Very slow progress at STAA at Ballarat
 

Heard that the flight training is progressing at a frustratingly slow pace at STAA in Ballarat, with huge amount of backlog and priority given to airline cadets rather than self-sponsored cadets.

Can anyone currently at Ballarat confirm this and share what's going on there?

Thanks.

PM sent to u Flying monkey. All the dirty dirty laundry I can't post here. Lest I get kicked out of this beautiful mining town 1433 feet above sea level. :ok:

Why not? It's a rumour network ... :E

I remember the talk held at the ACS Barker auditorium, they mentioned that private candidates will most likely be given jobs as instructors at their school in YBLT.

:ugh::ugh::ugh:

Expected this to happen. :suspect:

what?! i just signed up for STAA , ground school starts in dec , and without a company contract , any good people can share some light , tips and advise ? course fees are 14XXXX in total :ouch:

For a newly minted CPL/IR holder that is not an airline cadet, any offer of a job is a good thing. Perhaps you'd get lucky and get into an airline upon graduation; Worst case you build your hours as an FI until better opportunities come along.

You would be naive if they had promised you an airline job during recruitment and you believed.

What, Godfred, you joined STAA as a private cadet? If so best of luck, word of advice, if you can run, run while you still can... Unless you like sitting around and getting maybe 3hr of flying time in 2-3mths.

No matter where you go, if you are a Singaporean, you should only join flying as a cadet, due to an almost dead GA industry, your only chance of flying is if an airline chose you. Plus the CAAS license is a one way street, a foreigner is more then welcome to come and fly in sg, but a Singaporean license holder is not really welcome anywhere on earth.

Remember, there's no such thing as getting a CAAS cpl and then flying GA in Australia, they mean it when they say,"Australian jobs for Australian workers."

Alot of guys who been through the system can verify the seduction play that they use, such as promises of jobs with Tiger, or employment as a FI.

You got to be the most naive person or simply desperate to do it.

No one chooses to be a private candidate, they only do so after getting turned down by 2-3 airline cadet programs, and yeah, they can get CPL's, but most airlines will say the same thing, you did not make it through then, we are not letting you in now. It's not the license they are looking at, it's personality, education, and whether you fit into the airline multi-crew culture. So I tell this to most people who exhaust their hopes with airline interviews in sg, if you fail 2-3 interviews, it's best to find another line of work, not everyone is cut out for this.

Gotta tone it down...:ugh:

STAA offers zero job placement for self funded students..

Many warned few listened...

History always repeats itself, didn't the exact same thing happen at MFA a few years ago?

MFA? Still happening till this day...
Oh there is an avenue for self sponsored cpl, flight experience @ sg flyer and SG Flight Sim @ 313.

Even Loin Air P2F got legality issues with the introduction of new requirements...

Lots of people fell into the trap.

I mentioned in my post before.

$17 an hr at that flight sim place, by the time you've paid off your loan, your ATPL theory would have expired.

don't worry, second hand planes have been bought from SFC to ease the crunch

things are improving

Actually this is not all true la. Yes progress is slow at STAA... guess some things remain the same..... but eventually it gets done. Just don't expect things to happen immediately. The weather in blt does not help as well most of the time except between the months of Jan to May. Aim to get the vfr flights done during this period.

Its perhaps not the best deal in STAA but hey you want that job to be a pilot you got to get that license to begin right. This one is take it or leave it. No 2 ways about it at this point to get a CAAS license. (Leave out the ppl who were deemed suitable for cadetship la.)

Anyway the current batches have a better deal. You get a CAAS license. Its much easier to land yourself an airline job in Singapore. The issue at hand then is when the airlines want to hire. No one can tell you when this happens. It comes down to dumb luck. When you get that call for an interview you better be prepared.

If you don't make it to the airlines at first, there are still other options. Take up that flight instructor job for one or look at options in other countries. It may be low paying, it may be in a backwater place and life sucks and you may have had to go through a lot of trouble to convert your license but you will still be clocking hours and eventually you will have enough hours to be in a better position to apply again for the airlines or for a nicer job at least. You just need to figure out how you will live out that 2 maybe 3 or 4 years of "hell" while you're clocking those hours. Nothing happens immediately. If you expect it to then well you'll most likely get badly disappointed.

Spoken like a true Jedi.

''You get a CAAS license. Its much easier to land yourself an airline job in Singapore''

Last count there were 500+ cannot get interview even.