Cathay Pacific Cadet Pilot Programme

[Carpets]

Originally Posted by gopilot_fon

Hello guys
I would like to hear any detailed advice or actual problem information about CX ICAO English Exam on the cadet pilot selection..
Even though I searched and read the official website of IAE CLEAR, I couldn't clearly grasp exactly what the actual ICAO test in CX will be held..

I'd appreciate any information about the test and tips.
Thank you in advance.

It may have changed in the past few years, when I did it, it was like this:

You will be asked to reply to a series of pre-recorded questions over the phone. Once the recorded question has played you will have approximately 30 seconds to reply or answer the question. It will then play another question and so on. After a few questions there was a segment of the test that involves speaking to a real person (from memory the guy was from NZ). This person will again ask you some questions and you will answer. Once they have gone through their questions the test ends.

The entire thing takes less than 20 minutes. Some of the questions will be about aviation and what you may or may not do in certain situations, don't feel like you have to answer these perfectly as it is not assessing your aviation knowledge, it is purely an assessment of your English comprehension.

There are no trick questions or things you need to practise or memorise. If you can speak and understand English you will get ICAO level 6.

[Tabbywhite]

Originally Posted by ohfish

Hello fellow cadets, I’ve been accepted however, a friend of mine hasn’t… this is really just a question about the drug screening.. he passed everything but made the silly mistake of smoking cannabis on a trip overseas not knowing he would have made it all the way to the medical.. great guy and dumb mistake.. it’s obviously taking a toll on him mentally and I wanna help him out as much as I can, does anyone know if they reconsider such cases? In a sense reapply and do the whole process again? Will/could he even be considered..?

​
Just curious... did you friend make it to the programme?

[trigonometry]

Originally Posted by Boulanger

1) That's hard to say. In the past (prior COVID) SOs would upgrade if they hold the highest seniority spot amongst all other SOs in a unified pool. Nowadays, SOs upgrade depending on fleet, past experience, and other factors. The presence of direct entry first officers have always delayed progression, which is a other factor. There is no "hour requirement" as you say.

2) P2X = Cruise relief co-pilot. If you hold a P2X rating, which is what you will have as an SO, you can only operate the aircraft above 20,000 feet under the supervision of the pilot in command or a delegate. The reason P2X is a problem is that very few carriers outside of CX recognize these hours. Which means that if you are stuck as an SO or find the job not to your liking, it will be very hard if not impossible for you to leave.

Thanks Boulanger. This is very important which I think everyone should know about this, especially to the ones that are new to the industry. Further to your point, the training department did say that current SOs have been given an opportunity to transfer to HK Express and operate as JFO, however, this would be a one way journey, whoever gets transferred out can't go back, at least not for now.

One more thing, policy can change in a slap of a finger, just like CX Dragon, no one knew it was coming except for the management., any information regarding to pay, flight hours, fleet allocation, wait time to promotion etc, might not be valid this time next year. So much could happen in between and nothing is guaranteed. Afterall CX is a business, not an institution nor a charity, Something that needs to be taken into an account as well.

Cheers.

[batman741]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Hi guys,

I got an notification from CX and said I failed one of the assessments from the computer test and tell me to wait for 3 months and reapply if I want, has anyone got the same situation this year? Is it just me or someone also failed the computer test?

Cheers

same case here i was shocked because i was fairly confident- perhaps the personality test which is pretty subjective

[ChrissyPrezzie]

Originally Posted by trigonometry

One more thing, policy can change in a slap of a finger, just like CX Dragon, no one knew it was coming except for the management., any information regarding to pay, flight hours, fleet allocation, wait time to promotion etc, might not be valid this time next year. So much could happen in between and nothing is guaranteed. Afterall CX is a business, not an institution nor a charity, Something that needs to be taken into an account as well.

A failing business. Cancelling flights in the peak season because their soldiers have been maxed out? And they are betting on the cadets to make up the numbers?! Woah...

[meowtofly]

Just wondering how many months fresh grad cadets need to wait for the induction course?

[MalcolmTucker]

So, does application deleted in the system on the day after the final interview means 'rejected'? My cousin got the same situation as many of you guys reported here about the application disappear issue, any of you guys still got invitation for medical assessment even the application gone?

[nkw1294]

Hi all,

Could you please be so kind to explain what is the usual duty for a SO during flight preparation before take off and after landing? I understand that SO will be able to operate the aircraft above 20,000 feet with the P2X rating. But what about before take-off and after landing. What will be the tasks for the SO?

Many thanks!

[Boulanger]

Originally Posted by nkw1294

Hi all,

Could you please be so kind to explain what is the usual duty for a SO during flight preparation before take off and after landing? I understand that SO will be able to operate the aircraft above 20,000 feet with the P2X rating. But what about before take-off and after landing. What will be the tasks for the SO?

Many thanks!

You shadow the Captain and First Officer a bit by verifying the loading and the fuel you take on.

Once you are on the aircraft, you sometimes help out on the security check and ensuring required emergency equipment is on board.

​Then you make the bunks so that your colleagues can sleep.
​​
After that, you watch your colleagues fly until 20,000 feet. At which point, if it is in the middle of the night, you will swap out with one of the front seat crews, and monitor the cruise while they take their rest. You will likely be PM, so you will mostly just handle the radios and take a fuel check every hour.

Some time before top of descent, you will be back in your jumpseat, and watch until the airplane is parked.

[saasddff]

Hi all, I am new to this forum. This post is so informative and provides me so many insights! Thanks for contributing to it!
Just one thing that I know the flying hour is not mandatory, but it seems that many people have failed in the final interview because they don't have flying hours. Do you happen to know anyone who passed the final interview without flying hours and could share how they managed to convince the interviewers? I am thinking if I should also get a trial flight at somewhere before applying the cadet.
I was trying to find a successful case of 0 hour cadet in the four hundred pages but it's just kind of impossible... please bear with me to ask about it directly. Thank you so much in advance!

[saasddff]

Originally Posted by ChrissyPrezzie

A failing business. Cancelling flights in the peak season because their soldiers have been maxed out? And they are betting on the cadets to make up the numbers?! Woah...

I know pilots can fly up to 900 hours a calendar year. So what would happen to them if they have reached the 900 hours? Are they gonna do the office work in the remaining of year or should it be holiday/training?
Thanks all!

[chriscxfriend]

Originally Posted by batman741

same case here i was shocked because i was fairly confident- perhaps the personality test which is pretty subjective

I took the computer-based aptitude test as well on 3 Jan and haven’t heard anything. Did you take it on 3/4 Jan?

[Hardrod]

Originally Posted by Boulanger

You shadow the Captain and First Officer a bit by verifying the loading and the fuel you take on.

Once you are on the aircraft, you sometimes help out on the security check and ensuring required emergency equipment is on board.

​Then you make the bunks so that your colleagues can sleep.
​​
After that, you watch your colleagues fly until 20,000 feet. At which point, if it is in the middle of the night, you will swap out with one of the front seat crews, and monitor the cruise while they take their rest. You will likely be PM, so you will mostly just handle the radios and take a fuel check every hour.

Some time before top of descent, you will be back in your jumpseat, and watch until the airplane is parked.

Why do you want to become a pilot?

Because I enjoy making the bunks, watching my colleagues to fly while me sitting at the back eating sandwiches, posting selfies of myself in the cockpit bragging about my pilot life to my friends and family on instagram but in fact I'm just an office boy, that to me, is the greatest joy in my life and I am happy to do it for 6/7 years with no complaint at all. That's why I want to become a pilot. A pilot that will do takeoffs and landing in a simulator but not in real life! And I am totally happy with the ****ty pay and fine to be a slave, as long as I am a pilot of Cathay Pathetic! WooHoo!

[Boulanger]

Originally Posted by Hardrod

Why do you want to become a pilot?

Because I enjoy making the bunks, watching my colleagues to fly while me sitting at the back eating sandwiches, posting selfies of myself in the cockpit bragging about my pilot life to my friends and family on instagram but in fact I'm just an office boy, that to me, is the greatest joy in my life and I am happy to do it for 6/7 years with no complaint at all. That's why I want to become a pilot. A pilot that will do takeoffs and landing in a simulator but not in real life! And I am totally happy with the ****ty pay and fine to be a slave, as long as I am a pilot of Cathay Pathetic! WooHoo!

I enjoyed the post. On a serious note, being an SO is really not a good job. The experienced gathered is not marketable, and the company will treat you poorly. It can easily end up being a career-ending dead end job. I went through it, and still have scars to this day. Have "moved beyond," but only because I was lucky. Of course, your mileage may vary. For those who want the job, all the best of luck..

[saasddff]

Hi Boulanger, may you be so kind to share more specifically about your experience on how bad the SO job is?
From what I saw online, the SO job seems to be quite boring, just sitting in the back and monitoring things most of the time. It seems to be boring but easy. Such workload or nature compared to the pay, I thought it was quite good tho? I could be wrong, please correct me if you see anything wrong below as its just my understanding from the information available online and I know it definitely not the full picture.
During the 3 years that a part of salary has to compensate for the training fee, the SO is getting at least 30K (HKD), and then close to 50K (HKD) after that 3 years, while just sitting in the back mainly and studying by self most of the time. If lucky enough, in 6-10 years time, the salary will rise to 80K (HKD) per month when moved up to FO, not to mention the captain's range.
I know if for a person who loves to fly an airplane, it must be tough to not having control for 6-7 years. But as an average person with non-aviation background, I think the path and remuneration is actually quite good for SO. I was a manager dealing a lot of pressure situations day to day, and the pay was also just 50k (HKD) a month, with no much room to climb up. So, from the angle of an outsider, it feels like quite good to start as a SO. Could you please share more how bad the SO job actually is, so I can really have a second thought before making a turn?
Thank you!

[itsLouiss_]

Hello,

I’ve sent my application last Jan 4 and got a reply on the 9th saying they needed a document from me and that I have 7 days to submit. I submit the document on the 12th. Any ideas maybe on when they’ll get back to me? Hoping they’ll reply soon.

[trigonometry]

Originally Posted by Hardrod

Why do you want to become a pilot?

Because I enjoy making the bunks, watching my colleagues to fly while me sitting at the back eating sandwiches, posting selfies of myself in the cockpit bragging about my pilot life to my friends and family on instagram but in fact I'm just an office boy, that to me, is the greatest joy in my life and I am happy to do it for 6/7 years with no complaint at all. That's why I want to become a pilot. A pilot that will do takeoffs and landing in a simulator but not in real life! And I am totally happy with the ****ty pay and fine to be a slave, as long as I am a pilot of Cathay Pathetic! WooHoo!

I admire your sarcasm, harsh, but absolutely true. Nothing is more important than earning real experiences, and that's why I've always been in favor of Dragon (And HK Airlines), more than CX back then. Flying a 320 might not be as attractive as 773, but, the good thing is, you get to fly a few more rounds to build experiences, to any entry level pilot, this is absolutely crucial, not spending X number of years watch and observe.

Look at Singapore Air, they are also hiring cadets, but their cadets will go straight to be FO rather than P2X, a huge difference.

[lasi]

Hi, does anyone know how long it will take to receive the result of initial interview? Did my interview 2 days ago, the application is still active in portal, but haven't heard anything yet.

[SoniaFrost780]

Way to become a pilot without a loan giveback period of 6 years?

Hello. I wish to start training to become an airline pilot in 2025 after finishing my degree. I'm a permanent Hong Kong resident. I searched online and found that Cathay Pacific has restarted its sponsored cadet program. I can't apply for Cathay's cadet program because of the six-year loan giveback period. I can't fly for continuous six years due to personal reasons but being a pilot is my dream goal. I want to make sure that I really can't before changing my goal. HKIAA has a newly released cadet pilot program but it's fee is unaffordable. Are there any other cadet programs eligible for HK residents in other countries with less than six years loan giveback period? Thank you.

[mixd208]

Originally Posted by SoniaFrost780

Hello. I wish to start training to become an airline pilot in 2025 after finishing my degree. I'm a permanent Hong Kong resident. I searched online and found that Cathay Pacific has restarted its sponsored cadet program. I can't apply for Cathay's cadet program because of the six-year loan giveback period. I can't fly for continuous six years due to personal reasons but being a pilot is my dream goal. I want to make sure that I really can't before changing my goal. HKIAA has a newly released cadet pilot program but it's fee is unaffordable. Are there any other cadet programs eligible for HK residents in other countries with less than six years loan giveback period? Thank you.

If you cannot fly for six years continuously, there is not any cadet pilot programmes eligible for you. Usually the candidates of the cadet pilot programmes are bonded for 6-7 years (SQ for 7 yrs, BA for 6 yrs) after training. The self-finance cadet programme would be more suitable for you.