airline.

Everybody expects the top jobs to be handed to them on platters these days without doing any bloody work to get there!

Mick

[Russell D]

I agree with Mick about the kids saving up money, but then again, $120K is pretty well out of range of what a kid can save. And if they did probably try to save that amount from working full-time straight out of high school, it would probably take them a good 4-5 years minimum to save up such an amount. That would mean they would already be around about 23y.o. by the time they even start their flying training (or in this case, a cadet program).

And what is wrong with just going to a flying school, getting a licence, then going up north to fly around in General Aviation for a few years first? It's a hell of a lot cheaper and it gives you some life experience (not to mention aviation experience) before you get let loose into an airline.

Everybody expects the top jobs to be handed to them on platters these days without doing any bloody work to get there!

I agree once again, and the life experience and aviation experience can make a world of a difference in making someone a better pilot especially when faced with difficult situations like Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny.

But there's quite a lot of social (and family) pressure these days that when you finish high school, you need to get into a stable career as quickly as possible. For example, I found myself caught in a discussion with some uni friends just the other day, and it was almost unanimous that one should be fully established in their career, married, and about to have a family before you turn 30 years old. Personally, I find that a bit unrealistic, but that's just the word on the street.

So I guess that might explain why people find cadet programs attractive, since you could spend many years in GA with no guarantees of getting into the major airlines.

But yes, personally I believe cadet programs aren't worth the invaluable experience gained going through the GA pathway. Then again, cadet programs seem to be becoming all to common in aviation worldwide.

Cheers