I don't think a scrape through during training will preclude you from BA. Likewise having a glowing training record will not get you in. It seems often like a good day or bad day on tests/interview pretty much decides if you get in or not. Same with all the other airlines really. CTC pass you over as a finished product with a certain standard expected!

As you say EZY don't take muppets at all, (no-one does!). Anyone in the EZY hold pool has done well! There was a while (apparently) when CTC would only send top notch cadets to EZY to make sure they were happy with the standard and kept buying em!

Who knows how you end up where you do! You just seem to wind up where you are and I'm convinced that's just how it is!!! (Job wise!)

Good luck to everyone waiting for a full-time contract though, hope it all works out!

reassessment
 

Hi all, I was hoping someone could let me know how the phase 2/3 of the wings selection has changed. I'm due to go back to do phase 3 again but have been told the exercises have changed from when I did them. What format do they take now? I don't think there's much point in trying to prepare answers as it's either in you or isn't but I'd just like to know if there have been any radical changes to the selection, or interview, for that matter.

Cheers!

antonov225, check your PMs.

RE: Employment prospects their may also be this option ? from CTC's The Standard June 2008 edition available for PDF download here: CTC Wings - Downloads

DHL AIR Ltd
Closer to Home now, But nonetheless significant to us: Our Pilots have been selected to fly the B757 with DHL Air LTD and commenced Line flying in May 2008.
We are working on a new partnership with DHL Air Ltd to supply Pilots selected through CTC Wings with Initial placements destined for DHL Air's Leipzig Base.

Daily life of a CTC wings cadet?
 

I apologise if this has been covered but I can't seem to find it anywhere. What is the average day of CTC Wings Cadet? I'm just interested in what sort of hours you are flying a day, how much ground school is involved, what time do you start/finish, how much spare time do you have? Etc.

Thanks in advance for any help its greatly appreciated :ok:

at this time of year it goes roughly like this:

Wake up and look outside: its raining. Go into training centre to cancel flight. Lay around at Clearways/Peach/Knox until dinner, eat, watch TV, sleep.

Rinse and repeat!

Ah come on you guys must surely still be keeping Bank and Coyote's in business on a rainy day?!:E

Work Visas for Spouses/Partners coming to NZ
 

Hi all

I have a question about NZ work visas for my wife who will be coming with me whilst I'm on the CTC course.
She needs to work whilst we're there and is unsure as to whether to apply for a working holiday visa or whether to try and apply for a full work visa. She works for a global investment bank but we're not sure that her job would classify as a skilled worker (most probably not). She is happy to do temp work to give us more flexibility.

Anyone taken a partner with them to NZ and have some experience of this?

Thanks!
Jamer :)

I have just finished my 3rd year at university and going into my fourth and final year. I am intending to apply to CTC wings but Im not sure when I should apply. I finish university in mid June 2009 but I havent been able to find out how long from application to flying out to NZ takes. I want to apply as soon as possible but wouldnt want to be in a position where I had to turn a place down (if I was lucky enough to get that far) because I wouldnt have finished uni.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

TomH

you dont have to go out immediately as far as i know... you can pass selection and postpone going to NZ i am sure. Speak to the selection team in bournemouth they will tell you...

i know c couple of partners that have gone to nz and worked, they didnt seem to have a hard time with it. dont think you need to tell them your an astronaught or anything. (for that space programme NZ are famous for)

Hey Tom, I'm taking my phase 4 in 3 weeks from now only because CTC didn't want to delay my departure to New Zealand.

I'm under contract with easyJet (cabin crew) until october 31th so I can't start training (if I'm succesfull) beforeore November.... I was supposed to sit my sim-check in April but they said to me that once you pass you can't delay, you have to take the date they give you... Actually, if I'm good I won't leave before January or February as all the courses are full until this date...

And an other point, I talked with a Captain last day, he's a CTC trainer in Nursling as well and he told me that because of the credit crunch, the unsecured loan should simply disapear... The future will be very different, the selected candidates will still benefit from CTC connections and first class training (which is already a lot) but will probably have to self-fund the training..
Once again, I don't say that this is what will happen but times are changing and I would strongly recommend everybody who feel ready to go for it within the next few months.

Do you guys already in the scheme have more information??

Best of luck

As it stands, I think the unsecured loan still exists as there is no change of information on their website.

It's really important to clarify speculation....self-funding the training means that you pay for everything yourself, i.e. similar deal to Oxford and other integrated FTOs. Do you (or the Captain you spoke to) mean this? Or do you mean that the loan will simply need to be secured against equity rather than be offered wholly unsecured.

If self-funded, then that throws a large principal of CTC out the window...

I'm not quite sure which part of having a £60,000+ loan in your name isn't self funding. Answers on a postcard please.

I think thats what people keep forgetting is that it is money YOU are taking out,not CTC. They say they want to be able to train Pilots from every background,give the opportunity for those who cant afford to pay for training(they give you the opportunity to get a unique loan arrangement instead!) to pay for the training. Mind though you are getting a type rating if you go through the wings scheme which saves you a few £££

To me, self funding is you paying for it all with no remuneration for the training. The whole point of CTC's financial plan is that the airline pays back £1000 per month tax free for training costs incurred...

Why question was whether they were scrapping the unsecured loan, making it all or part secured but still having the airline pay back the agreed money directly to the loan owner (therefore not strictly self-funded because the airline is paying for some of it) or whether they are making it self funded and the partner airline won't pay any training costs.

Big difference in cost.

Is there any form of holiday? Do you ever get to go home or are you stuck out there till your all done?
Thanks

*sigh* The partner airline does not pay any of the training costs. Yes, you get £1000 a month on top of your salary; it just so happens that your salary is £12000 a year less than the equivalent direct entry salary.

CTC is a self funded scheme; it just has an arrangement with HSBC to make funding easier.

If you get £1000 on top of the basic salary you are being paid, then surely you pay back the loan that you arranged for training i.e. you are paying back money incurred for the training.

As a lot of others have said on this thread, you could think about it as having some training costs paid for and a reduced salary, or having the full salary (inc the £1000 a month) and pay back the loan yourself.

CTC use the former for marketing purposes...from their website.

"The CTC Wings Cadet Programme is a sponsored programme, which means you won't be paying for your training....however you will be required to raise a security bond."

CTC secure 30 grand of the 60K loan so it is a secured loan in a way. the other 30K is unsecured. All of its in your name though anyway. No coincidence the bond is the same cost as the market rate for a cpl ir.

The sponsored bit is the Type rating (when you ge a job). The rest is self funded.

the innovitive finacial arrangement allows you to secure the money you need to train easily, and allows the airlines to obtain cheap well trained pilots.

Akindofmagic is right - in the long run you pay for everything. The £1000
a month thing is a logisitcal excersize.

Resit
 

Hi guys, hoping one of you could answer a (hopefully) simple question. I have been invited to resit one of the stages of CTC selection. In order to re-initiate my application and book a new date for this stage, have those of you who previously did this telephoned CTC directly or sent an email to the generic ctc wings email address? If you emailed, how long was it until you heard back from them?

See, told you it was simple! Thanks in advance for your help.

Just email the generic address, they'll then contact you by email or phone within a few days and get a re-sit date sorted for you.

Bonastle, simply e-mail them when you are ready. It has to be well written but no need to write a novel.
Just tell them you were asked to come back in 6 months, that you are ready and would like to get a date for you reassessment.
Kindest regards and blablabla....

I'd like to clarify some points.
First of all, I've never said that CTC's unsecured loan was dead! I had a chat with one of CTC chief training captain so he's more than aware of what's going one at the top of the top... He simply said that I should hurry getting in the schemes because the unsecured loan may become soon a secure loan...

Next, some of you have to realised that if easyJet pays you 1000 tax free pounds every months on top of your basic (28 000 pounds a year), most of the other partners (including BA) simply pay you a first officer salary (about 35 000 GROSS) and that you have to pay around 1000-1200 a months back to the bank for the first 7 years of employment..Cityjet being the worst.

EVERYBODY will pay, CTC is awesome because of its financial structure, its first class training, its "free type rating" and finally its connections with the airline industry....AND THAT IS IT.
Stop dreaming guys, those who go for easyJet will fly the first 6 months FOR FREE without any guarantee of securing a job after.

Consider your training cost as an investment, 60 000 pounds is nothing compare to the life style you'll get within 10 years.
Whish you (and me by the way
:)) the best of luck.

Bambe

The Training Captain you spoke was pretty accurate. HSBC provide an innovative funding solution that CTC help to secure. I do think the days of the £60k + £10k living costs is numbered. I know that it is one of CTC's key concerns too.

bonalste, i just rang the selection team a few weeks before my 6 months were up saying that my time to re-apply was coming and krissie gave me an assessment date there and then! i'm sure an email would work just as well, they really are not assessing how you ask to re-apply!

--break break--

There is a small financial advantage in the way cadets are paid £1k a month to pay the loan, because that is tax free. So instead of a £36k salary, i will pay tax on £24k and get £12k 'free' to pay my loan off.

In my own opinion I feel like I am paying for my own training and not being sponsored, although I am getting a hell of alot for my £60k! Not that I actually care whether it's classed as sponsored or otherwise, it's getting me into the right-hand seat of a jet! :ok:

Many thanks guys, I really appreciate your help. :)

Hi all, I'm delighted to say that I've passed stage 3 and have been invited to stage 4 soon. Thanks for all the advice to date but any advice on stage 4? I've had a little sim experience in a generic motion simulator but not an airliner sim. Any pointers etc would be appreciated but if all I can do is turn up and do it then that's what I'll do. Cheers

i thik you do it on the 73 sims now..??

best advice i can say is just use the exact power settings and pitch datums that they give you and if they dont give you any ask for them. Make small changes at a time and wait to see what that does first. God im begging to sound like an instructor!

I reckon sim time before hand would be beneficial but im not sure how much an hour in a sim costs these days...?

As much as it pains me, I must disagree with m'learned friend, dragonfly6.
I don't think there's much, if anything, to be gained by doing an hour in a sim before CTC phase 4. It would be, in my opinion, an unnecessary expense.
The instructors at phase 4 are, as far as I know, looking for "trainability" and capacity. If you can show that you are willing to learn, and that you have the ability to absorb information in an unfamiliar setting, you'll be fine.

Fancy going to Furnace dragonfly6? See you there in five :P

nobody cares what you think. Anyway shouldnt you be at work? Im emailing your boss.:=:)

It's very quiet here, maybe the economic downturn has affected the CTC thread too :uhoh:

I'm still here Dave!!

And I'm off to the Gulf in a week, sticking my application in to CTC when I get back in a few months, and did my first solo flight yesterday... :D

CTC Group Exercises at Phase 3
 

Hello all,

I have trawled through this thread in detail, but I have'nt come across any detailed information regarding the group exercises CTC set at stage 3. I was wandering if anybody could give me a brief insight into what team building exercises CTC employ?

Regards,

All the 9's

For the group exercises, when I went along there were 2 tasks to do. The first one involved 6 people standing in 2 rows of 3 facing each other, with your hands out. The assessor places a cane across all of your index fingers and you have to place the cane on the ground in 10 minutes. Sounds easy doesn't it. Have fun with this one!

The next one is a discussion exercise where you have to form your own decision, present them to the rest of the group then work on a group decision. I won't tell you the scenario as it might change from time to time, and also it takes away some of the point of the exercise.

Basically, I think the assessors are looking to see someone who can work effectively as a team, who doesn't dominate anyone and not let anyoe have a shot of contributing, but at the same time, someone who can lead a team and help them bring out the best and achieve what is required in the exercise.

All the best! :ok:

Insurance costs have now gone up AGAIN in to £1313!! FFS! :mad::mad:

Apologies for the outburst but my budget for the next 2 months is slowly being blown to pieces :suspect:

CTC Phase 4???
 

Any one got details of what Phase 4 may have in sotre???

Cant find much info.

Preparing for the final push...

Mikey

Job for CTC grads?
 

Mikey, for phase 4 you spend about 50 mins in a 733 simulator with a training captain, follow his instructions (fly at x altitude, turn onto x heading...) He'll throw some mental arithmetic questions out there as well, be ready for that. You should get a phone call a few days before telling you everything you need to know.

I'd like to ask any CTC cadets that have recently finished training what kind of problems they've had getting jobs, how long it's taken, etc. Do you think CTC will be able to keep up its 100% placement rate despite the downturn? I've passed selection but everyone seems to be saying that this is the worst time to be starting an integrated course.

12-18 months ago may have been the worst time to start training.

Yes, it's surely not a good time for pilot employment but I prefer waiting 6 months (or even more) working as a dispatcher to pay back my loan and being ready for any opportunity than waiting again and again before starting a training...
CTC is from the best, I don't wory too much!

And for the phase 4, I have never had any maths questions, some did, I think it's a bit strange.
Focus on your attitude, no big moves only small corrections. Practise on your flight sim, pull when turning more than 15 degres and even harder when steep turning....

Try to be as accurate as possible, talk to your instructor after each turn saying what you did good and bad, and most of all (I know it's hard!!!), show him you're enjoying the ride.....

Good luck