At the moment BA is not running its cadet scheme. There is a small one being run by British European (there's a thread about it on this forum), but it's not cheap and involves very few people.. .I assume your son would be looking to join BA in 2004? BA may well have restarted their scheme by then but, as you can imagine, they are historically heavily oversubscribed. The odds of any one individual applicant succeeding are in the order of thousands to one against. Should he fail, he would be able to reapply after university, as long as the rules haven't changed - the maximum age of entry into training is, I believe, 27.. .Realistically, the self (or Dad) sponsored route is the only way to qualify for commercial aviation just now. That may change in the future, but no-one knows when. To ensure that your money has a chance of a return, make sure your son takes the GAPAN aptitude tests and a CAA Class 1 medical. Get him into PPL training and let him determine whether flying is really what he wants to do - and get him to take a look at the ATPL syllabus and course material (someone at your local club is bound to have some) and see whether he feels he could cope with it.. .From start to finish, the training to frozen ATPL (200 hours and exams completed) will take around 18 months, studying and flying full-time. The chances of a job at the end of it are not easy to determine at the moment, but I'm not over-optimistic - there are an awful lot of qualified pilots on the dole just now. But someone's got to succeed, and it could just be your son.. .Not to put too fine a point on it, there have been better times to enter aviation. Make sure you've got as many bases as possible covered before he sets off on the path to an ATPL. And make damn sure he has adequate qualifications to find an alternative career if aviation doesn't work out - as it doesn't for many, many Wannabes.. .Sorry if this seems a bit negative, but this is a difficult choice of career at the moment, and only the most determined - and talented - will get through the minefield to the airline goal.. .Best of luck to both of you!
[ 27 February 2002: Message edited by: Scroggs ]</p>