I was curious about what everyones thoughts were around cadet programs offered to students with 0 to very little experience. Is this something I should be upset over if I didn’t get accepted?
Background: I’m currently 33 with 10 years of working in HR/Talent Acquisition(recruiting) for some pretty big name tech companies. I’ve always wanted to be a pilot but working full time and pursuing my career was always my top priority than following my dreams. If recent years, I’ve either been bored in the work I am doing or just feel like being taken advantage of in my day to day work. With the crazy layoffs happening in tech recently, my name was call and this was a perfect opportunity to decide if I want to throw all my chips on the table to follow my dream or continue the hunt for a new opportunity. Long story short, I bet it all on my hand and am joining ATP in Oct.
I came across F9’s cadet program and made it to a final interview but unfortunately didn’t get accepted and after speaking to my connections (friends, neighbors) at both SW and Allegiant, they couldn’t understand how I didn’t get accepted with my background… maybe their blowing smoke up my…ya but I thought I’d ask what are some of your thoughts on this.
Did I ruin my chance to apply with F9 again in the future? Would my background be too good for a regional with my prior work exp or work ethic? Or am I just thinking about this too much?
Honestly, I wouldn’t worry too much. I’m not particularly a fan of the zero time cadet programs myself. You don’t even know if a flying career is for you yet. I’m not even sure how these airlines judge you when you have no aviation experience. As an instructor, I met people who seemed like great candidates on paper before starting, but it didn’t work out for them for one reason or another. My advice would be to wait until you’ve completed the program and you have a clear path to 1500 hours before you start looking around. I waited until about 500 hours before I even thought about applying anywhere. You also have to consider that it could take you 2-3 years to get your hours, so you don’t want to lock yourself in somewhere and then the airline changes completely or goes out of business. Providing you are successful through training with little to no checkride failures, you should be able to get another opportunity with Frontier, if that’s your goal.
Also, “is my background too good for a regional”, that hurt my feelings as a ‘lowly’ regional FO . Only joking. I fly with people of all different backgrounds at my regional, and I have an engineering degree myself. Unfortunately (or fortunately), what you did prior to aviation doesn’t make you any more qualified than other pilots. They care about training success and whether you would be a good person to sit alongside for a long flight. The regionals are not as bad as people like to say, I very much enjoy my job and I’m still happy I chose my regional over frontier or spirit. These opportunities to go straight to an LCC or ULCC are new because of the current pilot shortage. Things can and will change in the next 2 to 3 years!
Thanks for your insight Roscoe and no offense to my “Too good for a regional” comment haha!
I had a friend at SW mention to me that he had 7000TT with 500+ Turbine and spirit rejected him. He had a colleague that worked at Sprirt mention to him that his resume looks like he would use Spirit as a stepping stone for one of the Legacies… Maybe he’s adding non-sense in my head but that’s really were is comment came from.
I agree with your thoughts on zero time cadet programs. I had that same feeling after the interview. It was more HR questions but I didn’t feel that those questions (or even my answers) could be a good representation of how A) dedicated I am to this program and this career and B) If I would even be a good pilot.
Don’t worry, no offense taken, I understand that you are new to the aviation world! My advice would be to focus on being successful in training, and the opportunities will be there for you at the end. And I encourage you to come into this career because you love to fly, everything else that comes with it should be a bonus. All it takes is an economic downturn or COVID 2.0 to change the outlook completely (salary, opportunies, etc…). I’m sure the mentors will chime in with something similar.
Best of luck in training, be prepared to work the hardest you ever have over the next 2-3 years!
Just to add my 2 to the conversation I wouldn’t be bothered on the least. Think about it, with zero time the airline literally had no idea what kind of a pilot you’ll be, how your training will go, checkride busts or if you’ll even make it past your first solo. So why do they bother? Because EVERY airline is struggling to claim bodies these days. By locking you in early they get first dibs if/when you complete your training and time building. If you never do, or have too many busts etc etc etc they simply say no. They basically have nothing to lose but neither do you. Trust me, when you’re done, IF things remain as they are the airlines will be fighting over you. If the industry goes down, you’ll be in the same boat as everyone else.
Focus on your training and being the best pilot you can be. The rest will work itself out.
I would not worry about this one bit. Assuming you do well in the program, you will finish instructing with 1,500 hours and likely have your choice of several different carriers. You can always apply to Frontier again if you want to, but keep your options open for other carriers as well. Frontier sounds great now (and they are), but you might later decide that you want to fly cargo, or work your way up to an airline that does international flying.
Keep your eyes set on the real prize, which is getting your certificates. From there you will be a free agent and able to apply to wherever you like.
Don’t lose any more sleep over it. These zero time pathway programs are new. All of the mentors here went through the program first, built time and then interviewed for jobs and look where we ended up.
You’re at the starting line. It’s completely normal at this time to have no job prospects! Like Adam said, those programs are just trying to grab bodies and lock you down early. Honestly, it’s for the best to keep your options open.
Like the others, don’t sweat it right now. You have zero training under your belt, Frontier doesn’t know what type of pilot you’re going to be. I think you can apply every year, so next year apply for the cadet program, again, reinterview and get the offer.
For now, focus on your training and passing every checkride, network and make friends! You never know what opportunity exist, when one door closes, another opens.
Thanks for this insight. I really appreciate it. I’ll definitely keep an open mind in other opportunities but agree, main focus should be training and passing every checkride.
. Only joking. I fly with people of all different backgrounds at my regional, and I have an engineering degree myself. Unfortunately (or fortunately), what you did prior to aviation doesn’t make you any more qualified than other pilots. They care about training success and whether you would be a good person to sit alongside for a long flight. The regionals are not as bad as people like to say, I very much enjoy my job and I’m still happy I chose my regional over frontier or spirit. These opportunities to go straight to an LCC or ULCC are new because of the current pilot shortage. Things can and will change in the next 2 to 3 years!