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Thread: CTC or OAA?
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Old 20th Feb 2013, 12:42
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Bealzebub
 
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After all that, I would be interested to hear of any opinions about either of these training schools, whether you've been through them, flown with anyone who's been through them or had any other experience with them.
Almost all of our cadets have come through one of these FTO's for the last 15 years. I have visited their training locations, and seen their training facilities. Graduates of these programme make up a sizeable proportion of our current pilot population. Our normal recruitment profile is roughly a one third proportion of cadets, one third experienced type rated pilots, and one third non-type rated pilots. The last category includes both civil airline pilots and experienced military career changers. It is a recruitment profile that has worked very well for us. Experienced pilots in either of the "DEP" categories would normally have solid background experience with a recognised and reputable airline. They would usually have around 2500 hours minimum experience including at least 500 hours of turbine time. In reality the experience levels would usually be significantly higher. Despite this, there is scope for recruitment when pilots with quality backgrounds become available at short notice who might not otherwise meet the minimum requirements but do represent a good asset. This might involve pilots who have been made redundant from another airline, or ex-cadets from similar programmes to our own, who are looking for more stable opportunities.

As it relates to this forum, only the cadet category is particularly meaningful, and certainly within the context of this thread. When recruitment is needed, the FTO will be approached with the number of cadets being sought. They will offer sufficient cadets who fulfil the airlines requirement, all of whom will be interviewed and the airline will select the candidates it perceives as the best from the group put forward. Many of these candidates will be from a "pool" where they completed their basic training some months earlier. A few may well have only just finished their training, however that depends on the recruitment cycle, and how many other airlines are also recruiting at the same time, and in what numbers. Sometimes cadets will have been "pre-selected" by virtue of a projected forward requirement, or because of the training programme being utilized (for example an MPL course.)

At the "200+ hour" level, these cadet opportunities (as and when they arise) are the only way we (and many other airlines offering similar cadet programmes) recruit any low houred pilots. I have flown with a lot of these cadets and they come to us with a solid, verifiable, consistent, managed, seamless training background. They are equipped to take on the very steep learning curve that is required of them for the next few years. They nearly always excel and go on to progress further up the promotion ladder as such opportunities arise. In my experience these pilots are a pleasure to fly with. They come from as diverse a range of backgrounds as you might find in any other section of the professional pilot population. They also seem to do very well in achieving promotion to command at the earliest opportunity, and then moving into managment and training roles on merit.

My experience is therefore a very positive one, and one that goes back to the early days of some of these programmes. However you don't have to look far (the next few posts I expect) to see that there are downsides. The cost of these programmes is likely to be upward of £85,000. For that reason alone the attrition rate is already in the higher percentiles! In the current economic landscape, there are many airlines taking advantage of their supply/demand position, to offer poor terms and conditions to graduates of these programmes. The volatility of the marketplace provides no guarantees and therefore a great deal of risk, on the placement situation at the end of this very expensive course of training.

Far too many people labour under the illusion that 250 hours is the experience "ticket" for an airline pilots job. It isn't, it never has been, and it is almost inconceivable that it ever would be in the future. Where it is a "ticket" it is through one of these integrated cadet programmes, or perhaps through one of the "commercial" recruitment programmes, what I might refer to as the "Ryanair to Lionair" sector. You can read enough about that on these forums and elsewhere. There are opportunities for experienced pilots from all types of backgrounds. The problem (and it is a big problem) is how do you get that experience. CPL/IR holders now only need a third of the hours to qualify, than they did a decade ago. As a result the marketplace is swamped, flooded, and deluged with such people. Opportunities do exist, but the attrition rate is enormous.

If you are looking for a fast track career as an airline pilot, then my advice would be to apply for one of these courses. However you should be under no illusion that it is extremely expensive, selective, and competitive. There are also no guarantees, and a lot of very real potential problems and pitfalls along the way. I see a lot of the success stories, but that is because the company I work for is a good partner and generally recognised as a good employer. Nevertheless as the small print on investment and borrowing often says..."past performance is no guarantee of future performance and should not be relied upon in making a decision" So all you can do is research, research and research, and then decide what level of risk you are prepared to assume, if any!

In summary:

I think these FTO's (my experience is one of them) produce a good standard of airline cadet. Their facilities and training are good. The cadets we receive integrate well into advanced training, and are able to follow a very steep learning curve with very few problems. We offer good opportunities and progression, and place a real value on the investment we make in our apprentice airline pilots. Such cadets are only a proportion of our recruitment portfolio, so we get a balance of good quality input and are better able to devote the necessary training resources where they are required.

Not every airline follows the same methodology, and there is a good chance that airlines with very different strategies and terms and conditions, could be "the only game in town" when you come to graduate. It may well also be the case that there is almost nothing on offer when you come to graduate.

These courses are expensive, and in some cases will involve significant extra expense before you can move on to the advanced stages of training. If this expense is not realistic or an acceptable risk profile in your own set of circumstances, then it shouldn't even be a consideration. That is a part of the normal attrition process, like it or not.
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