New Aerial Survey Pilot Cadet Scheme
 

If you’ve got the PPL and 100hrs and fancy MEP aerial survey work you might be interested in this:

aerial survey pilot cadet - APEM

Good luck.

Fantastic opportunity for someone. Refreshing to see something like this come out of what is fast becoming a career exclusively for the rich.

Yeah, I guess it’s not perfect as you still have to stump up for the PPL and build up to 100hrs which isn’t cheap but it’s better than a poke in the eye. I wish that such schemes were available back when I was training, could have saved a whole load of money, just bad timing on my part.

Will be interesting to see who they actually do take on once people who already have CPL/IR start to apply, and they realise they can save serious money by not having to train them... :rolleyes:

You have to pay your way by doing all the ****e jobs that they struggle to fill with people of the same standard that your going to get with cadets.

It very similar to the Atlantic fuglie scheme. I wouldn't be supprised if an ex atlantic person is behind it. If it thats is the case you will work hard have a cracking time and come out at the end a more than decent aviator.

On one hand, some PPL holder is going to get very lucky. All the best to them.

On the other, there is a pile of CVs a mile high already on their desk including countless experienced instructors.

The last round of recruitment (for a proper pilot) saw a huge amount of extrememly high quality applications. This was in their own words.

The reason for side stepping all of these in order to take a risk with an unproven cadet is beyond me.

But then again, so is this entire industry.....

The last round of employment for a qualified pilot was probably in response to a new aircraft arriving or one of their pilots chucking their notice in. This scheme seems to be based around having someone qualified and sat ready doing camera operator and ground ops duties under the shadow of a bond until when/ if a pilot job becomes available obviously the cadet might be sat for a long time waiting for a pilot job. I seem to remember that in the long distant past they wanted 800hrs minimum before applying so that minimum seems to have gone out the window. If a pilot job becomes available before the cadet qualifies they will have to absorb the loss of a pilot or advertise for a qualified pilot. Also, as MJ points out they will have a cadet who is happy to be in low paid employment doing menial jobs while someone else pays for their training, that doesn’t make it morally right or ethical but they’re not in business for the morals or ethics.

I would bet on there being a large number of CPL/IR holders trying for this. Though you say they would have to stump up the £25k salary to hire at that level, there would be more than a few already qualified applicants willing to work for £14k, bonded, out there.

I hadn't even heard of this operator until I saw this thread!

Yeah I’m sure that you’re right about the qualified people willing to accept £14k pa and sign a bond for training that they have already paid for with the risk that they could be waiting 1 month for a flying job to become available or they could be waiting 1, 3, 5 years or longer. More a damning indictment of the situation that the industry is in right now than a criticism of the qualified people who choose to apply.

yes but there isn't many people who are both intelligent and capable willing to accept 14k to do all the ****e jobs.

Also as well the fugly system did produce extremely good pilots.

Sticking a 200 hour zero to hero into a survey machine and expecting them to just go and do the job is just plain daft.

2 years being a camera man and all the other jobs will mean that when you eventually do get into the LHS you will know every job on the aircraft and what the procedures are and what to do and what not to do.

A zero to hero will only just be getting usefull by the time they leg it to something else.

I suspect camera operator will be one of the good jobs which will only be dealt out for extremely good behaviour.

I suspect the other jobs won't be as pleasant.

Yeah, I guess that depends on their definition of extremely good behaviour.....the mind boggles!!!!!!!

At a guess, unlike the usual aviation way of fag packet in the morning, implement in the afternoon business style, they are thinking ahead and if it works well they will probably do it again...

What rubbish!! Maybe you would like the BA FPP guys to do 2 years as cabin crew, baggage handlers and dispatching just so they know ever job?? :ugh:

The flying your doing isn't punching buttons following a pink bit of string with a 10000 Captains making sure you not going to press the wrong button.

This job will be hairy arsed flying in class G dealing with everything that gets flung your way.

And speaking as someone that has done that sort of job the training thats given out by the intergrated schools is so so far removed from what your job is that nobody employs them. They are even worse than a pain in the arse they are just plain dangerous.

And in the good old days this sort of flying, as was single pilot IFR in piston twins in the crap, the experience that stood you in good stead for the airlines, but these days it counts for very little.

I know who I would rather have beside me when the going gets tough!

Hmmm, it does say there that after your time in ops / camera you will get a job if one is available. I guess it's a good way of getting a free licence , but where you going to go after that ? Naturally most people aspire to airlines as a progression but sadly, these days, most won't be interested in your hairy days as a survey pilot.

I don't know any Atlantic/Highland fuglies who are out of work.

Some of the Atlantic ones are LHS with BA and various other big boys.

And even the low houred (at the time) fuglies out of Highland are all employed either on Jungle jets or Q400's. None of them had any issues with sim checks and the like.

The ones that won't be interested you wouldn't have a look at anyway because of the cadetships.

IF your young (sub 25) and can afford to get the PPL and hours go for it.

This is the first time that APEM have recruited a cadet pilot so I assume that further cadet recruitment will depend on how well/ badly this recruitment goes and will rely upon further development and growth in their fleet of aircraft and airborne surveillance business. There is a link for a ‘frequently asked questions’ document on the cadet vacancy page, perhaps your query is answered in that document, failing that the document does detail a recruitment email address to send your queries to, not sure if this is the email address that you have already tried with no success.

Failing that, on the left hand side of their web page is link to a team list of all employees with their email details so you could send an email direct to the chief pilot or possibly one of the HR team. I imagine that the answer would be that they don’t know if they’ll recruit further cadets but keep an eye on the vacancies list where future cadet requirements will be listed. The reason I suspect that you will get this answer is that several months ago I contacted their chief pilot directly asking about pilot turnover and short term future requirements and I received a very polite reply inviting me to keep an eye on the vacancies section of their website.

Smaller operators like this have a problem with their pilots leaving once they gain experience. That's the nature of the beast. The catch 22 for these operators is that experienced pilots, the ideal candidates, won't apply and inexperienced pilots need more training and will move on as soon as they can. On top of that pilots want to fly, not do all the other dogsbody work.

I'd say you'd be lucky to keep a pilot for three years in those situations. That in my opinion is why they came up with this cadet scheme. They'll get at least three years out of him or her (although it will probably be a him) and when he's not flying he will be used to carrying out other duties.

For the right person it will be a good gig.