Do cadets actually outrank non-commissioned officers?

Not sure, I usually gave them a paint bucket and a brush and told them to paint my fan room or needle gun the rust off the bulkhead and then paint. but I was usually dealing with 1st or 2nd year cadets. always felt they should feel the pain they were going to be inflicting when commissioned.

I think they think they and may even on paper out rank an NCO but in my opinion until they get their bars they shouldn't. NCOs are doing the job and cadets are training to.

The rank of a cadet is E5. Until they are commissioned they only outrank junior enlisted.
NCOs should accord cadets with respect, but they are NOT required to.
When I am faced with a cadet who has an inflated self-worth, I have been known to put them in their place. I have also straightened out more than one Second LT, O1E have a little more experience, so they are allotted .
The average 1LT should have a little better perspective when it comes to relating with their senior NCOs, and that, of course depends on the quality of that NCO.

Yes, seasoned military enlisted are there to teach these not yet officers. Enlisted sergeant's E-6 and above are there to TEACH these new would be Officers. I have over 20"s active service and have trained many fully commissioned officers the rules of how to treat the enlisted as well as train junior enlisted how they are to respond to newly commissioned officers. This usually does not a problem for enlisted who become officers in an advancement program.

No, but they will...kinda. Lol!

They are paid as E-5's and they act like E2's, In my opinion, they dont out rank anyone until they earn there commission, most wash out anyway.

No! I served as a DI at OCS, and that would not fly.

I don't understand how a cadet can out rank anybody really. Until a cadet graduates and earns his/her bars, he/she has no commission and therefore, (for all practical purposes), no rank. He or she is a student.

They do. So does every ensign, second lieutenant, coronet, midshipman and whatever sort of transitional rank you want to come up with. So what? The fact is that they're there to learn from you, and one of the things that happens is that the best aren't so scared of their own insecurities that they make fools of themselves. Remember, unless earned, Sir is just a fore-letter word that got short-changed. The SAS has a tradition of calling all officers "Digby" until they earn the coveted title "Boss." And, as one old Colonel in the 9th Infantry Division would put it, "How the fuck does worrying about that kill more Communists?"

I found this not to be the case as often with Air Force cadets as they were often assigned to work under us.