You need to be an aviation 'insider' to understand how this scheme really works. Let put ourselves in the shoes of a potential cadet. Go to the
j* cadet info. Did you get confused looking at that site? I did.
We have no experience, so the course looks like its going to cost AUD$172,000 for the Oxford Moorabbin course. Hidden right there in plain sight, is the fine print. If you know what to look for, you will notice the the additional 'board' charge of AUD $19,500. Then the FEE-HELP has a 20% fee, an additional $17012. So, now the base cost is AUD $208,512, from Ab Initio to line FO.
So our financially fearless cadet is checked to line, as a 'junior FO' on 55K. How long will they be a junior FO? Well, an insider knows that that it takes 1500 hours 'aeronautical experience' to gain an ATPL & become a real FO. 1500 hour mean 1500 hours in the jet right?
Not so fast. Buried in the CAR's is a 50% experience discount when not acting as ICUS (In Command Under Supervision) ie PF (pilot Flying). Theoretically every second leg is PF, therefore we end up with a real world multiplier ratio of 0.75 AeroExperience:Hours.
- are you still with me? Hang on, where not there yet. During initial training a cadet will come out with around 200 Aero experience, so will need another 1300 hours @0.75. So we get around 1733 hours on line doing the supposedly doing the job of a Captain (remember what ICUS stands for) for half the time.
How many hours will we fly a year? about 800~900. Therefore, lets not split hairs and call it two years on 55K.
Meanwhile j* are taking their cut of your bond repaymentr. In addition the guvment is charging you the
FEE-HELP repayment through the tax system.
ecovictim, did you know all that? The architects of this scheme certainly did. If you did, I apologise for insulting your intelligence. It's not as simple as it looks is it, and we haven't even examined the fine print on the actual cadetship agreement. Assymetric knowledge is a very powerful tool.
Do I think its a scam? The best con is the one where the mark isn't even aware of the manipulation.
So in essence, the cadet cannot save enough to "buy out" the 6 year bond ( I couldn't work out how much the bond actually was). Therefore our cadet is at the mercy of their employer. Zero industrial power, promotion & basing for those that "play the game". In short, total management prerogative. This exerts total control (Pwned) of any individual with a significant bond remaining.
No job means that the balance of the bond would most likely to be paid out. What happens if there is a significant downturn in the industry (again!)? In the UK the CTC cadets were threatened with bankruptcy as a result of this "credit" scheme when they didn't gain employment.
As for the REX scheme, it is even worse, check out this
link