Can someone clear something up for me please? The media and people in this thread keep referring to the co-pilot as a cadet. I'm guessing that's because he came through a Jetstar cadet scheme (he apparently had around 1600 hours prior to his 300 on the A320).
Is it fair to the co-pilot (and perhaps Jetstar) to keep calling him a cadet? Or is it a Jetstar cadetship requirement to acquire somewhat more than 300 hours on type before the they can do away with the "cadet" designation? If that's the case then so be it.
It just seems to me that the media are jumping on "cadet" to give punters the impression that the co-pilot was a just-out-of-school kid who had no real idea of what he was doing. He may well have blotted his copy book on this occasion and will have to face the consequences including one would assume a fair degree of embarrassment. But do we really need to humiliate him further by insisting he's a cadet if in fact he's not?