PNZ, I have been sitting here on the by-lines watching the development of this thread for some time now. It is plain that you need some advice here on the nature of the industry and how it works. As you are at the 'pre-cadet' phase of your career, you have no industry experience on which to back up your career decisions. This forum can provide some free advice to you from many who have been in the industry a long time. Whether you take it or not is up to you.
There are some who will hold it against you personally for taking a cadetship. I personally wont because I am forgiving and understand that the lure of a jet job is overwhelming to those who aspire to fly. I was there once, too. However, in my career (21 years in airlines, 5 years in GA and 4 years private flying before that), I have never paid for a heavy aircraft type rating (3 Fokker and 4 Boeing). What I and other Training and Check staff wont forgive is professional inability.
I have seen many who have gained employment at
VB and J*who did pay for their type rating. I dont hold that against them. The fact that I did not tick the box on the on-line employment forms that said
'I am prepared to pay for my own type rating prior to employment.'. meant that I did not ever recieve the nice e-mail from J* or Virgin Blue requesting my presence for an interview. However, there are plenty of employers who recognise that they need to pay for quality staff, such as Vaustralia where I now work on the B777 (type rating supplied by company and salary above that of a comparable position at J*). You can find these emplyers, too, but you will need some experience to justify your employment by them. Go and get it in GA.
My objection to the J* cadetship is twofold. Firstly, it is a really, very bad deal. The contract is all in the employers favour at you can so easily be put to a profound financial and career disadvantage. You will be literally selling your soul to buy into this. I can see how easily this can end in bankrupcy for anyone who signs up for this and in circumstances that are through no fault of their own whatsoever(I have already given advice to a young friend of my daughter regarding this - he has just been accepted into the ADF
).
The second objection is the quality of the training. Traditional cadetships have the
employer paying for the training. As they needed a high quality product at the end, they subjected candidates to rigourous assement prior to selection of cadet pilots. Examples of this are BOAC/BA, BEA, Lufthansa, Vietnam Airlines. QF, RAAF, USN, JAL etc etc. In each instance, the successful candidate was typically a straight 'A' student, 120+ IQ, demonstrated teamwork skills, athletic and healthy, psychometric and cognitive skills in the top 3%. In each case, cadets either spent years as a SO or go on a hands on type aeroplane where stick-and-rudder skills are honed. These organisations got the best staff because they were
willing to pay for it. The current employment paradigim is that if you have money, you can buy a job. The primary implication of here is that of a latent safey threat. To quote E.K. Gahn's 'Fate is the Hunter'
- "
in this game, we play for keeps". Our operating environment is intollerant of any incapacity, inability or neglect. We need the right people with the right attitudes and the right skills.
There is no fast track to this last attribute of
skills. They come with an amalgam of time, experience and personal application. You will learn more in a GA environment than you will taking a 'crash' course in being an airline pilot. You will be better paid for it, too. Furthermore you will have greater career flexibility should there be an industrial upheaval that puts you out in the street (and I would say that on historical grounds that there is a VERY good chance that this will happen at some stage in your career).
I can see how tempting the J* cadetship appears, but the contract sucks. You have to look at any employment scenario as a business deal. And this one stinks to high heaven! The fault isn't with you, it's with the emplyers who make demands that pilots take the financial burden for training. It is a way to subsidise the airline's operation. Hopefully, the rest of the industry will follow the example set by the VA B777 long haul operation and pay for rating will become a thing of the past.