AirAsia Cadet Pilot (Selection) - Application

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

   Asslamualaikum, greetings. This entry will be covering how did I came across the announcement and how did I apply for the AirAsia Cadet Pilot Program. Let me be honest with you guys. This is my second attempt for the position after I failed the first stage of the selection process in 2016.

IMPORTANT NOTE: AIRASIA DOES NOT PROVIDE SPONSORSHIP FOR ITS CADETS. THE FEES FOR BOTH FLYING SCHOOL AND PARTIAL TYPERATING SHALL BE BORE BY THE CADETS BY EITHER SELF SPONSOR OR TAKING A MAYBANK STUDY LOAN. THE TOTAL AMOUNT IN 2017 IS RM400k  A DEPOSIT OF RM42.5k SHALL BE PAID IF ONE IS TAKING A LOAN WITH MAYBANK. BOND WITH AIRASIA IS 10 YEARS

Some of you might think, why bother getting into the cadets then if the airline doesn't provide sponsorship? Even after you took the pilot license privately, that doesn't guarantee you a job as a pilot with an airline. AirAsia for example, take more than 70% of their pilots from AirAsia cadet pilot program and only less than 30% from fresh cadets. After finishing the CPL/IR with frozen ATPL course, AirAsia will send its cadet direct to typerating and thus becoming a junior first officer. This is subject to the cadets passing the courses and the availability in the airline. AirAsia has bought around 575 new Airbus A320 NEO family, so the problem with availability for the position is thin and it's up to the cadets to pass their flying school and typerating to secure the position. 

   In the end of December 2016, one of my friend (Rajo I think) shared with me a screenshot of AirAsia's tweet that says there will be an opening of the Cadet Pilot program in March 2017. And also in January my good friend Tan from MAB also shared with me the screenshot. Here's the screenshot: 

When March finally came, I keep my eye out for the opening. At night after finishing my Uber for the day, I would look up the AirAsia page and FlyGosh. And one fateful night (10/03), after checking the AirAsia website which says there's no opening yet, I opened Ask Captain Lim and to my surprise, it says AirAsia has already opened the application on that day. I opened the link provided and to my delight, it shows this:

So these are the requirements :

• Must be a Malaysian citizen / Permanent resident
• Aged 18-28 (32 if AirAsia staff)
• Min height of 163cm / 5 ft 4 in 
• Must be psychologically and physically fit 
• There's no need for you to obtain class 1 aviation medical cert yet as it's only needed in stage 5. And it's expensive too. Will cover it in stage 5 later
• From what I know, the limit for myopia is 500 each and can be corrected to 6/9 visual acuity by using corrective lenses. Binocular vision visual acuity shall be 6/6 or better, refractive error must not be more than 5 diopter. Astigmatism is no more than 125. Must not be color blind. And one thing they didn't mention here. You must not suffer from diplopia. One good friend of mine failed the medical examination because of this.
• For academic qualification, you must have a SPM or equivalent and your result must have at least any "A" in English, Mathematics and if applicable, General Science and any "B" in Physics and any two subjects and you must take at least 5 subjects including the aforementioned subjects and Bahasa Malaysia. A pass in Bahasa Malaysia is a MUST
• For those who wanted to apply using your Diploma/ Degree, you must have one of Engineering/ Science course with CGPA 3.0 or above and at least "C" on the subjects mentioned above.
• Bahasa Malaysia is COMPULSORY. There's this incident where they asked those who don't have Bahasa Malaysia in their certs to leave the examination hall.

    

I immediately fill out the form and submit it 13 hours after the opening. The key here is to always be persistent. What's the importance of getting invited for the first couple of batches? The position is very limited and to make it clearer, after a lot of batches sitting for stage 1, I know from my friends that during the first stage examination, the Captain said the chance of them getting through to stage 2 is very slim cause they're already nearing their quota for stage 2. Oh and yeah, the quota for the online application is around 7600. 

After submitting the application, I got this automated reply from AirAsia:

And here's the advertisement posted by AirAsia on their Facebook page

For those interested, keep your heads up for advertisements by AirAsia.

To be continued on the AirAsia Cadet Pilot (Selection) - Stage 1 entry