Lots of ignorance towards cadets here:
Originally Posted by
Black belt
Yeah very true. These pimply faced school kids are just, banana eating seat warmers and nothing else.
Cadet courses are made up of people with a variety of ages, backgrounds and life experiences. Some have had substantial second careers before starting one in aviation, and some cadets have been well into their 30's.
No idea how previous cadetships worked but in the past you still needed that magic command time.
Nope, plenty of RPT Captains flying in Oz and worldwide for decades who's first command hours beyond CPL training were as Captains of an RPT jet.
When a 200 hr T.T. cadet is placed straight into the RHS, thats 3rd world standards.
Nope, almost all first world countries (apart from the US) put cadets into the right hand seat of jets and have been doing so for decades.
Even now just google how many overruns and incidents in a certain part of the world.
That's more to do with culture and regulation rather than how a pilot enters the airline. You'll also find a lot of those pilots as well (I assume you mean Asia) have come from the military.
2. Cadets are cheaper: can be put on a lower wage; pay for their own training; can be bonded for a number of years; etc.
The same can be said for direct entry pilots. Apart from possibly one airline in Australia which might (I'm not sure) put cadets on a slightly reduced wage for a few years initially, then onto full pay, almost all other airlines have the same T&C's for cadets and DE. And doesn't the payment for the cadet's training go to the flying school not the airline?
I would be willing to bet that a huge number of pilots currently flying for Jetstar would never have become pilots ff they had to take the traditional GA route. It seems to have opened the industry up to a generation spoiled toffee nosed kids who are good at waffling their way through the ridiculous HR recruitment process but could not survive a day in the world where you have to wash and refuel your plane as well as fly it.
Do you have any evidence for that, or is that just because of stereotypical prejudices? It might benefit you to speak to some cadets, and actually see some of personal sacrifices and efforts they've made toward a flying career. Just because you've got a CPL and some flying hours doesn't mean you're suited for an airline.