Over the last few years, I have put a great deal of effort into preparing myself as a better candidate for one of these sponsorships. Among other things, it has included changing jobs, turning down offers with very decent prospects, going back to study and working two jobs along with it to help fund a PPL to allow me to complete it.
I applied for this programme and got my PFO yesterday. When the numbers to advance to stage two are small when considering the number of applications a programme like this has, receiving a PFO is unfortunate but nothing surprising. However, reading that you have been selected to advance to the next stage when you may not even turn up is extremely disheartening given your reasoning, especially as there are indications of the sort of pay successful candidates will be on, which can be found by a simple search.
The place numbers for the selection stage are tight and you may have taken an opportunity off someone like myself, who has worked their arse off and received a PFO.
For those who have reached the next stage, goodluck
edit: This was for another poster who has since deleted their post if there was any confusion.