Air Mekong interview via Skype

[CX880]

I have put my resume in for this contract and I think, unless there is a big surprise in the interview (assuming I even get one), I will take it.
Just to offer another perspective for people considering this...
I am a 5th year FO at ASA and I don't expect my position to change within a year. The contract offers experience that would make me a better pilot and differentiate my resume from others when I look for my next job.
I understand the lack of a union or work rules but I don't think it would benefit Air Mekong or ASA for the work environment to be terrible. They are using the same math to crew 4 planes as they would at ASA so it seems like the crew utilization could not be drastically different. If ASA management is successful in helping with this start-up they could market themselves as an airline start-up consulting firm...so creating a positive environment for the contract pilots in Vietnam would be mutually beneficial (i.e. pilots are happy and ASA doesn't have a problem getting more volunteers for future endeavors like this one if they come).
I would be taking home double what I make now. From what I can tell I would be able to cut my expenses to a little over $1000/mo. I could come back to the States with more than $30,000 in the bank. That, combined with the resume boost and life experience is enough for me.
Good luck with your decisions.

Dude you are replacing Vietmanese pilots. Last time I checked Vietnam Airlines is piloted mostly by locals and highly experienced expats. So they have the capacity to staff the operation. It's like Swedes coming over here to Replace U.S pilots because they're cheaper... there would be mass outrage and ALPA demonstrations. Yet when it's the other way around you could care less. I would not be surprised if you are severly beaten if you walk out at night alone there. Always walk with your fellow cheap labor when you get there and also remember to wrap it up tight.

 

[Thurman Merman]

Those wages are a joke, I get 9000.00 a month to fly a Dash 8 around Japan. And let me be real clear, the whole "living in another country will be awesome..." wears off in less than 6 months for most people. We've determined over here that there are 4 stages:

1. Newness, wow this is cool and new and exciting and things are
much better here.
2. Withdrawal, this place sucks, that is stupid, this is nothing like the US,
the way they do things is stupid.
3. Acceptance, well I'm here, ain't much I can do about it now. This
place still sucks but I have no debt.
4. Retrograde, where's the belltower? It's go time...

This is from my perspective, some guys embrace the expat lifestyle some don't. I am a hired gun, a mercenary... I have 2 jobs, sign the logbook and save the day when the fat's in the fire. This job is nothing but a paycheck, I have no investment or personal interest in the company. I screw up, it's my butt, the airline AND THE CONTRACTING COMPANY WILL hang me out to dry.

Also, I word of caution on schedules. At my prior company, I would fly 4-6 leg, 12-16 hour duty days with 90-100 hours a month. A normal day here consists of 4 legs with an average of less than 7 hours on duty. The caveat, 5 days on/1 day off. I am unequivocally more tired here than I ever was back home(that included daily trips in and out of La Guardia and Newark). To break it down even further: 5 on+1 off=5 days off a month, anything under 10 at my previous company, you were awarded an extra 3:45 per day. This also includes 4 long vacations a year, I'll work 2 1/2 months and have 1 month off. I am not old by no means, 34, but I'm dog tired. The one thing I'll give the Japanese, their maintenance is impeccable, replacing parts at 3000 hrs when their interval time is 5000 hrs. Also, all the copilots are Japanese, they speak english in theory but when things stray from the book or outside the box, you're single pilot. But it sounds like the RJ's will be crewed by westerners.

Just give a lot of thought into making this decision, it's a bigger step than most realize. My trump card here, "scoreboard..." I don't think the same can be said over there.

 

[Oakum_Boy]

When you all contract Dengue Fever and can't go to work, just wait and see how that pans out. No paid rent, no salary, and no insurance when you get back to a US hospital. Do you think your awesome Vietnamese insurance is going to be easy to deal with? Do you think a disease like E. coli poisoning from mistakenly eating dog meat will be considered OJI, workers' comp or you'll be given leave per FMLA?

Not so much.

Try Malaria, it's a killer that will have you dying of liver failure. Do you think Air Mekong is going to be by your side all the way? Think again.

 

[LazyLightnin']

When you all contract Dengue Fever and can't go to work, just wait and see how that pans out. No paid rent, no salary, and no insurance when you get back to a US hospital. Do you think your awesome Vietnamese insurance is going to be easy to deal with? Do you think a disease like E. coli poisoning from mistakenly eating dog meat will be considered OJI, workers' comp or you'll be given leave per FMLA?

Not so much.

Try Malaria, it's a killer that will have you dying of liver failure. Do you think Air Mekong is going to be by your side all the way? Think again.

I think I'd be using the emergency evacuation insurance provided by the company in any of those scenarios.

 

[Oakum_Boy]

Absolutely. Too bad you won't be the one making that call. And do you think that insurance plan will cover you in the US if the Vietnamese docs think you can recover well in their hospital? The insurance company makes the call probably along with the local physicians, it's not an on-demand air ambulance service.. It would probably cost $40000 USD to have a private jet airevac you back stateside so don't count on that being your "way out" because the insurance will do everything to avoid paying out.

Sorry to burst that bubble.

 

[WhendoIgetpaid]

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Good luck with that. Only if you live in a slum or share a crashpad with 4 other guys. BTW, other expats make enough to afford a nice place by themselves. After a while you will start to miss food from home and start spending more. $1000 a month is not realistic at all.

I am open-minded about this decision. I have a couple of suggestions for you guys.
1. The above person obviously didn't even half of the contract or they would have seen that we get a housing allowance that can be pooled with other pilots'. Get informed about a topic before you comment on it.
2. You guys are reacting emotionally and sarcastically. I would suggest logical arguments.
It makes it really easy to discount your opinions when you make posts like this. I am happy to consider logical, informed arguments.

 

[Oakum_Boy]

In other words, you don't want to hear the negative.

 

[PBRstreetgang]

Don't worry, for less than the cost of a clapped out moped, you can have your junk cut off and stuffed in your mouth and slowly strangled with your own shoe laces. Life in SE Asia has always been cheap and once you are there your price tag becomes about the same as a locals. Without the local expat community to help you figure your way around, you will have to figure it out on your own, not gonna be pretty. Like walking around downtown Detroit in your Elton John fur coat with hundies sticking out of the pockets. I will be watching with rapt interst, this is not gonna be like living in your parents basement!
PBR

 

[COOPERVANE]

O.K. here is my unemotional, logical statement.

Anyone from ASA who takes this job at these substandard rates is undercutting an entire industry. You are NO BETTER than the guys everybody bashes who left TSA for Gojets, the early Freedum guys, and the whole Gulfstream fiasco. People use the word scab to describe these guys. (I don't agree with THAT terminology)

You seem to ignore the pay and have a "I think it would be cool and look good on my resume" mentality. Sounds like SJS to me.

We have had NUMEROUS expat contract pilots telling us this is not a good deal and we still have people foaming at the mouth to do this. Why wouldn't we listen to their advice?

Its like advising a 20 year old not to get into the airline industry and he says "but I just gotta fly man, it's so cool I'd do it for free" You and I both know he is in for a rude awakening, but you can't tell him that. He will figure it out eventually, but the damage to the industry is done nonetheless. So too will you find out.

O.K. Here is the emotional sarcastic section:
If you DO take this contract and absolutely HATE the flying, get malaria, Dengue fever or hydroplane off an un-grooved runway during monsoon season. Are you gonna come on Flightinfo and whine about it? Because MANY people have warned you.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Dumb Pilot]

All of you are missing the point here, this is not about getting sick because in the three years that I have been flying in S.E. Asia I haven't gotten sick once, it is quite the contrary you will enjoy a great culinary experience out here since you are not going to eat at an eatery with dirt floors out in a slum you won't be fed dog inadvertently any more than you will be fed rattle snake in the corner of "shallow gene pool street" with "Boy you got a pretty mouth" avenue because you are not going to go eat there, Right?

You got to ask why is ASA investing on this venture? PROFITS due to HIGH YIELDS, that is why. Same reason as to why you got carriers paying 10 to 12K to fly a CRJ out here, because they can afford to do it since their profit margin is high. YOU are selling yourself short and if they didn't get anybody accepting this pathetic T&C's, they would have increased them to a competitive level.