Originally Posted by
Zapp_Brannigan
Except that in BA or LH, cadets fly a 320/737 for years, making thousands of landings before going to a widebody.
After 10-15 years, our cadets become widebody Captains having done less landings than I did in my first year of flying.
4 or 5 years of being an SO right after school certainly doesn't help.
KA is actually much safer in that regard.
The good safety records at CX mainly rely on having a good mix of experienced and cadets crew.
Crew 100% of the flights with cadets and we are no different than other airlines in asia. Let's be realistic, they don't have a good safety reputation.
Good at following procedures, yes. Handling the jet or thinking outside the box? No.
These comments are absolutely defining for comparison between other cadet schemes and CX. The worst possible thing for a hundred hour pilot out of Adelaide is to be an SO for 4+ years, then fly mostly long haul as an FO. Nothing could be worse for command development. I’ve been saying for years that CX and KA need to be merged for exactly this reason. Sectors for CX pilots, bases (eventually) for KA pilots. It has been a no brainer for over a decade now, although I’m not sure how HKExpress complicates that now.