AL Cadet programme

basill wrote: »

Thanks to all of the armchair experts for enlightening to us. Perhaps if you have no factual information then why bother speculating and wasting bandwidth and the time of people that might come onto these fora for information.

As a current serving pilot lets correct some of the rubbish.

- both pilots featured in the video are current serving. The female co-pilot joined recently under the latest recruitment drive.
- Neither are captains.
- AL is a seniority based and union represented airline. Any comparisons from the armchair experts to Ryanair should cease there.
- The quickest commands have been those that have either joined as DEC into BFS or LGW or have transferred from DUB to those bases and gotten into the LHS.
- A DUB or ORK command is on average 10-12 years at the earliest. The average age of captains now is roughly 39 years. The pension retirement age is 60 years. Expect ICAO to push this out further. It is unclear what the ramifications will be for commands in DUB and ORK as the issue is clouded somewhat not only by whether we expand but by complex issues surrounding the pension and the tax implications thereof.
- The "normal" progression within the company is RHS on the A320 then after approximately 6-8 years shifting to the RHS of the A330. Many people decide to stay on this fleet for lifestyle reasons even though they may be eligible for command on the A320. Others jump ship at the earliest opportunity and take up a A320 command. To judge a pilots ability or rank by their "baby faces" is ludicrous.

Thanks for bringing some sense to this thread.

I did have my input further back in the dicussion but have just been looking on in recent weeks to see what people are saying. No one knows what the package will entail until it is announced. Everyone can speculate about cost, location of training, age but the fact is we just dont know.....

Without doubt that video is recent, there's too many signs of T2!
I would also probably keep an eye here -> http://www.aerlingus.com/aboutus/careersvacancies/#d.en.956

Where did this come from?

Cheers, just seen the same on Pprune.
Finally some hard evidence.
I look forward to Sundays papers!

Aer Lingus is delighted to announce a new Cadet Pilot Training Programme. The programme will be officially launched via national press advertisements and the Aer Lingus website on Sunday 31st July.



The Cadet Pilot Training Programme, which will be part funded by Aer Lingus, is an exceptional opportunity for individuals to train and qualify as a commercial pilot on the Airbus A320 fleet of aircraft.



The training programme, due to commence between late 2011 and early 2012, takes 14 months to complete and consists of a number of phases combining classroom and simulator based training. Upon successful completion, Cadets receive an Airline Transport Pilots Licence and Multi Engine Instrument Rating before undergoing Airbus A320 type training.



Christoph Mueller said “We are delighted to be launching the Cadet Pilot Programme within Aer Lingus. Many of our current pilots began their careers from such a programme and it is something that we successfully ran in previous years. This is a fantastic opportunity for a prospective pilot to undergo their training with the support and commitment of an airline that has an international reputation for quality and excellence.”



If you are interested in applying, all applications must be received via the online application process on aerlingus.com, where you can also view a video containing a brief insight into the training programme. Please note: an Aer Lingus email address cannot be used when applying online.

That video is recent. The SFO who featured in the video was in the class of Aer Lingus cadets behind mine in 1998. He was really young when he joined, he even had braces at the time! But he was not the youngest, another cadet was 17.

I still have all the material from the selection and interview process - after each round I got home and wrote everything down that I could remember. I would like to think that my notes helped a few people get selected later, but I'm sure they would have made it anyway, even though they were in the group that were chopped in Jerez.

As far as I recall, I think that following my group, where all the selection rounds were carried out by Aer Lingus in-house, the initial screening selection of subsequent cadet intakes was done by an agency.

It is quite surprising how many cadets weren't to overly obsessed about becoming a pilot, many in fact just saw the ad in the paper and decided to give it a go. On the other hand, for others, including myself it was the culmination of years of dreaming! One colleague, quite famously amongst fellow cadets, was advised at his first interview that he should go home and "read a copy of the Penguin book of airplanes". That advice seemed to work anyhow.

Regarding the psychological assessment it is important that you answer the questions honestly, and not how you think a pilot would answer them. In Aer Lingus the pilots are generally not a homogenous bunch of personalities (unlike some of the 'Nigels' of another flag-carrier ) but are very different, interesting* people. Everyone is interviewed by a shrink anyway, so all's cool.

Of the cadets in my group, the age range was 17-25 or 26. I was 21. Most had degrees, some had quit university to join the company, and one had left school before completing final year to join. Degree subject wise it was a mix - Engineering (Mech, Elec, Aero), Science, and Arts. Everyone was Irish (North and South), except one, from Ecosse.

Quite a few of us had failed to be selected at previous recruitment rounds, but perservered and got in at the second or third attempt. Willie Walsh was involved in the interviews which were great fun, with some very interesting 'what would you do if..?' questions being fielded. Any time he asked me one of these in relation to a aircraft scenario I answered "whatever the operations manual says I should do"

I know this might be a dumb question,

but when it comes to medicals to be come a commercial pilot do you need perfect eyesight or can you wear glasses or contacts?

I thought maybe contacts were frowned upon as if you lose one on the deck floor you could lose it and contamination etc,glasses much easier to find!!!!