New to the industry
 

Hi All,

Firstly, my apologies if I have posted this in the "wrong" thread.

I am currently trying to determine how realistic it would be to obtain a cadetship with one of the majors. I am 43 and, to date, have undertaken just a couple of flying lesons.

Some of the cadetships I've seen (e.g. Jetstar) come at a hefty cost. From what I've seen, the cost of the cadetship is in the order of roughtly $130,000, despite the fact that the majority of this expense is deferred until the recruit commences working for the airline (FO?).

My wife and I not have any children and both make good money working in our respective fields (even though I have little passion for what I do professionally).

I've been told by a certain instructor that the "best bet" at my age would be a cadetship with a regional airline like Rex, however this is not particularly appealing to me (for various reasons).

My wife's only concern is that I will be significantly out of pocket by the time the training is completed and, at this stage, I am uncertain of what a junior FO or FO is paid. Personally, I am not interested in pursuing this for the money, however it would be good to know what the starting salary of a junior pilot working for a major airline like Jetstar is and potentially how long it would take to pay back that loan.

Thanks in advance for your input!