I'm going to play devil's advocate here (someone's got to
). As I put in my original post, whats the alternative to the cadetship? ie. what are the pros and cons of someone taking up the cadetship vs someone going the 'traditional route'? Over the next few days Pprune membership is going to skyrocket with newbies wanting to know about the cadetship and stuff and we really need to give them as much on the pros and cons rather than just the cons.
Pros
1. you'll most probably have a F/T job at the end of your course with an established ;
2. the initial outlay (up to $150k) will mostly be covered by FEE HELP and Jetstar;
3. you'll be bonded for 6 years but at the end of it could possibly be A320 type rated with (eg. 800 hrs x 5 years) 4,000 hrs TT, even with the possibility of command;
4. possibility of upgrade to A330;
5. Marketable
6. Seniority
Cons
1. Cost - $150k!
2. Low salary at start (approx $55k) which sets a standard for T&C's across the industry. This is excerbated by the FEE HELP and endo repmts and living in a capital city (Melb, Darwin, Syd, etc). Salary could be as follows:
Salary $55,000
HELP repmt (5%) (2,750)*
Net after HELP debt $52,250
tax (9,525)
Net annual $42,725
less: Jetstar endo repmt (3,500)**
Net annual cash in hand $39,225
Mthly $3,269!
* from the fee help website
** 50% = $21k per the cadet website. Over 6 years = $3,500 or $292 mthly.
The above is not perfect, just an approximation and I've assumed the $55k is pure salary and doesn't include super.
3. Possibility that FO's won't be able to get a command due to not meeting command hours as required by the ATPL.
What else?