What happens after stage 3
Signing the contract with CAE, conditional offer, & preparations
17 Aug 2026
There’s been a slight gap since my last post on passing the stage 3 selection, so, what’s been happening since then?
Well, about a week after getting the notification I’d been successful, I was sent some enrolment documents for the course starting on the 4th January 2027. It contained confirmation of the total fixed course cost at €115,000, which includes the A320 type rating, uniforms, and most of the supplies/equipment needed for the training, but it does not include some required items (like an iPad & a headset) or arguably the biggest one, accommodation, which are all non-trivial costs.
The payments are broken down into stages, aligned with the phases of the course, and so you pay each chunk just before you begin that phase. These details of these payments and when they are due was all broken down too, I will share that in another post dedicated to costs later.
The full list of documents provided were:
- A training service agreement (or ‘TSA’) which is essentially the contract with CAE
- The conditional job offer from easyJet
- A few consent forms
- A number of other informational documents including details about the training facility in Crawley
- Some accommodation provider recommendations
- A guide on how to fill out and return the various forms.
The e-mail also specified a number of steps that also needed to be completed before your place on the course was actually confirmed, despite having provisionally booked onto it, which I’ll go into below.
So, to actually confirm the place on the course, you have to currently hold a valid class 1 medical, and send a copy of it, along with the signed documents to CAE.
By doing so you are committing to the course, and also to making the first payment of €9,500 around 2 weeks before the start date, regardless of if you change your mind. This is all done on a first come first served basis, as assessments are still being run regularly, so if you’re not prepared, &/or don’t get the forms back quickly, it’s possible someone who is assessed after you and does have everything in place, could jump the queue and take your spot on the course.
Assurance
Part of the contract includes an assurance, that if you are deemed by CAE during the training, to not have the ability to pass a particular element of it, providing you have put the required effort in, then you will be refunded the cost of the course, minus the initial deposit.
This is because you were deemed capable of passing during the selection process - it’s as close as you’ll get to a training guarantee and is one of the many reasons this route is such a good option.
There are of course a number of clauses and rules in the contract, particularly around meeting performance targets and attendance levels etc, which will void that assurance if not met, which is understandable given the potential refund sums involved, & just ensures people stay committed throughout as there’s the financial incentive to, given you’d be heavily out of pocket if you aren’t.
Training locations
The contract also states that as CAE have multiple training locations, you have to go wherever you are sent for each phase. Exactly where is not completely set until nearer the time, & you do not get a choice in this. The locations are:
- Crawley, for ground school (mix of in person and remote)
- Phoenix (Arizona), or Spain for the core flying phase (Single and multi engine)
- Milan or Gatwick for the basic and intermediate training (on A230 fixed and full motion simulators)
I was told however by CAE that the USA and Milan are the preferred option for MPL cadets and so it’s highly likely those locations are where I’d be going.
Whatsapp group
Additionally, in the e-mail was a link to a whatsapp group, which allows you to connect with fellow course mates before starting, which is a great idea to get to know them and potentially arrange house shares etc. However, I have to say I did find it a little odd that this was shared before the place on the course was confirmed – as after joining the group I was a surprised to find people in there who had not yet obtained their class 1 medical, or sorted their funding out, and a few who were still in the process of applying to other schemes (like the speedbird academy)
As hinted at earlier, for some of them, this meant they either ended up missing out on confirming their place in January, opted to go on a later course, or just ultimately decided to not go with MPL at all, but many of them are still in the whatsapp group to this day, which defeats its purpose a little I think. It seems strange to have people that you may ultimately never meet, in a chat which is designed to be only for those on your course.
Confirmed spot, and what’s next
After signing and returning my all of my documents (which I did within 24 hours of getting the e-mail), I received confirmation of my place on the course the next day.
In that confirmation e-mail it mentioned that there’d be a virtual meet and greet, set up about four weeks before the start date, to meet everyone (who definitely is starting in January), allow CAE to give a bit more information about the specifics of the course/what to expect at the start, and also provide a chance to ask any questions. So I’m looking forward to that, getting to meet my fellow cadets properly (albeit virtually) & I may suggest in it that we create a new whatsapp group with only us in!
In the meantime, I’m just getting some of the life admin sorted ahead of starting. Things like handing in my notice at work, adjusting my life insurance to cover flying & loss of medical, preparing the house so that it’ll be ready to sell just before I head out to the USA, and also starting the hunt for flats/rooms around Crawley for sections of the ground school phase where I’ll have to attend in person. In my free time, I’m also watching a few videos around some of the ground school topics to try and get a bit of head start on those.
It’s all starting to feel a little more real, just over three months to go now, which simultaneously feels like a long time away, but also really close!