It's good to see a couple of current wings cadets on here. Would either of you (chelce or kerosine), or anyone else who's involved with CTC, be able to shed some light on what the latest is with people who are finishing the course at the moment?
The last I heard was that Easyjet & Monarch had taken some cadets on for their TR/line training period and then dropped them back into the pool. Since then, I've heard not a squeak. Do these people account for their entire course and, if not, what's happened to the others?
I presume another course must have graduated since? What's happened to these graduates? Have any of them got jobs? If not, when things pick up, will the partner airlines take these people before those who graduate after them?
And what, if anything, are CTC going to do to help those who may not get jobs for two years remain current and employable?
Finally, are the partner airlines still taking graduates on for their initial six months and, if so, is this all of them or just a few?
I've got through the selection process, I've got my medical, and I've got my finance sorted. I'm meant to be flying to New Zealand in the spring. I'm really keen to do this and I'm at just the right point in my life to train. I certainly don't want to turn my place down considering what I've been through to get it, but I am truly terrified that I will come out in late 2010/early 2011 and will not only fail to get a job then (I'm not naive - this seems almost inevitable) but will fail to get a job EVER because my skills will rust to the point that I"m unable to pass a sim assessment.
And all I've got to base this decision on (which is probably the hardest I've ever had to make) is speculation about when things will improve and CTC's (fairly meaningless) statistic of a 100% employment rate. Put it this way: if I knew that I'd have to wait 2 years after graduating to get a flying job, I'd still do my training now. But if it's likely that such a job won't ever materialise then I won't. It seems that what CTC and their partner airlines are doing for their unemployed cadets has the potential to make a difference between these two scenarios. So what are they doing? Does anyone know?