Q10, you need not worry. K-of-K is quite correct.

Okay thnx to both!:) I would have to figure out how to convert my grades into Brittish grades and see if that are A grades :hmm:

Really pleased to see this happening at last (subject to formal announcement), been expecting it for a long time but hadn't thought it'd happen so soon. IMHO people joining the industry on the basis of merit rather than ability to pay can only be good.

Another scheme I didn't make it onto :p, I did apply in '95 when they first re-opened the old cadetship scheme after the 1st Gulf War and regarding competition for places: they had so many applicants to deal with that it was 6-8 weeks between sending the form off and doing the aptitude tests and a further 3 months after that before the interviews/exercises stage.

We asked about numbers during a break and were told (IIRC - it was a while ago!) that after the initial press advertising they'd had c.57,000 enquiry calls, sent out c.20,000 app packs (that dreaded 16 page app form...), received c.4,000 apps back, invited c.1,500 to aptitude testing, brought back c.400 for interview/group exercises and this was for somewhere like 100 places.

My old memory may not be serving me well for exact numbers and that scheme was different to this one but there is no doubting this is going to be extremely competitive 1 way and another - the absolute best of luck to any/all of you who go for it :ok:

I'm looking forward to seeing this being publically released. No doubt there will be many applicants, but competition can be good.

Good luck to everyone that applies :ok:

Interesting, I wonder if they'll consider old(er) peeps like me.

How have BA conducted the assessment for cadetships in the past?
Will the assessments be done by the training provider ? or will candidates siit BA's selection tests ?

Same here Q10! It is however, quite a difficult thing to do imo.

I would love to know this as well but I have absolutely no idea how to get official information, so you don't have to worry about the educational requirements for the future scheme :)

Sometimes it can be hard do get non brit-grades converted into brit-grades:(
It's possible, but it can take a lot of time and some bureaucratic work.

I have a university degree, so i hope it will help somehow during the process.

"Essential requirements are English Langauge and Mathematics with Physics or Chemistry, or General Science "

Or not being a sexist, a pair of T;)ts will help, 100% pass rate!!! would love to see their positive discrimination policy..

Good luck guys.

My understanding having spoken to someone 'in the know' is that applicants will initially attend CTC/Oxford/FTE and do their selection tests, followed by an interview with BA.

Mooney is correct, it looks identical to the old CTC-Mcalpine scheme, except the loan is provided by BBVA rather than HSBC.

It allows BA to select the guys/girls they want right from the start; the SSP scheme that operated until 2008 will be terminated.

Win-win for aspiring young pilots, and for the company. Good luck to all applying.

Thanks for the info. Would you happen to know anything about entry requirements?

Katana, do you by initially attend mean applicants that will attend CTC/Oxford/FTE going through a (part) of their assessments and (educational?) entry requirements?

British Airways Cadet scheme?
 

First off, sorry if someone has asked/posted something on this before.

A few people have told me 'rumours about British Airways starting up their cadet scheme again. I've been told 'The official announcement is due before the end of August and I gather the requirement is for 80-100 cadets. Training will take place at either Oxford, CTC for FTE Jerez'. Is this a rumour or is it true? Has anyone else heard about this?

I wonder what effect a very possible double dip recession would have on this scheme should it strike mid-way through training of the selected candidates.

Hopefully will have planned for that! Wouldn't imagine they'd run the scheme if it was likely to too adversely affect it!

Would anyone happen to know or guess at how long the window for applications will be open for? or will this be a long-long term thing, with continuous recruitment? I don't mean to sound simple minded if it seems that way; i've not had any experience with such a cadet scheme before.

Hayleigh, RGD,

I don't know any more than that, other than full details will be released next week apparently.

As for the selection tests, well we have an established procedure for DEPs but given the cadet scheme hasn't run for nearly 10 years now, CTC/Oxford are far better placed to provide the facilities; BA already know that the quality of graduates from these schools meet their requirements.

Thanks a lot KP :). Any indication whether they will be the usual tests the FTOs run? COMPASS for Oxford etc etc?

so if the full repayment will be over 7 years then your basically paying out £1,000 each month to pay back the loan.

Thats going to leave you approximately £800 left, if i calculated the tax correctly on a 30k salary.

stewmath - I wouldn't get hung up over the numbers. This will be the best scheme out there, so if you can't afford this, you can't afford to ever fly for a living.

Is it CPL/IR or MPL?

@fans

My problem is the fact that ive still got debts from University, so its a problem for me paying my loan repayments of my current loan while id be pilot training full time for approx 18 months. Thats if im even lucky enough to be like one of the 1% successful applicants.

stewmath,

Your student debts are not repaid until you are earning a salary, even then it is a small % of your salary.you are unlikely to pay more then a couple of hundred pounds a month when you first start earning a salary

ExMil and stewmath,

Yes the standard student loan is taken out of your pay via a similar process to PAYE. It's taken before tax I believe, and is only taken when the person is earning more than £15,000 per year.

If the graduate is to fall below that income, the student loan repayments stop until the person earns more than £15k again.

If, however, stewmath is instead referring to another loan or overdraft from another facility, and not the one from the Student Loans Company, then yes they are going to have trouble repaying.

I heard the loan for the cadet scheme is from BBVA, which i understand is different from university loans from the Local Education Authority (L.E.A.). I have already been university and reveived a loan from the LEA so therefore wouldnt be entitled to another one if the cadet scheme is using them :(

BBVA is very different from the LEA/student loans company - it is purely commercial and assuming the rumours surrounding what BA intend doing are correct would be unsecured, meaning that your only concern should be whether you can afford the repayments.

I might humbly suggest two things at this time :

1/ Wait until the scheme details are announced before you start deciding whether you can or can not afford it - or whether the first batch is the one to go for.

2/ Consider that you do not have to do this now, now, now. At risk of sounding REALLY old, over the last twenty years this country has become about "wanting it now and hang the future". You've just discovered ONE of the problems of this approach. Consider what opportunities getting into even more debt at this point might preclude you from downstream and then weigh up against whether perhaps working for a couple of years, clearing the student debt at least - and perhaps funding a portion of your flight training before going for this scheme might be a decent alternative.

I'm not saying you shouldn't go for it - Just "consider" it. You should be able to already see the drawback of debt and how it stops you doing things. Consider £85k of debt....

@stewmath

Your tax calculations are pretty wrong. If the £1000 loan deduction is made before tax, that leaves taxable pay of £1,500 (based on your estimated £30k salary). Taking into account your personal allowance (2012/13 - £8,105), then you would actually be left with approx £1,200 each month. Much more positive result!

But, as FANS says, don't get too hung up over the numbers. So much of the details floating around on here are rumours - wait until BA announce the details. And if you can't afford the BA scheme, you'll only be able to make it in this industry by getting onto to a fully sponsored scheme such as Cathay.

does anyone have a clear cut answer as to when this scheme actually starts or is going to be announced ?

kind regards

As clear cut as we're going to get is Aug 11th which was been mentioned on here a few times.

Tomorrow is the big day!

Website up and running!

British Airways Future Pilot Programme

Ready, Steady.... GO!!!!
 

It is live. Bafuturepilot.com

You need GCSEs grade B in maths english and science. You will also need A Levels of BBC and it looks like a 2.1 degree is nice to have but not required (massive advantage though I bet).

Finally you must be 18 by Feb 2012, and no older than 55.

Selection to be done at FTOs, with a final interview at BA.

Good luck!

And here is a clickable link! :ok:

British Airways Future Pilot Programme

Good luck all!

Nice to see that there are still airlines out there that value their pilots :D

Hopefully this will bring an end to all those line training schemes out there....

Nice to see some slightly more strict entry requirements too! Quality over quantity at long last.

Excellent. They still don't appear that keen to act as guarantor to any loan, though I am delighted that they will. Glad about the academic requirements. Sort of wanted them to require maths and physics at A level though :8 Very excited!

sounds good hope they are still doing it in 2 years!

Interesting... perhaps Ireland does not have the same age discrimination laws that the UK has. An age limit is totally illegal in the UK, in fact asking your age in an interview is illegal (just like "are you pregnant") and must be approached with the utmost care and for a very valid reason.

Why would they want to act as guarantor? It just causes them extra work, which is why they have out sourced it and made the outsourcing attractive.

Maths and Physics plus another at ABB grades has always been a requirement of BA since I can remember applying back in the mid 90s

Age limits are allowed if training costs are involved that a company cannot get a return on over the period of employment. It is fairly unique to aviation as there is, unless I am mistaken, an upper age limit for flying at 65 years, therefore an airline could prove that the costs involved in training a 60+ year-old would not be recouped. i.e. there would be no return on investment. As BA are paying for JOC and TR (and they could argue they are paying for the CPL/IR training as it is "sponsored", even though in reality it is not) they are not doing anything illegal.

Would anyone above the age limit would want to apply anyway? The upper age limit is probably a moot point.

The competition between the FTOs is a very interesting element to this scheme, is it just me or is FTE by far the cheapest one? The other schools do not include living costs and CTC charge an additional £3,300 for training equipment. OAA and CTC charge for selection - I am not sure if FTE do or not.

The above comment does not reference the law. It merely correctly states that while there may not be a published age limit, there may in reality be a target age group. Civil aviation legislation stipulates that, for safety reasons, pilots may not operate public transport aircraft beyond a certain age (I believe this to be 65 years). It stands to reason that an airline is unlikely to seek candidates near this age.
The Employment Equality Acts 1998-2008, prohibit discrimination in employment on a number of grounds, including age. It is unlawful to discriminate against anyone in employment on grounds of age. The Acts only apply to persons above the maximum age at which a person is statutorily obliged to attend school (16 currently). However there are a number of exceptions to the general principle of non-discrimination. The Acts also provide for positive action on a number of grounds including age. The Acts are enforced by the Equality Authority and the Equality Tribunal.
Exclusions from the general prohibition of discrimination on age grounds

An employer may:

set a minimum age requirement (not more than 18 years) for potential applicants for a job.
offer a fixed-term contract to a person over the compulsory retirement age.
There are also exemptions inserted into Section 34 by Section 23 of the Equality Act 2004. With regard to an an occupational benefits scheme, it does not constitute discrimination on age grounds for an employer:

to fix ages for admission to such a scheme or for entitlement to benefits under it;
to fix different ages for all employees or a category of employees;
to use, in the context of such a scheme, age criteria in actuarial calculations, or
to provide different rates of severance payment for different employees or groups or categories of employees, these rates being based on or taking into account the period between the age of an employee on leaving the employment and his or her compulsory retirement age,
provided that these measures do not constitute discrimination on the gender grounds.

I trust this resolves your query, Chromeo.