Thanks for that info matt85, very comprehensive.
Curious as to the bonding issue.
How long is the bond for? These days (I hear) a lot of prospective pilots are looking into going straight into the airlines to recoup the money spent on training.
Obviously there will be no money spent on training in this case but I would be thinking along the lines of: ...once released, how does it look now and am I a viable option for more run-of-the-mill operators (multi-crew time? / experience other than VFR for example)