It really depends on whether you want to take the risk and matter into your own hands as opposed to sitting around for your entire life hoping that one day a cadet scheme will work out for you. Personally I wouldn't hang around forever. That's just me though... different approaches work for different people (but it's always a gamble )
Thanks for the advice Bearcat. Yeah the above is pretty much the point i'm at decision wise. I will be 30 next year and while that is hardly ancient it does mean I am at the point where I don't want to be hanging around year after year on the off chance I make it through on one of these programmes, particularly when the competition is so intense.
I can see myself becoming a flying instructor without too much difficulty in the next year, but there onwards things get more clouded. If more airlines accepted people with modular CPLs and little experience things would look a little more rosey. On the other hand the employment market does seem to be getting fractionally more desperate for pilots. Perhaps they will relax their entry requirements fractionally (experience wise).
I am advised by my flying instructor just to get the CPL and position myself as employable and then hope for the best. I just would much rather have the relative security of something like the FPP behind me!