very highly competitive

thats massive. Local + overseas? In old days there are roughly 2000 - 3000 local applicants, which means more than quarters from overseas.

I think of the 2000 odd interviews conducted the figure would be stage 1 and 2 combined. As more than half flunk stage 1 I would say that only a few hundred of the interviews were stage 2.

If they interview 10 to 12 applicants a week for stage 2 any they interviewed 10 months of the year that would be around 400 to 500 stage 2's a year. Out of that maybe half get in so there is your 244 recruited.

Another thing to remember is the average time to stage 1 interview from application submission was 12 months for my group. Some a little more and some a little less. This would indicate most of the people who applied in 2012 didn't actually get an interview in 2012.

Did anyone is going to have stage 1b in hong kong on 10/1?

Thought there was HKD33,000 for the Second Officer few years ago. new salary scale imply?

That $45000 includes the $10k housing allowance. Its closer to $50,000 now.

When you're in Adelaide you don't get paid a salary, you get about $100 AUD each week as an allowance.

It's only when you return to HK will you start getting that salary.

The cadet program has a 'forgiveable loan' for around $1.1 Million HKD, of which the 55 week cadets will use it all up to cover training costs.

For AE candidates they will actually be able to get part of that $1.1 million as a lump sump payment once they finish training (pro rata'd) because they only spend 32 weeks in Adelaide, so naturally they will not use up the whole $1.1 million that Cathay 'loans' to the candidate, and as such will receive the balance.

I've just joined CX as an SO myself, I signed a six year contract to 'pay back' the HK$1,100,000, the starting salary is HK$36,200, + pilot allowance HK$10,000, + hourly duty pay (assuming 84 hours) HK$3,500. Total HK$49,700.

I thought I'd research the cost of living in HK sufficiently to know what I was getting into before I even went to my first interview roughly two years ago. Things have changed since then, in particular the cost of renting a place of a similar size to Oz is unaffordable these days on the starting salary. Also for anyone who'd had savings and was planning to buy now cannot as you need 15% stamp duty on top of a minimum 10% deposit. I'm hoping over time the pilot allowance will be increased but in reality I suspect that the housing allowance of the senior pilots will be reduced over time in line with the HK pilot allowance.

I've come to the conclusion that this is a good way to get into aviation, but Cathay is likely just a 6 year stepping stone for many. The Swire guys will have done the maths and figured out that after two years of a cadet replacing an FO, we will have become cheap labor. If we leave after two years but before six, it's an additional bonus as they're lawyers will come calling for the training costs.

So far the job is good, the guys you fly with are good, after a short time though HK looses its charm.

Agree with 'gimpfeatures' on basically everything he has said there. I have been at Cathay for almost 2 years now and there is no real desire for 99% of the cadets to stay at Cathay for the long term. Even putting cost of renting a place aside the general cost of day to day living in Hong Kong is fairly high.

For now I'm fairly happy just to have a job, and the staff travel is a pretty nice bonus compared to alot of other carriers. But for me the reason I will end up leaving Cathay is even though once you upgrade to FO the salary is actually quite good, I'm not going to spend the next 30 - 40 years of my career potentially being payed a hell of alot less than a guy who joined 2 years before me. But hopefully CX will at somepoint in the coming years realise this and bring the benefits packages alot closer together....

Also just to add us cadets who joined 2 years ago never had to sign anything saying we'll pay back the 1.1 million if we leave so clearly the conditions are getting worse and not better..

That's what you signed up for wasn't it???:ugh:

No, he signed up for 6 presumably.

DDobinpilot,
two years in could you give us an idea of what the job is like, are you still enjoying it, how often do you go into sim to practice the hand flying, any news on when they may upgrade you?

rgds
Jimbols6

Finally we are getting some opinions from real and current C scale SO's rather than speculative posts from potential applicants telling everyone that eating noodles and living in a shoebox won't be a problem...

KIDS...LISTEN TO THESE GUYS such as DDobinpilot or GimpFeatures...only they got the full story...

Anyone have any info/tips on the physics part of the compass test?
Got mine coming up on the 17th.
Thanks!

Pilot 852

Despite all of the warnings, they still keep coming:ugh::ugh:

Guys you will never stop them coming... its human nature. Just see CX as Pied Piper of Hamelin.

There enough information out there about the T & C, the workings of CX etc... Just let them be... a person learn by making mistakes...when they do, you have the privilege to say "i told you so:p". You cant keep holding there hands for ever, its dog eat dog world, besides in a few month they be flying a Big shiny jet.:sad:

I think you mean, 'flying IN a big shiny jet'. They will only be making radio calls, filling in the CFP, carrying the blue bag and possibly manipulating the autopilot of 'the big shiny jet', IF the Commander or Relief lets them, while working off their bond...erm 'forgivable loan'.

And the jets don't stay shiny very long in the filthy South China air.

Must be doing something right,our friends down south asking Capt to take unpaid leave:


From ****e Times:SIA asks pilots to volunteer for unpaid leave

so how good was the previous package? i.e. A-scale

A lot of talk on how craap it is now, but nothing to compare with!

pilot 852

From previous posts, i thought the mathematics part of the COMPASS test has been changed to arithmetic questions, not sure if the physics part is needed.