Yep, I have been made very aware of the competative nature of applying for sponsorship - isn't the statistic somewhere along the lines of 1 in 1500 actually makes it? Still, I am very prepared to give it my very best shot and see where that will take me - with any luck, hopefully, I'll get past the first round - although I do not fear the mathematical tests, I do slightly worry about the verbal reasoning ones!!
Having said that, I think a contingency plan is a good idea though, obviously with those odds, it makes it look almost impossible.
I was also thinking about applying for the GAPAN J.N. Somers sponsorship too - which of course would provide me with a frozen ATPL.
Thank you very much for your thoughts, and I'll certainly take them onboard when applying to the airlines...
Cheers and all the best
Chris