Planedrive, not quite correct and I would expect the cadets you know of personally will need/have needed financial support which perhaps was parental instead of a second job.
You do not start on that salary until after your 2nd year and there are no flight allowances on top until year 3. In the first year you receive £1200pm for 9 months and then an hourly rate for the remaining 3. This is circa 20k gross equivalent. You do not receive the security bond back.
If you didn't receive your parental support up front and so had to take a loan for the course the average repayment is approximately £1400pm.
As you can clearly see without some support you will either need a second job just to pay the loan, let alone eat, or take another loan/use credit cards to supplement your monthly income.
I am not putting anything down, and think it is one of the better opportunities over the longer term, but I do think anyone considering their options needs to have the correct facts.
BTW I throughly enjoyed my time with CTC, and while there will always be exceptions believe you get out what you put in.