Qantas Future Pilot Program offers uni graduates jobs with airline

[Downunder]

Qantas Future Pilot Program offers uni graduates jobs with airline

 

ASPIRING pilots will walk straight out of their university graduation and into a job and $80,000 salary as part of a new recruitment program to be launched next month.

 

 

 

QantasLink is offering the direct pathway as part of its Qantas Future Pilot Program in collaboration with UNSW, Griffith University, University of Southern Queensland, Swinburne University of Technology and RMIT University.

 

 

 

In the past 12 months, Qantas and QantasLink have recruited more than 300 pilots between them, and this number is set to grow.

 

The aviation students taking part in the program will be mentored by experienced pilots throughout their studies and, if successful, transition to a job at QantasLink straight after graduation.

 

 

 

They will complete a 12-week airline transition course then begin their employment with four to six weeks of simulator training and about eight weeks of in-flight training.

 

 

 

As a first officer in their first year, they will earn a salary of about $80,000.

 

 

 

QantasLink chief executive John Gissing said the program was about building the next generation of exceptional pilots from within Australia’s top aviation schools.

 

 

 

“As the national carrier we have a history of attracting the best and brightest to fly for us. The

 

 

 

students chosen for this program will have an enormous head start to their career as a pilot.

 

 

 

They will benefit from a direct pathway to Australia’s largest regional airline and access to our experienced pilots throughout their studies,” he said.

 

 

 

The program follows the airline’s launch of its Nancy Bird-Walton Initiative, in which Qantas Group has committed to a 20 per cent intake of women in its 2018 pilot recruitment, with the vision to double that figure over the following decade.

 

 

 

Griffith University aviation student Kate Richards said it was an exciting time to be a pilot.

 

 

 

“This program is the opportunity of a lifetime for students who want to go from high school to studying aviation at university, with the opportunity to start flying with QantasLink straight after graduation,” she said.

 

 

 

The Qantas Future Pilot Program will launch in January 2018, open to all future and current aviation students at all stages of their degree.

 

 

 

Applications are open at qantas.com/careers

 

 

[ben87r]

80k as a first year QL cadet FO? That's going to P off a lot of the DE guys.

 

 

[Downunder]

DE..?

 

 

[bexrbetter]

DE..?

German Pilots?

 

Dead End Pilots?

 

Diesel Exhaust Pilots?

 

Draconian Empire Pilots?

 

Disposable Elderly Pilots?

 

 

[nathan_c]

Direct Entry pilots I.e not airline cadets

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

I don't understand how this program can work. Since the most 'junior' operations QANTAS operate is their regional Qantaslink service, and that is a full RPT operation, every pilot with hands on controls has to have an ATPL. Unless Regs have changed you need 1500hrs command time to qualify to sit the ATPL exams, so how can they have FOs with just a shiny new CPL flying RPT ops?

 

 

[nathan_c]

You only need an ATPL to be the Captain. The FO can have just a CPL, and while I can’t tell you whether it’s a regulation or not because I havnt looked it up, most if not all airlines require FO’s to have passes in ATPL theory subjects before they are hired. They certainly can and do have hands on controls as the pilots will swap pilot flying/pilot monitoring roles, but at the end of the day the PIC is ultimately the one with the ATPL regardless of who is flying at the time.

 

In the case of zero to hero cadet ships, the FO’s may very well be pilots who have just received their CPL with ATPL theory subjects through the airlines Cadetship and then are out straight out onto airline ops straight after.

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

.... the FO’s may very well be pilots who have just received their CPL with ATPL theory subjects through the airlines Cadetship ....

I may well be wrong but that was my point - as I understood it you could not qualify to sit the ATPL theory exams until you had 1500hrs IC.

 

 

[nathan_c]

You can sit the theory exams whenever you want, you just can not do the flight test for the grant of the licence itself until meeting the flight time requirements

 

 

[nathan_c]

To be more accurate however, you can’t do the ATPL exams unless you hold a CPL, or a pass in the CPL theory subject of the ATPL subject you are trying to do.

 

 

[facthunter]

These types of cadetship[s are not new. They often have to sign "bonds" which can be contentious from a legal standpoint.. You still have to work out how to select people who will fit and function effectively in the aviation pilot workplace, or have that nebulous quality of what makes a good pilot.

 

Post graduate then fly?. How would they really know IF flying is their thing? Various psychological tests have been tried and applied at times and in one airline I knew of the failure rate at command was the highest they had ever had. . Obviously the parameters they had selected candidates on were not appropriate.. Training costs are very high. You don't want failures at point of command. LOTs of people would love what they think is a classy well paying job with a fancy uniform.. Until the "BUCK" stops with you, ALONE. and you fully face it You won't know if it's the right job for you. Nev

 

 

[ben87r]

Yep direct entry or, basically "qualified" as in you meet the minimum requirements. Cathay as an example has a few different levels of entry ranging from zero hour to direct entry.

 

Atpl subjects can be sat anytime after completing CPL subjects. Off the top of my head you need 1500tt 700pic 100 night 75 instrument and possibly some other stuff I've forgotten.

 

Only the pic (captain) needs an ATP and you can be an FO without subjects.

 

 

[poteroo]

The Trend Toward Tertiary Level Qualifications

 

 

One view of this could be that Qantas is trying to insure itself against a possible near future shortage of appropriately qualified pilots. Another could be that it's simply the worldwide trend of requiring higher, and yet higher, levels of academic qualifications for just about any position. The bar is continually being raised. The great academic revolution in Australia was when the federal Government widened the 'university' numbers, and that caused a broadening of the number of courses offered. This created competitive pressures for student numbers, which has seen entry levels to Uni being very much reduced. IMHO, the system has flooded the market with degree carrying young adults, who are only now beginning to (painfully) see that well paid managerial jobs are not as plentiful as they believed. A bachelor degree today means about what Leaving did 30 years ago. My local solicitor turns away around 3/week - law graduates can be found working in all sorts of positions.

 

Yes, this Qantas offer could be good for those who make it through, although the concept of doing your entire training and 1st job experience with the same employer is akin to incest: many of the weaknesses, as well as the strong points, will be carried through. There was a wonderful era in the 60s, 70s and 80s where Qantas Cadets were sent up to PNG for 1-2 years to fly with TAL/Talair. After surviving 1500 hrs up there, the young pilots,(most of them), returned to Australia with some real command experience and went on to become sound captains.

 

Qantas has quite some experience with cadets, and I think they know how to recruit from all levels of the pilot group. Getting the balance right shouldn't be difficult for QF because they are perceived as the top airline job. For many of the struggling 'startup' Low Cost Carriers though, recruiting, and keeping, good crew is likely to be an ongoing problem. QF are in the enviable position of being able to pick & choose.

 

happy days,

 

 

[bexrbetter]

There's a lot of Australians flying Chinese routes, very rare I have flown locally and it hasn't been an Australian Captain, and there's a lot of Chinese currently training increasing in numbers who will work for cheaper here shortly.

 

So makes me thing that a few current Australian pilots will be looking for work soon.

 

 

[ian00798]

Atpl subjects can be sat anytime after completing CPL subjects. Off the top of my head you need 1500tt 700pic 100 night 75 instrument and possibly some other stuff I've forgotten.

Only the pic (captain) needs an ATP and you can be an FO without subjects.

Pretty much exactly correct, although the ATPL hours are:

 

1500tt

 

1400 hours as pilot (ie you can count 100 hours flight engineer)

 

750 hours aeroplane, with at least either 500 hours ICUS or 250 hours command of which 70 hours must be PIC and the rest can be ICUS

 

200 hours XC

 

100 hours XC PIC/ICUS

 

100 hours night other than dual

 

75 IF of which 45 must be in the aircraft, the remainder can be approved sim.

 

As stated, captain has to be an ATPL holder for RPT, FO can be a CPL holder however they would need multi crew cooperation course, instrument rating and an appropriate type rating.