My position on Cadet programs is that I think they are great but I feel some experienced pilots are not very happy about having to Captain a plane with a low-time first officer next to them. I really believe there will be some experienced pilots who will make life difficult for these cadets because they did not do the hard yards in GA so they will not give them the support they need.
When it comes to experience what I fear is that the lack of command time these cadets will have might be a curse when it comes to flying on the so called infamous Dark & Stormy Night if they need to step into the Captain's shoes. I know I would like to have a bit of command experience before I have a few hundred people out the back that I am responsible for if something happened to the Captain.
Maybe they can simulate Dark & Stormy nights in the simulator yet if it gets too hard they can always turn it off. Unlike when they are flying a real plane.
I am supportive of the cadet programs but I have to question whether these cadets will get trained properly or just churned out because the industry needs pilots?
Last edited by TINTIN25; 1st October 2007 at 11:08.