Why are we here?
I think i know why you still come on here Kerosine. You come on here because you have either just started or are just about to start on the CTC Wings programme. You've found pprune hugely helpful during the selection process. You perhaps want to give something back by offering some advice to those who are following in your footsteps. You certainly want to read other peoples thoughts about the course you're embarking on, and your future prospects. In other words you want this thread to remain the useful resource it has been for the past couple of years, full of balanced opinion and helpful hints.
Yet equally, you spend large amounts of time desperately searching these forums for a glimmer of hope, for positive posts from people in the know, a hint of light at the end of the tunnel that suggests that by November 2010 airlines will be hiring again, a suggestion that you won't be waiting in a hold pool getting slowly poorer, struggling to pay off your debt, and getting less and less current. You're finding your moods influenced by the ratio of negative posts (a la WWW) to positive posts (a la Captain Spam Can). You know in your heart that no-one can predict what the situation will be in two years time, yet you can't help but feel WWW and his comrades are the realists.
Am I in the right ball-park? Cos I'm a few months behind you, and that's why I'm here.
I genuinely don't know what to believe about how long the recession will last but I'm going to hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and in the mean time I'm going to ensure I make the most of what I'm sure will prove to be two of the best years of my life. Of all the integrated FTOs, I believe that CTC work the hardest to find their cadets airline employment at the end of their training, and there's no doubt in my mind that one day, whether I have to wait a year, two years, five years or more, I will get that job that I've dreamt of all my life.
(Yes, ok ok, you can put the violins away now!)