Has anyone heard if they will carry out stage 1 Interview's in Europe in 2011?
I applied in Feb 2010 and have not heard a word from them. Is this normal to wait so long?

it's normal...

they're going to london(3x), amsterdam n paris in 2011

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the response with regards to the visual requirements. I have got a reply from Transport Canada as well. They said they have amended the requirements for a Class 1 Medical. As long as eye sight is correctable to 20/20, then one will pass the visual exam. There is no restriction in the refractive standard.
However, I also understand that each airline may impose their own standard. I am still trying to find out from Cathay what their actual requirement is (whether they impose a refractive restriction or not).
I'll keep you guys posted!

I also see a lot of people are concerned about the salary. I don't think it will be anything too low. At the same time, I must agree it's about the passion! I am not saying I'll do it for free, I still need to live. But at the moment, being able to fly outweights the salary. At least this is the case for me.

Also, my cousin told me anyone under 35 will still be considered for the cadet programme.

KeLC13
That’s a pretty ignorant statement when it is quite clear you have never lived in Hong Kong and quite frankly don’t have the foggiest clue to what the real living costs are here. The reality is most of you will seriously struggle here on what an SO earns without a housing allowance and will go backwards financially. Even in GA in Australia on a pathetic GA salary I was still able to put some money away for a rainy day because the living costs were fractional in Australia compared to Hong Kong.

All professional pilots love flying but we fly to live first. If you want to live to fly, take it up as a hobby on the side of some other career. Professional aviation doesn’t need hobbyists polluting it ranks.:ugh::yuk:

404 Titan:

In fact I was born in HK and also worked there before. My dad currently works in Hong Kong now and I always inquire about the living standard and working condition in Hong Kong. As I said earlier, I will not do it for free as I need to live as well. I have friends working in Hong Kong and a cousin working as a SO. I won't say they live a luxury life, but they are able to survive.
I have heard SO does not make that much, but don't make it sound like you need to beg for money. Look at it long term. You'll eventually be promoted and make more. Another thing is, no one forced any one of us to become a CX employee, right? We made our choice. It's a good way to become a professional pilot.
Perhaps I am a little luckier as my family is in HK.

It's a little offensive for you to say hobbyists (or you might be referring to me only) pollute the ranks. I believe you need "the drive" to do well on a job and progress with your career. Nothing wrong in being a hobbyist (hence, the drive) and actually being able to fly. What is better than making money on a job you like? Yes, the pay may not be great, but it's not only about money (benefits, being able to stay in HK with family, etc.). If financially does not work out, then I don't think one would apply. I am sure people who applied does not just do it for the sake of wanting to fly. It's a career. I am sure we all have put in great thoughts about it before applying.

Anyways, I understand what your concern/frustartion is. Perhaps I wasn't quite clear on what I was trying to say. I apologize for any confusion caused.

Let's focus back on the programme! I am sure many are like me; having a lot of questions and many like you that can provide answers!

Pleasure meeting you!

FO
 

Does anyone have any idea when or if Cathay will interview for First Officer positions?

Is the plan to only recruit Cadets from now on?

Thanks!

You people can't be told, there's not much to love about operating the radio in the cruise. Small aircraft, doing lots sectors, hands on, is whats needed at the start of your career, not 6 hours sat staring into the inky blackness wondering why the guy beside you is starting to get twichy. The love of flight and wide body, long range ops are on different planets. Different galaxies if your not operating the take off/landing and climb/descent. I will admit though, that getting someone else to pay for your licence is a beautiful thing, just the talk of spending the next 40 years with them is far from rational. You are joining a corporation, you will be a tiny cog in a large machine, the replacment of which, will not make one scrap of difference to those that operate and own it.

SO's starting pay is around HK$33k rite?

a month's rent is around HK$12k in Tung Chung??

just a rough guess, 'cause that's the price in Singapore currently and the cost of lving ain't too far apart

Kelc:

I have to agree with 404..... the reason why the company can continue to lower wages/ conditions is because there are people out there with same attitude as you. im sure you mean it all in good faith, but saying to be "paid to fly is a bonus" is absolute rubbish! Its all well and good to be optimistic and say you will sign up now and HOPEFULLY the conditions will get better..... they dont and they wont, if people keep signing on to poorer conditions.

from previous posts it seems you have no flying experience.... maybe a TIF from the previous weekend at most....? How do you really know that you are going to enjoy flying at all? how do you know if you have the ability to fly? its a lot different PAXing from Hong Kong to New York than it is working.... you cant watch 16 hours of IFE, youre not being served food and drink the whole way.... for your time as an SO, you will probably be jumping in the seat at 1am HKG time, sitting there for the next 6 hours, arriving at the port to find you cant sleep because its the middle of the day in HK and then having to do it all the way back... There are alot of fantastic times had in aviation, but the conditions are no longer what they used to be and LEP's (cadets) have it worse....

Before you go for your interview.... get your PPL, it shows you are keen aswell as teaching you about the real world of aviation. Hire a 172 and bash around the bush for a week... you will learn so much in week on your own, flying into remote towns, finding a pub to sleep in, dealing with weather, planning your fuel/ legs... when you get into an airline you will also have experiences to talk about in the 6 hours you are manning the radio!

Flying is alot of fun... however, it is a life long journey and not something you should take for granted or choose to leave once all the excitement of starting work in the middle of the night, when all your mates are out on the piss, wears off!

Good Luck with the Journey!:ok:

KeLC13
So you have Daddy here to prop you up when you realise you are trapped (bonded) here on pathetic T&C’s. As the cadet scheme has now been opened up to international candidates, cadets with a family here are now a minority. Simply looking at the questions some of the wannabes are putting up here it clearly indicates most people aren’t seriously considering the living costs here with no family to fall back on.

I have already posted early last year the true costs of living in Hong Kong as an expat. I suggest you and others read them. If you then choose to ignore what I have said you do it at your own peril. Just remember current local cadets are trying to get housing and other expat terms and having you come here and say “being able to fly outweighs the salary” doesn’t help their cause one little bit. The reality is you are diluting the T&C’s for all new pilots while we’re trying to improve them.
You are going to have to look real long term if you think you are going to make ends meet here on a SO salary. In the last 11 years the time taken to go from SO to JFO has gone from 18 months to 4 years 1 month currently and it is only going to get worse, even with the new aircraft on order. By the time some of you here will be ready for upgrade to JFO, based on past trends, upgrades will be possibly taking about 5 ½ + years with yearly pay increments stopping at year 4.
What rubbish. As a professional pilot if you don’t have “the drive”, you won’t make it in this industry. All successful professional pilots have it in spades but we are still here first to make a living. If the financial rewards aren’t so important to you, go get a private licence and fly for a hobby. If you don’t like my bluntness, tough.:ugh:

Stallone

Hong Kong is a considerably more expensive a place to live compared to Singapore. While you can get a place to live in Tung Chung (at the Airport), the point is having a choice to live where you want in Hong Kong. With no housing assistance your choices are very limited.

404 and Pill, great posts but you might as well go and herd cats.

People will not be told that they are about to commit to one of the most polluted, overcrowded cities ( people per sqft of usable land ) and officially the most expensive real estate in the world, all this for 5hit pay.

The difference between a CX pilot and an Emitares pilot from day 1 over 20 years is about 2,000,000 HKD less for CX ( someone tell me if I got that figure wrong ) and here's the kicker....that was WITH housing.

One day, god forbid, you might actually meet someone, marry them and have kids, try to imagine living on 40-50K a month in a 600' flat with 2-3 other people, by then I am sure you will be able to slice the pollution with a knife, for once, look past the next year or 2.

Anyway, good luck, after all, what would we know :rolleyes:

404 Titan

It's totally cool if you don't appreciate people that admire pilots and the industry and serious about becoming a pilot. That wouldn't stop me at least. I'm determined and I know it is something I want to do. Not for fun, but actually to make a living out of it. It may be tough as you said, but I had considered that. Life in Toronto is not too different from Hong Kong due to heavy tax.
As I said, I know people who make less but still manage to live in Hong Kong. Making money is definitely a conern, don't get me wrong. Otherwise, as you said, I'll just fly for fun. Why go through the application, right? My current job doesn't pay much.

I truly appreciate your bluntness. You are just stating the truth and making sure we are seeing the big picture. I thank you for that.

I do have a few questions for you.
Will you tell the same speech for someone just wanting to work in HK? Say someone wanting to work for the bank and had to start low. They make very little as well. Or are you just against people applying for cadet? Do you hate being a pilot?

Thanks again.

KeLC13 - they are the facts!

bigmouth1980

It looks like CX plans to crew long haul flights up to 16 hours now with 1 Capt, 1 FO and 2 SO's when the new CAD371 / AFTL's come into effect. Actually they just started to crew some flights already this way.

Will be interesting to see if they will change the freighter long hauls from 1 Capt and 2 FO's to 1 Capt, 1 FO and 1 SO.

If this will happen it looks to me that there is no real need to hire DEFO anymore. All new positions will be filled with Cadets, maybe DESO and FO positions filled from within CX upgrading SO's.

Thanks GTC58

I've said it once and I'll say it again: your problem will become my problem when you start moaning to me up in the Flight Levels over India at two o'clock in the morning about the poor salary, the hovel you are living in, the roster and the lack of promotion. You may not even be able to afford to eat properly.

If you accept these conditions, you must understand that Cathay Pacific once paid A Scales for a reason; it was not a 'Beneficial Society for Airline Pilots' even then. Hong Kong is an expensive, polluted, stressful and to me, boring place, and the very least you need is housing assistance, a reasonable living wage and the sniff of promotion to make it all worth while.

So you had better be 'Smilin' Jack' when you're flying with me.

KeLC13
I fail to see your point. The banks in Hong Kong don’t employ expats in low positions. They employ locals. All the banks in Hong Kong that employ expats employ them in specialist or upper management positions on “expat terms”. Your question should really be asking would I support the local employees of the banks in Hong Kong improve their T&C’s? The answer is yes. It’s about time that employers in Hong Kong paid a real living wage to the locals but that is another issue.

Are you kidding me? I love this job. I just hate people that prostitute themselves. The end result of this selfishness is that everyone gets screwed.:yuk:

ok, a little break from the debate here...

i found a blog with useful info on the cadet recruiting process

flygosh . blog spot . com

a post on december 15th 2010

check it out

404 Titan,

So no one should give the cadet programme a shot as any one being admitted to the programme is just dragging your ranks down? I hope you understand that this is not my intention. In fact, it's something I have always wanted to do and as you said make a living out of. Though you are telling me otherwise.

I agree with you employers should pay real living wage! Not just in HK, but around the world! I am struggling to live as well.
Will applying as local help the situation? Or the fact that they open the programme to international candidates screwed everything up? If that is the case, your comments should be towards the company, not to the ones who wants to apply. It only helps if NO ONE applies so the company realizes they are underpaying and it's not attracting anyone; hence increasing wages and benefits...

Looks like the cadet interview schedule is removed from the Cathay site now.

I can hardly believe that it has been a life long dream... you applied 2 years ago, but were unable to make the interview. In the following 2 years you have not even gone for a TIF... if flying was something you wanted to do, you would of thrown every resource you have (time and money) in to becoming a pilot. It appears, to me, that you have seen that CX has offered a course which is "FREE" and you are now jumping at it...

In addition to Titan's reply, I would suggest that if a qualified expat banker had his salary and very existence threatened by cheap inexperienced prostitute labour, he and his peers would fight to keep their profession the way it is. Unfortunately, I know it is not a very nice comparison, but until you all see that you are all applying for an inadequate package, that's the way it is.
We are only stating facts about the cost of living etc........... Make up your own mind, but the conditions will only get better if none of you take the jobs offered at this particular time.

They have also removed DEFO and DESO from their Career site. Links are still in the main menu, but they lead to a sorry page

Cadet program
 

I would like to thank everyone here for their posts. Because of them, and my own research, I have decided not to proceed. I think the "cadet program" is just a scheme for Cathay to save money in the long run.

This cadet program allows someone to basically become a glorified radio person in the air who won't be respected by the other pilots at all.

I compare it to someone in my career who gets paid half of what I do, performs some of the duties, and starts to lower the standard for my job.

Plus you can't go to other companies because you only have a p2x rating or whatever. I don't know anything about flying but common sense tells me if someone wants to be a commercial pilot do the following:

Go to flight school and/or join the military

I've been reading a lot of your guys posts and I'm sorry but they seem a bit pathetic. You sound like a bunch of wannabees who are "starstruck" seeing these nice big shiny airplanes and are delusional about what is reall going on here! Wake up and give your head a shake, people!
Work your way up and pay your dues
Become respected in the industry
Make a decent living
Have a balance between work and personal life

If Cathay ceases to hire DEFOs and DESOs, will this mean a quicker upgrade for Cadets to Junior FO?

What's the difference between a training captain (20 yrs in the airline) who went through the cadet program and a training captain (20 yrs in the airline + "paying his/her dues")?

20 years...:ok:

773,

the requirement for the 30 week course is CPL and 250 hours

the requirement for the 12 week course is CPL + ATPL subject passes and 1500 hours


going by the above, i'd say that if you have over 250 hours, CPL and ATPL subject passes, but not 1500 hours, then you'd probably be put in the 30 week course since you haven't met one of the requirements of the 12 week course, that being the 1500 hour minimum.

Hours required
 

Hey all,

Does anyone know if candidates with previous experience require 100hr PIC and 10hr night (PIC?) in order to qualify for the 30 week program if CX accepts you? I believe that is what Dragon Air has that requirement, or is that a requirement for a general license conversion an airline has to do for you in HK? thanks :ok:

What's the difference from a flying point of view
 

12 weeks of something that smells like flying before you become a system operator for the next 40 years :}

hey guys, im sure this has been asnwered several times before but anyone who has been interviewed for the short course (accepted or rejected) would be able to answer this. What do they expect you to have to qualify for the short course? Is it JUST 250 hours or a frozen atpl or a MCIR or if it is just 250 hours do they prefer you to have the things just mentioned. The reason I ask is I was turned down in my interview in 2nd stage for the ab initio and told I can reapply in late november (interview was in jan) and now seeing as I have 200 hours think I am going to do my MCIR and try and get 250 hours all up and reapply. (I have my CPL and I am graduating my degree of civil aviation this yr, also mite give a crack at ATPL exams :) )

hahah wait my computer didnt show the posts like literally just before mine. Never mind answering that, how about do you think I have a decent chance at getting another interview and do u rekon a MCIR and Aussie ATPLs may help my chances (im doing it either way as a hobby/challenge/watever)

Vancouver Jan 14th Stage 1
 

KBH,
I did stage 1 in vancouver on Jan 10.
and will be heading to HK . They also said they will give me a date soon.

Hope to see you there

CX Cadet initial interview-Reasoning test
 

Hi Guys,

Part of the initial interview involves a reasoning test has anyone got any useful information i could gloss over to help prepare for this?

Cheers.

Jal1088,

From what i remember it wasn't anything too full on, the first round was more of a meet and great. Most of the tests are designed to assess natural aptitude, as long as you read the questions and understand what they are asking then it shouldn't be a problem.

Have you (or anybody else) received their interview dates? I have heard rumors that it will be late March early April?

Did you guys who recently done the stage 1 have to do the Wombat test?

No.
My first round consisted of the following

JKI Test
Personality Test
Reasoning Test
Interview.

However, I don't think these are the same everywhere. When you get invited to the first round, they will send you an email detailing the agenda for the day.

Does anyone know what to expect from the "aviation math" section for stage 2?

A spelling and grammar test would also be appropriate for some of you.

Aviation, particularly that which carries hundreds of trusting passengers in very big aircraft, such as those operated by Cathay Pacific, requires significant attention to detail and a high professional standard.

You may think that taking the time to at read over, check and correct your post before hitting that button that makes it readable by thousands of people over the planet is not important. If this is your belief, it is incompatible with the mindset required to be successful in your training and advancement in this career.

Hope to see you there too 6cfn! Good Luck!

Galasphere 347... the basic design of the spinning ring is for generating artificial gravity; however, according to the cut away diagram, the living room and the walk ways alignment don't really work well with the spinning ring design.... gravity would have been felt coming from the side instead of coming from below.... perhaps there are graviton generators installed somewhere without my knowledge?? :8