Originally Posted by halfofrho
There are far too many angry people around here who for whatever reason have decided to go about trying to disprove the qualities of CTC. Just because you chose to go somewhere else for your training, or because you chose to go modular in a time where airlines very much prefer integrated students, you can't blame anyone else for that!
If that's what you have understood from the comments then it shows either a lack of comprehension skills or severe naivety.
The negative attitude towards CTC is for the monopoly it has in the cadet space and the significant impact this has had in making the profession a financial nonsense and in stifling normal career progression. Why anyone would take on £100k+interest payments worth of debt for a part-time contract on awful terms is beyond me. No one is doubting that CTC ends up placing a lot in the right seat of a jet. The scorn comes from the conditions under which this happens.
The overall quality of candidates CTC is putting through has deteriorated significantly since the unsecured loan days. How else do you justify a massive increase in throughput all-the-while significantly fewer pilots are required by the market (2005 vs now). The issue with fasttrack cadets is that generally they are very selectively chosen by the end employer airline. CTC have basically made the fast-track available to less able candidates who happen to have financial backing. Of course they like to tell all the cadets they are 'the cream' based on what is, in all reality, a very straightforward selection day. They are processing way more of these fast-track pilots than could ever be required by a single airline, hence the clever model of Flexicrew and part-time contracts. This in conjunction with agreements with airlines keen to cut costs, like easyJet, provides a sure-fire perpetual demand. The added bonus is CTC can boast about 100% placement records and the majority, who neither question nor look into it themselves, are willing to get into such debt for such a scheme.
Bealzebub does a very good job of providing information that is true for the airline he works for, which happens to be amongst the fairer. This airline does not take on a large percentage of the output from CTC. It is true that CTC is one of the best ways to get into the right seat of a jet.
But, you know, this whole 'placement' thing has been created by CTC, and it is simply a product of what I have described above. It is all an impeccably marketed model of course, as its success shows.