I’m referring to the CTC Wings cadet scheme here, as I don’t understand the others on offer.
I have a different perspective of the morality of this scheme.
When I looked into self-sponsored training, I found that all of the schools were keen to grab my money – not that I had a lot to grab. They made all sorts of promises about subsequent employment which they were unable to substantiate. Some of them had apparently sophisticated selection to get onto the course; however it seemed that most people passed the selection, reducing it to a sales technique and con.
I then tried to find out how many of the 1,500 UK wannabes that start out their commercial pilot training each year actually get an airline job. I couldn’t find any accurate figures, but let’s say that it is a small percentage.
So, let’s compare this scheme with self-sponsored training.
Self-funded
CTC Wings
This is an absolute heaven send. It also compares very favourably with traditional sponsorship schemes where, with the exception of BA, you had to put a substantial amount of your own money in and that was spent first.
You can see which choice I made and I am utterly delighted and feel duly privileged to get this opportunity. My experience is that the company are completely honest and fair – they took trouble to point out during the selection the commitment and conditions and in contrast to the flying schools trying to flog a course to people who have little chance of achieving their ambitions, I’d say CTC’s morality is impeccable.