Originally Posted by
swaghart18
Yes but i think the cadets will only tell me that you need to study hard (the usual things etc.) but i really want to know for exisiting pilots out here or aspiring that based on my small research :
1. each cadet is budgeted for a 100,000 USD training = PHP 5 MILLION
2. as per contract, they say that you will render 10 years to the company or about 120 months paying the debt interest free so,
Php 5,000,000 / 120 months = Php 42,000 per month DEDUCTION on your salary. is it worth it entering the program knowing that you will be deducted 42k PER MONTH for 10 YEARS? how much will be left??
3. having read through in these forums ALL the negative side about cebupacific in ROSTERING, WORK LOADS, NOT ABIDING TO CONTRACTS ETC, is it still worth it??
sorry for these questions. your 2 cents would be REALLY APPRECIATED, given that i am almost through with the selections process having passed through the final interview.
cheers!
here are my 2 cents.
Not much cadet pilot program opportunities in the PH at this point, this is a reality. Most of the negative feedback on cebpac here in pprune are mostly from expats and foreigners who are used to pay rates and management by western standards (UK/US), of course pay in CP will be comparatively low, and since this is a budget carrier that is trying to make a name for itself, I imagine roster will be a pain in the ass (feedback here is that you basically get 8 days off per month on average with some off days being counted from rest between post red eye flights going into the evenings.
Other pilot programs like SQ, Scoot, Cathay and the sort provide full sponsorship (meaning you dont pay for anything), you getting a much better license in the form of an ATPL, bigger salary compared to PH (esp if you get into SQ as they have an all widebody fleet), and puts a training bond of only 5 to 7 years, but hey, best of luck being considered for preselection as a Filipino, as mostly PRs and locals are prioritized, if not being a mandatory requirement at all. You may try applying to these programs, a site lists them and keeps up to date tracking of program availability across different airlines (check better aviation jobs site, not allowed to post URLs as of yet).
Another route to go is local, whereby you pay for your own training, without guarantee of an airline job (AAG, OMNI, PAL AV), training cost of course will be shouldered by you (3.5M - 4.5M PhP), together with all cost of taxes, licenses etc. If this is an option for you, then it doesnt put you in a 10 year lock-in with CP and provides freedom to join other major carriers in Asia, middle east or UK, which pay tons load more money compared to CP. Downside here is that it doesnt guarantee you a job with any airline, and may possibly have to beef up your flying hours doing other jobs like FIs earning roughly 50-60k PhP a month tops after spending 2 years jobless and being 4M PhP poorer.
If shelling out this amount of money is not an option, then by all means consider the cadet pilot program by CP, you've already made it this far and that's no easy feat, how else would you fuel your passion for flying? And with regard to the pay, if you really love flying then you should not have to rely solely on your income, bigger pay of course is always better, but you gotta start somewhere, definitely you wont be making loads of money from CP considering you get a consistent paycut of nearly 50k a month, maybe try considering other ways to earn aside from your job perhaps.
Just keep in mind all the factors that may destroy that aviation passion within you in the next 10 years if you do get tied up this company, all the best.