Imad
I don't see why you insist on viewing my posts as an attack on cadets. I have no issues with the guys - I have issues with airlines who abuse this system.
Admit I have been a bit sarcastic - but I also stated often that I have no beef with the abilities of different pilot groups due to their background experience - so take the crosswind thing as a bad joke.
CX is unique in paying its cadets the same salaries as the expat employees. If you look at most other Asian companies the local guys get screwed and the expats generally get more money.
So once again - to make this very clear - I think that cadet programs will become bigger and bigger in future. In Asia they will allow Asian airlines to employ their own people at a reduced rate. And this will happen in the west too - Qantas is apparently going to build a huge flight school.
And no matter what people say a cadet signed up when fairly young will give a company more years of service and cost less than a guy who came through the traditional way ever will. One of the main killers of the A scale was the fact that guys were signing up younger ( more years of service = more time to make the pot you need for retirement) than the traditional 35 year old ex air force guy. SO the point is cadet schemes and hiring very young low time guys puts pressure on to reduce salaries and conditions.
As mentioned before I HOPE I AM WRONG. I am only stating what I perceive to be the way airlines would like things to become i.t.o pilot recruitment.
This industry is faced by many issues that reduce the value of a pilot. Cadet schemes as mentioned, low cost carriers as mentioned and last but not least simple greed. Saw a news story a while ago about an american airline ( Delta, AA or United ) paying their CEO 40 mil in bonuses right after they came out of chapter 11. At the same time their profit for the year was 26 mil. And all their staff were still on 35% reduced salaries with frozen pension funds since 9/11.
Company directors on average these days earn 400 times what the average employee makes - this was only 40 times twenty years ago. This goes on everywhere - not just airlines. The unique thing with aviation is that it is the only industry that actually sells most of its product ( econ tickets ) at below cost and make their profits off cutting their employees benefits.....
Last edited by SIC; 22nd Aug 2007 at 05:14.