In some ways,it is this sort of behaviour by airlines, is indicative of the genesis of the problem; Labour relations.

A transparent and upfront program may help to address what is a growing and increasing issue, but this is not it.

Do the "cadets" have access to HEC's.? Maybe the Irishman see's the academy as a profit centre.

Chairman's lounge memberships, upgrades and soft corruption couldn't quite deliver AUD$ 3billion of taxpayer assistance in CY13, so why not try another angle.
Could be a nice expansion for the value adding 'inclusivity and diversity management' Empire building being what it is, diversity training and inclusivity for the newly 'indentured' cadets could deliver substantial empire building benefits. A nice distraction from actually doing something and a bit of corporate welfare to boot.

SPOT ON RD!:-( Some seem to forget the sick little Leprechaun isn't there to make people happy he's there to empire build, make money for himself & as a by product for the SkyGods themselves:-) He's very cunning that's why he's still there !

Thorn bird,
Yes and yes. The latter a matter of public record.
Tootle pip!!

Whole academy seems pretty useless if there is no "guaranteed employment upon successful completion". That would be the whole purpose of training with a Qantas program. The skippers aviation cadetship that MFS run even seems like a better option when compared to this. :eek:

Can someone direct me to somewhere where the word "cadet" is even mentioned?

Seems like a lot of assuming going on where QF ever said that they would be training pilots specifically to fill their own seats. And seems more like QF are just sticking their fingers in the training pie. The students wouldn't even come out with trainee first officer mins.

250-500 students shelling out $100,000+ each in Fee HELP - and you can be sure the gov't pays their bills on time - equals a lot of zeros.. of the 22,000 who have registered interest I'd say 21,900 are expecting a job at the end of it.

ARWA,
Why would Qantas saddle themselves with an employment guarantee when they can fill courses without it??
Going back to the -50's/60's, as far as I recall, QF cadet schemes, by whatever name, never offered "guaranteed" employment on successful graduation.
Tootle pip!!

You make a good point. If they can make money out of ignorant students without having to offer a job at the end of it, then they will do that.

They won't until such time, having exhausted all other options they admit to themselves the shortage is real.
Here, British Airways among other airlines have no problem ensuring a career path for the graduates from their program.

However in those days QF paid for the training, in which case the student is still better off even if QF knocked them back. Nowadays the student is risking circa 120k+ with no promise of anything.

My bolding. That remains to be seen doesn't it.

Certainly does.
In fact, most Qantas "cadet" graduates were offered job, the exception being, in at least one economic downturn, when all pilot recruiting stopped ---- but all were subsequently offered jobs.
Just no "cast iron guarantee".
Tootle pip!!

Why do people expect a guaranteed job at the end of the course? No university course does that once the degree is completed and costs over a 4 year degree will, in total for a "real degree", be as much with no guarantee from anyone? Does aviation suffer from an "entitlement" mind set?

Precisely.
Is a fourteen year old school kid an 'applicant' having expressed an interest?

In WA anyway, uni costs about 10 grand a year and when you have a degree you can gain employment in a multitude of roles. With a course like this, you pay 150k to be able to perform one role.

Hi all, wondering if anyone has been through the selection day at the Toowomba site? Any info on the structure of the day and specifics on phase 1. Computer-based testing (CBT), Phase 2. CBT Assessment, Pilot Aptitude Assessment (PILAPT) and Interview and the Flying aptitude testing Phase? I do have the email correspondence from QG so it is more of the 1st hand experience I am seeking?
Thanks in advance.

Pretty late to thread, made an account just for it. As someone that studied at QGPA, I can confirm there is no chance they can hold that many students. Currently, the most courses they run at any given time is 8 or 9, with these course ranging from as low as 7 students to the largest being around 20. Even if all course had 20, thats still only 180. Theres a few reasons why they cant have much more than that, and definitely not near the 500 capacity that was originally planned:
- Theres only 5 class rooms, and only 2 of those can hold classes of more then 15-20ish people.
- They dont have the aircraft... There were multiple days where flights would be cancelled just due to the lack of aircraft, and theres not much room to put any new aircraft. I believe we only have 5 or 6 ME aircraft as well, so having more people would basically hault MEA and MECIR
- Weather: Toowoomba definitely does not get 300 days of good weather a year. Winters are wet and rainy, and summers are full of storms. Every course has numerous that fall behind due to it and aircraft availability, with the most recent course only having 15% of the cohort making CPL on time.
- Instructors: They're extremely short staffed in QFI's, with more/most leaving in the near future.
- Accomodation: Although they say you don't need to live on campus, It's pretty much drilled into you that you should. The closest houses are 20-30 minutes drive. And the current campus only hold 144 people, with more houses being built bringing it to 228. Currently like 90% of students live on campus.

As for other posts regarding Qantas and the jobs and stuff, yeah, its pretty vague. Nothing's gauranteed. All the QGPA does is get you direct entry into the Qantas Future Pilot Program unlike people at other universities which have to apply. QFPP consists of 5 modules, with team meetings at each one, followed by quizes/assessments for each one. You get a mentor too, but thats about it. Once you finish all the modules, if you have over 80%, you can continue on to a meeting with QFPP, once you pass that you do a medical and some simulator assessments. Once you pass that you go onto the hold file for Qlink. But all of that can also be achieved at any one of the approved QFPP universities, you just need to apply, its the only difference. Apparently there are talks of creating another Flight instructor pathway, which would consist of students getting their FIR after they graduate, then Instructing at FTA for a minimum amount of time (Unknown how long yet), before being moved to Jetstar on the 787 as an SO, but thats still just rumors.

I only picked QGPA because it was quicker then other courses and I could still put it on HECS. Uni courses are all 2 years for an Associates Degree, while this is only 13 months, and you skip all the random university subjects that get added on. Overall though I really wouldn't say its world class training or anything like they like to say. There's alot of management issues and random trash that goes on. There would definitely be better programs out there.