It would be wonderful if it were that easy. The RAAF is not an easy gig to crack and the failure rate of those who actually make it to pilots course is not small either. I don't know about REX or Jetstar but the Virgin cadet program is extremely competitive with only a small number of positions offered. There is also no news of when or if they will even run another course.
What I'm saying is, you may not be able to sit back an choose your desired path.
It does not sound like you have a true passion for flying. I decided I wanted to be a pilot at the age of 5. I'm not sure why as I'm the only pilot in the family and I never met any pilots until I started flying at the age of 16. At no stage was anything other than actually becoming a pilot an option. There was no second best. I worked hard, saved money over 4 years and paid for the lot myself.
I looked for work and moved around the country many time including 3 years in PNG. Today I'm a WideBody captain and can think of nothing I'd rather be doing and love going to work. Will you truly love your job if your working in ATC or will you find yourself looking out the window thinking, I wish I was doing that. Once you find a girlfriend or boyfriend and settle down, the kids arrive and there is a mortgage you can say goodby to any dreams of flight. Do it now whilst you are young and have no ties or obligations.
I just bought a new car and the car salesman once held a CPL. He then got married, couldn't afford to live on casual wages, was forced to give up and get another job to support his new family. He never flew again. He has been selling cars for the past 15 years now.
Don't settle for second best. Have a back up plan ie the RAAF may not accept you for example. Have a goal and work tirelessly toward it until you achieve it and never give up no matter how hard life seems or how difficult the task appears. It will get easier and when it does it will all be worth the hard slog.
My advice is to go to University and do an aviation degree. Apart from my flying credentials (which only mean something in the pilot world) I have no other recognised qualification. If I ever lost my licence, I'm not qualified to do anything else. Many jobs these day require a degree of some sort and I have nothing!
I started working at the age of 13 and began saving for my future flight training. I gained my PPL whilst completing year 12. I then worked for another 4 years to obtain the funds to pay for the rest.
You should be working and saving now. Beg, borrow or steal the rest as they say, do the uni course, enjoy a few years in GA ( the most fun you will ever have flying) then start applying to the airline if that is your goal.
It's a long long and most difficult road ahead. You will watch your mates go off in different directions, have more fun, earn a lot more, travel, drink, chase girls/ boys all whilst your still slugging away flying some heap of junk out of some community in the NT earning almost nothing and living in poverty driving a 1984 Gemini (canary yellow). Fast forward 10 years and those same mates will be looking at you with envy.
Last edited by fmcinop; 2nd June 2013 at 22:00.