That was interesting as a story about our neighbour and therefore not our problem. Until our son called us last night to tell us that he was seriously thinking about doing the same. There's some sort of open day in Southampton in November... Costs could be funded via special loans payable back over 10 years. This is on top of the student loan by the way. Further training is done in New Zealand which sounds very nice. There's another course somewhere else where the practical training is done in Arizona. And so on...
I'll be honest and say I know nothing about these courses and whether they amount to a genuine way into becoming a pilot with a good prospect of a very well paid career. My instinct is telling me that these places are tempting young people with the glamour of flying coupled with spending time in glamorous sounding places at a cost of loadsamoney... It sounds vaguely scammish to me ? I'm sure I'm wrong but would anyone be kind enough to explain more please ?
A limited number of airlines offer
"cadet" programmes. These are
fast track routes into an airline career. They are limited in number, highly dependent on the airlines own projected forecasts, and extremely competitive. For those candidates that are successful, they can often be an excellent route into a well paid career. However, they provide limited selection opportunities for a range of airlines, all of whom set their own terms and conditions, and all of whom are subject to the vast number of variables inherent in a volatile marketplace. There are
absolutely no guarantees that an individual who successfully embarks on one of these programmes, will find a placement upon graduation. Whatever may be the intent, the reality will absolutely depend upon the end customers (airlines) requirements at that given point in time.
In the UK, there are three principle providers of full time training courses tied in with these programmes. They are:
CAE Oxford (Oxford and Mesa Arizona);
FTE Jerez (Jerez Spain);
CTC Aviation (Southampton, Hamilton New Zealand, and Bournemouth). These are the "
Big Three" players in this market, and are usually contracted (individually or collectively) to provide the training courses for these cadet programmes.
The "special loans" aren't particularly special at all. They are
Second mortgages (or
First mortgages if the purchaser doesn't already have one.) There are banks that specialize in formulating loans directed at this market,
BBVA being the main player, but the fundamental loan is simply
secured borrowing. There are some strict criteria attached to these loans, and they wouldn't be either available or suitable to everybody in any event.
The "Big Three" all have "Airline partners." These are airlines that either currently, or in the past, have taken graduates into their employment (cadet) programmes. Sometimes graduates appear in their statistics simply by virtue of the fact that said graduate eventually found a job at that airline, even though the school itself may have played no part in facilitating that transition. An airlines past plans may have no bearing on their current or future plans. Similarly no airline is locked to a particular school, and although there may be a historical association, it is quite conceivable that an airline can switch its own training provider as it sees fit. That said, it is well worth researching where those airlines that are recruiting cadets are sourcing their cadets from.
I have worked with
graduates from these programmes for over 15 years. I have followed training courses from start to finish. I have visited all of the training facilities of one of the "Big Three" and seen how they market themselves, how they select, how they train, how they administer, and how they deal with successful and unsuccessful candidates.
I have seen what happens to the graduates who transition into employment with us, and the terms and conditions that those "ex-cadet" pilots are contracted to. As a senior airline captain and a father, that gives me a good perspective and I would say a qualified, experienced and well researched one. However, it is a particular pathway, and it isn't a route that the vast majority of aspirants to this industry will follow. The reasons for that are many: It is highly competitive and selective; it is very expensive; it has its own risk profile that will be unacceptable to many.
As others have already said, there is plenty of reading available to you, even within these forums. A lot of the previous advice is eminently sensible. Cadet programmes are not the only pathway to becoming a commercial pilot, and that is a subject for many other threads.
Maybe he will change his mind tomorrow.
Good luck!