Cadet programs place First Officers with no real world experience in real world situations they occasionally can't handle. It's all well and good when a good Captain is in charge, but what happens when the Captain gets in over their head? Cadet First Officers who lack experience sometimes lack the assertiveness that's needed when the crap hits the fan. Gulf Air's A320 crash, and Flash Airlines at Sharm al Sheik are prime examples of an accident where an inexperienced F/O was incapable of assertively assisting a Captain in trouble. This may also be a finding in the Helios accident.
If cadets do make it to Captain, they usually have little if any experience in handling events which aren't addressed in the book, like the accident scenarios I've mentioned above. I've flown with low time cadets and with high time bush drivers, and I'll take the experienced bush drivers every time. Any "bad habits" as you call them are all down to training and SOP and they are easily addressed in a good training program. Experience only comes from many hours in the real world, including scaring the "you know what" out of yourself once or twice.
Last edited by J.O.; 15th May 2006 at 00:34.