Cathay Pacific Cadet Pilot Programme

[Stallone]

Originally Posted by vish02

after waiting for 10 months now, i have changed my preference to hong kong, anybody can tell me please when will they consider me or when shall i expect a call for intial interview in hong kong. any rough idea???

how did u change your location??

[Em773ER]

747 S/Os

If my memory serves me well, CX dont transfer 747 S/Os to 747 F/Os.. which aircraft do they go to after they finish their time as S/Os? and are there any other aircraft that this also occurs?

[holdmetight]

Em773ER

which aircraft do they go to after they finish their time as S/Os?

A lot of B744 S/Os upgrade to F/O on the B777.

[Em773ER]

Thanks holdmetight!

Correct me if I am wrong on this:

B744 SOs upgrade to B772, B773, B773ER via the Cross Crew Qualification course
B77(2,3,3ER) upgrade to B77(2,3,3ER)
A343 SOs upgrade to A333 also via Cross Crew Qualification course or stay on A343
A333 SOs stay on the A333

Anyone please feel free to add onto this or correct.

[holdmetight]

Em773ER

Very interesting find you have there! I have never heard, though, of any hard-and-fast rules that Cathay have with regards to fleet changes (if any) for upgrading S/Os. I always thought that these changes, if necessary, were dictated by which course was available at the time of upgrade. I'm open to correction though, could be wrong on that one.

B744 SOs upgrade to B772, B773, B773ER via the Cross Crew Qualification course

The Cross Crew Qualification concept remains an Airbus one (for now). Essentially a CCQ is an abbrieviated ground school course that allows an A330 pilot to fly an A340 with minimum conversion training, since the systems on the two types are so similar. I don't think CCQ exists throughout the entire Airbus family though, an example of my assumption would be you cannot CCQ from an A319 to an A380. Having said that, you cannot "CCQ" from the B747 onto the B777 - these fleets are entirely seperate and a full training course is needed to transfer from one fleet to the other. In the B777 fleet, you fly all variants but I do not believe there is an equivalent concept of CCQ/MFF on that fleet; pilots are simply trained on all variants and that is it.

But a definite answer would be that B744 S/Os definitely do upgrade onto the B777 as F/Os.

B77(2,3,3ER) upgrade to B77(2,3,3ER)

Not sure about this. The B777 fleet only started having a large number of S/Os a few years ago, when the company acquired the new 77Ws. I guess we will have to wait for another few years before we know the answer to this one.

A343 SOs upgrade to A333 also via Cross Crew Qualification course or stay on A343
A333 SOs stay on the A333

The Airbus fleet is a single fleet, as such Airbus pilots of all ranks fly both the A330 and A340. The only exception is for new Airbus S/Os, who must spend a certain amount of time on the A340 first before getting CCQ-ed onto the A330.

Hope my information is accurate, if not, please feel free to correct.

[Em773ER]

Ahh I see! Thanks for that holdmetight

So does this mean that the roster of A330 and A340 pilots is combined?

Just a rough example:
on the roster it may say you are to fly from HK to DBX and back in the A330, then later on that month (same roster) fly from HK to Rome in the A340 and back again etc
(the routes may not be correct but hopefully you get the idea)

and from a while back Sloppy Joe posted this... Quote: One of the Airbuses most hated flights for an SO is px to Bangkok, next evening fly to Karachi and back to Bangkok have a day and a half off in Bangkok then fly to Karachi and back again then sit in business class for the Bangkok to HKG bit.

As you can notice Sloppy Joe said "Airbuses" not specifically the A330 or A340, could this be what i'm referring to as a multiple aircraft roster? i.e. are these routes only operated by one aircraft or both A340 and A330?

hopefully my question makes sense!

Thanks in advance!

[holdmetight]

Em773ER

So does this mean that the roster of A330 and A340 pilots is combined?

As far as I'm aware of, you are correct.

Just a rough example:
on the roster it may say you are to fly from HK to DBX and back in the A330, then later on that month (same roster) fly from HK to Rome in the A340 and back again etc
(the routes may not be correct but hopefully you get the idea)

I am not sure if you can get an A330 flight and an A340 flight in the same month, or how the crew scheduling goes in that regard. I can only say that CCQ'd Airbus pilots in Cathay are rostered to fly both on A330 and A340-operated flights.

[SloppyJoe]

Almost correct,

If you are flying both the A340 and A330 yes you get mixed rosters regardless of rank. FOs and CNs have to have mixed rosters to maintain landing recency or they end up only being able to fly the type they maintain currency on, this happens mainly on the 340 and they then often don't fly the 340 again. SOs can go months without flying an A340 or A330 and it is not a problem as you never get to land them anyway

SOs have upgraded to FOs on the 744 in the past but usually if they already have some serious hours in large aircraft prior to CX. Not because of the plane being harder to fly than a 777 but due to the historic role of longhaul so not many sectors to train on in the 744, maybe this is the way the 777 will go but has not done so yet.

Airbus SOs can and do upgrade to FOs on the 777 and 777 SOs can and do upgrade to FOs on the Airbus.

Not everyone flies both the A340 and A330 it all depends on the companies needs.

All Airbus SOs start on the A340, most FOs start on the A330.

Lots of people only fly the A330 and are not CCQd.

A few people only (maybe not anymore) fly the A340 and are not CCQd but this will probably be changing if it has not done so already. This would be guys who upgraded onto the 340 or a few based in AMS LHR on the 340 (not many now, maybe none as all changing fleet to 777 or changed to 744). Possibly a couple of pilots based in AKL but not sure.

Lots of FOs and CNs only fly the 330 as we have loads more of them and then no need to stay current on 340. Those based in AUS would rarely have the chance to fly an A340. Not enough A340 sectors to keep everyone current so would use lots of 340 sim time doing landing recency.

The reason I said those who fly Airbuses is because you would fly both the A330 and A340 as an SO if you were doing an A330 route. As above you would have joined on the A340 so would have to be CCQd to be doing a 330 route. Yes the routes are usually aircraft specific so all flight to Karachi are 330 but if there was a problem with a plane no reason why the wouldn't send something else or for many other reasons.

[GAFLYER-0]

Job Search


go to the link i pasted above and write "CADETS" in text search, u will be directed to the application.

correction last date is 29th sep.

gud luck

If you/we have a CPL or a Frozen ATPL you/we are not eligible for this program. Bummer.

[SW1]

Lets keep this about the Cathay thing and not let it spill into the etihad cadet scheme

[holdmetight]

SloppyJoe

Thanks for the information.

[Mouwaa]

S/O upgrades to F/O:

They will upgrade you wherever they need crew.

You will start as an A340 S/O, then after a year or 2 do a CCQ to the A330. Some guys upgrade from airbus to 777 F/Os, some will stay on Airbus. If you upgrade from an Airbus S/O, you will initially only be an F/O on the A330, later on, they may CCQ you to A340 F/O. Where they can, they generally upgrade Airbus S/Os to Airbus F/Os as it is a shorter course and therefore cheaper for them.

777 and 744 are completely separate type ratings, having said that, 744 and 777 are very similar to operate in terms of the logic of the AFDS and FMS/CDU, so it is a lot simpler to jump from a 744 to a 777 than to an airbus.

Even when you are an FO they will switch you between airbus and boeing if they need crew in different fleets.

[MartyBumbleBee]

Hi everyone,

I'm new on PPRUNE... I've just gone through stage 3 of the selection process and have been invited to stage 4 so my next step is the flight grading in ADL. Looking at the FTO website, their flight grading process includes computer exercises with psycho tests and then of course around 10 flights... Do the cadets pilots applicants sent by CX have to go through these computer tests ??? Since we had the CX-style tests at stage 2 and 3, do we have to go also through the FTO-style computer tests or are we just going to have the flights and sim ?

Maybe that question has been raised already... but I haven't seen it...

Thanks!

[nmcpilot]

DDobin - Generally companies only test for drugs and alcohol if it's a requirement under the Department of Transport I don't think it's a requirement for HK. I know you certainly don't when you go for your initial medical in the UK at Gatwick. But if you are going to be working for them then I suppose they might be more inclined but it will cost the company money so unless they are made to I think they generally don't? Please someone correct me if I am wrong. I haven't gone through the CX medical so can't give a definitive answer...

Best to keep off the booze on the run up to the medical though I'd say..

[DDobinpilot]

Thanks for the reply, I was just wondering from anyone who has been through the process recently knows exactly what the different tests are. I think they have an HIV test but dont know apart from that what is different..

[kaufmansj]

holdmetight

I'll do that. Thank you very much for your help!

[holdmetight]

MartyBumbleBee

Do the cadets pilots applicants sent by CX have to go through these computer tests ???

As far as I know, yes. I heard the tests are quite easy when compared to the ones you did at CX though, so you shouldn't need to worry.

DDobinpilot

During my medical I was only requested to leave a sample of urine and blood, nothing more. While I wasn't told what these fluids would be used for, from prior experience with the CASA Class 1 medical check I guess it would be to test for hidden illnesses such as HIV, diabetes, hepatitis etc.

Regarding drugs/tobacco/alcohol, I was only asked questions during the quiz in the doctor's office, and I'm not aware they did anything to follow it up. The questions were quite simple, for example "Have you ever used tobacco products/recreational drugs" and "Do you drink? If so how much and how frequently?" I suspect they will only start probing if they notice something in their investigation. That said though, nmcpilot is right, try to lay off the stuff leading up to the medical. You are, after all, trying to convince them to invest in you.

[Malov]

Interview October 18th

Hi, anyone in HKG for Stage 1 interview the 18th of October, please PM

[SW1]

@ DDOBINpilot, I can confirm that there IS a pre employment drug test as part of the Cathay recruitment process. I was firstly asked whether I had consumed anything in the last 2 weeks containing poppy seeds, which will test positive for Opium, so dont eat any poppy seed bagels. Also I was asked If I had taken any pharmaceutical drugs like Aspirin as I think these can interfere with the results, making it look like youre trying to conceal something in your urine and hence fail the tests. When I was sitting in the waiting room, I saw a notice pinned on the board that laid out all the requirements for the initial medical. At the bottom it said Pre employment drug test, YES. So I wouldnt go near any coffee shops in your home country in the near future.

[Mark Roland]

How many people do you think applied for CX's cadet pilot programme? How many r accepted and how many are rejected?

Thx guys.