Dumb Pilot
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2006
- Posts
- 1,570
Employment with ANA (AJV, AJX)
Quite a bit of PM's lately about the job opportunities with ANA, so I thought about posting some of the common questions
What equipment are they hiring for?
There are several companies within the ANA group and they hire for:
A-NET= Q-400
ABEX = CRJ
ANK= 737
AJX= 767 (passenger)
AJV= 767 (cargo)
I work for AJX, Air Japan on the 767, so the questions will be related to that equipment
How do you apply?
There are three contract companies that are hiring for the ANA group on the 767
PARC Aviation, based in Dublin, Ireland
Hawaii Aviation, based in Honolulu
IAC Global, based in Australia
PARC and HACS are the most reputable and I don't know much about IAC but for what I hear, they are not very reliable
Are they hiring for direct entry captains?
Currently, only AJV (cargo) is hiring DEC's and F/O's. AJX (pax) is hiring F/O's
What is the pay like?
http://www.hawaiiaviation.com/positions.htm
You will find the pay and minimums there
How is the medical?
Think, NASA. Stress test, brain waves, 4 different eye tests, hearing test. The works!!!!
Is the interview pretty heavy on technical questions?
No, the oral portion is pretty much HR questions with very basic technical stuff. The SIM evaluation "is" the interview
Is the interview pretty hard? How many people are failing the interview?
On average, over half the folks fail the interview process (either the sim or the medical)and out of those who are successful in the interview not everyone is offered a class, I know for a fact of two guys that have passed the interview and were placed in a sort of pool. You passed, but we will call you
I read on PPRUNE that over half of the guys are failing training, how come?
Out of my class (8 for AJX and 4 for AJV) we lost one from each company and ten made it to the line, that wasn't too bad of a pass rate. The classes behind us for some reason haven't done very well with a 50% failure rate. Attitude has a lot to do with it, you need to let go of the way you used to do it and perform the exercises the way ANA does it. Training also is very stressful and long, it took 8.5 months from the first day of ground school to line certification and my partner and I made it within the program with no additional training or re-checks. There was a captain on our class that failed the first JCAB ride and had to start sim training from the beginning, It took him over a year to finish training. And get this, according to JCAB we were in the "short" course
How is it on the line?
Once you are done with training, flying the line is great. ANA is a very organized company with a great maintenance department and everyone is very professional, from dispatch to the gate agents to the flight attendants and everyone is very aware of the importance of costumer service. To give you an example, I've been flying the line since September of last year and I'm yet to fly an airplane with any deferrals. The hotels are first class and I have never waited for a hotel shuttle and the on board meals are more described by the word "cuisine" definitely not your typical airline food.
Do you commute or live in Japan?
I'm commuting with confirmed business class tickets from the States, some of the guys take the option of the $2,000/month commuting allowance (you can choose from month to month) and you can get ZED tickets with the star alliance. Jump seating is not allowed within the ANA group (both on line and off line) some of the guys are living in Japan sort of under the radar but, currently the contract is commuting only. Although there are some rumors floating around that they will arrange a resident visa with us just like they are offering the ANK (737) guys, but it is only a rumor at this point
How many days off do you get?
With AJX (pax) you get 10 days off in a row and with AJV (cargo) you get 11 in a row. You also get the option of using your vacation days 2 at a time and increase your days off to 12 and 13. You do have to commute on your days off and we just received notification that our salaries and conditions will be improved at AJX. We speculate that the days off will be increased to 11 just like AJV
Can you upgrade within the first contract?
The company just announced that they are planning to double the number of contract pilots in the next few years. Upgrade time should be at about three years
Are upgrades done by seniority?
No, not really. Seniority is considered but also your performance and maturity are taken into account, If you are the "slacker type" most likely you will be bi passed for command. One thing with the Japanese is that they make their decisions in consensus and everyone you interact with will be asked about your performance, from the lady that cleans the operations area to the dispatchers to the flight attendants to the captains (both foreign and Japanese). Favoritism's don't really work either like you hear from other non seniority based companies that you have to be within the group of a certain senior training captain if not, you will never pass the command interview. But instead, if you are an overall responsible adult and behave as such when your number comes up you will get it.
Any plans to operate another type of A/C?
Only rumors and speculation but the official answer is "no"
Do you fly with Foreigners all the time?
You fly with both Japanese and foreign crews, the crews are from Australia, different parts of Europe, New Zealand and from the States
How is it flying the line? Are the Japanese captains friendly?
Very relaxed, like in any company you have a couple that have a degree of anal retentiveness but really not too bad.
Do you have to learn Japanese? How difficult is to interact with all the operations people?
Not really, If you speak clearly there is no problems with most of the line folks you will work with. Now having said that, If you spend a 5 year contract in Japan and don't come out of it speaking at least some basic Japanese, that would be a shame.
How strict are the minimums? Lets say that I have more than the total time but I'm missing 100 hours of turbine PIC, will they take overall experience into consideration? Can I project the hours and apply?
I regret to say that the Japanese see this type of thing in black and white. If you are missing 1/10th. of an hour to meet any of the minimums your application will be discarded
I'm sure some other questions will come up, I will try address them
Quite a bit of PM's lately about the job opportunities with ANA, so I thought about posting some of the common questions
What equipment are they hiring for?
There are several companies within the ANA group and they hire for:
A-NET= Q-400
ABEX = CRJ
ANK= 737
AJX= 767 (passenger)
AJV= 767 (cargo)
I work for AJX, Air Japan on the 767, so the questions will be related to that equipment
How do you apply?
There are three contract companies that are hiring for the ANA group on the 767
PARC Aviation, based in Dublin, Ireland
Hawaii Aviation, based in Honolulu
IAC Global, based in Australia
PARC and HACS are the most reputable and I don't know much about IAC but for what I hear, they are not very reliable
Are they hiring for direct entry captains?
Currently, only AJV (cargo) is hiring DEC's and F/O's. AJX (pax) is hiring F/O's
What is the pay like?
http://www.hawaiiaviation.com/positions.htm
You will find the pay and minimums there
How is the medical?
Think, NASA. Stress test, brain waves, 4 different eye tests, hearing test. The works!!!!
Is the interview pretty heavy on technical questions?
No, the oral portion is pretty much HR questions with very basic technical stuff. The SIM evaluation "is" the interview
Is the interview pretty hard? How many people are failing the interview?
On average, over half the folks fail the interview process (either the sim or the medical)and out of those who are successful in the interview not everyone is offered a class, I know for a fact of two guys that have passed the interview and were placed in a sort of pool. You passed, but we will call you
I read on PPRUNE that over half of the guys are failing training, how come?
Out of my class (8 for AJX and 4 for AJV) we lost one from each company and ten made it to the line, that wasn't too bad of a pass rate. The classes behind us for some reason haven't done very well with a 50% failure rate. Attitude has a lot to do with it, you need to let go of the way you used to do it and perform the exercises the way ANA does it. Training also is very stressful and long, it took 8.5 months from the first day of ground school to line certification and my partner and I made it within the program with no additional training or re-checks. There was a captain on our class that failed the first JCAB ride and had to start sim training from the beginning, It took him over a year to finish training. And get this, according to JCAB we were in the "short" course
How is it on the line?
Once you are done with training, flying the line is great. ANA is a very organized company with a great maintenance department and everyone is very professional, from dispatch to the gate agents to the flight attendants and everyone is very aware of the importance of costumer service. To give you an example, I've been flying the line since September of last year and I'm yet to fly an airplane with any deferrals. The hotels are first class and I have never waited for a hotel shuttle and the on board meals are more described by the word "cuisine" definitely not your typical airline food.
Do you commute or live in Japan?
I'm commuting with confirmed business class tickets from the States, some of the guys take the option of the $2,000/month commuting allowance (you can choose from month to month) and you can get ZED tickets with the star alliance. Jump seating is not allowed within the ANA group (both on line and off line) some of the guys are living in Japan sort of under the radar but, currently the contract is commuting only. Although there are some rumors floating around that they will arrange a resident visa with us just like they are offering the ANK (737) guys, but it is only a rumor at this point
How many days off do you get?
With AJX (pax) you get 10 days off in a row and with AJV (cargo) you get 11 in a row. You also get the option of using your vacation days 2 at a time and increase your days off to 12 and 13. You do have to commute on your days off and we just received notification that our salaries and conditions will be improved at AJX. We speculate that the days off will be increased to 11 just like AJV
Can you upgrade within the first contract?
The company just announced that they are planning to double the number of contract pilots in the next few years. Upgrade time should be at about three years
Are upgrades done by seniority?
No, not really. Seniority is considered but also your performance and maturity are taken into account, If you are the "slacker type" most likely you will be bi passed for command. One thing with the Japanese is that they make their decisions in consensus and everyone you interact with will be asked about your performance, from the lady that cleans the operations area to the dispatchers to the flight attendants to the captains (both foreign and Japanese). Favoritism's don't really work either like you hear from other non seniority based companies that you have to be within the group of a certain senior training captain if not, you will never pass the command interview. But instead, if you are an overall responsible adult and behave as such when your number comes up you will get it.
Any plans to operate another type of A/C?
Only rumors and speculation but the official answer is "no"
Do you fly with Foreigners all the time?
You fly with both Japanese and foreign crews, the crews are from Australia, different parts of Europe, New Zealand and from the States
How is it flying the line? Are the Japanese captains friendly?
Very relaxed, like in any company you have a couple that have a degree of anal retentiveness but really not too bad.
Do you have to learn Japanese? How difficult is to interact with all the operations people?
Not really, If you speak clearly there is no problems with most of the line folks you will work with. Now having said that, If you spend a 5 year contract in Japan and don't come out of it speaking at least some basic Japanese, that would be a shame.
How strict are the minimums? Lets say that I have more than the total time but I'm missing 100 hours of turbine PIC, will they take overall experience into consideration? Can I project the hours and apply?
I regret to say that the Japanese see this type of thing in black and white. If you are missing 1/10th. of an hour to meet any of the minimums your application will be discarded
I'm sure some other questions will come up, I will try address them
