China to recruit pilots from abroad - free burbon chicken

[Bjammin]

I can tell Cathay Pacific is a huge oppertunity for most people. I am based out of LAX and get trips to Hong Kong twice or three times a month at most. I also can get domwstic trips such as JFK, ORD, and soon ATL and DAL. The pay is better then ANY US carrier, UPS is close, and I can stay in the states as long as I want. The airline has never furloughed anybody and DOES have a union. The downsides are having to fly long haul thus not getting very many landings and a little of anti-americanism over in Hong Kong by the Brits and Aussies, but I never really have to deal with them.

Overall a great place to work, great benifits and pension. Definatly something to consider.

 

[Rogue5]

FO's only? What, are they looking for someone to hold some China Air Captain's hand and keep the airplane right side up?

Captains as well!

Job Detail : Captains (B744/AB6)

JOB INFORMATION
COMPANY: China Airlines DATE: Jul 09, 2005

POSITION: Captains (B744/AB6)
DESCRIPTION: CAPTAIN with Current Type Rating:
1. Total flight hours?
at least 7,000 total flight hours for B744 Captain
at least 6,000 total flight hours for AB6 Captain
2. PIC hours on Commercial Jet?
at least 2,000 PIC hours for B744 Captain
at least 1,500 PIC hours for AB6 Captain
3. At least 500 PIC hours on Type
4. Hold valid ATPL
5. Age under 56
6. B744 Captain with instructor experience has priority.
7. Practical flight hours must be within 12 months
NOTE:
1. If your native language is not English , please provide us your
TOEIC (The total scores must be at least 650 including listening
comprehension at or above 300) or TOFEL CBT (The total scored
must be at least 173 including listening comprehension at or above
20) test scores certificate valid for one year.
2. For commercial airlines pilots with heavy jet experience, there
should be a special waiver of the ages.
Contact:
Fax: 886-2-2514-6336
E-mail: [email protected]

CONTACT INFORMATION
Telephone: No phone calls
Fax: +886-2-2514-6336 (click on the FAX number to instantly FAX your resume)
Email: Electronic applications accepted via ~I-Apply.
Mailing Address: China Airlines

Web: calec.china-airlines.com/PilotResume/endefault.aspx

 

[jtf]

In case anyone is interested- China Airlines is based in Taiwan (Republic of China). You can find out a lot more about flying in Asia or any other part of the world outside the US on www.pprune.com. There is a lot of info on China Airlines in the far east forum.

 

[duke600]

There's a flight info type site for chinese aviation:

http://www.30000.org/

对不起英国文

dui bu qi mei you ying guo wen

 

[Flyingdutchman]

ROFL..

Thats the chinese flightinfo.com !!

 

[typhoonpilot]

There seems to be some confusion here. China Airlines is NOT a mainland Chinese carrier. The original post referred to the People's Republic of China ( Communist China ) as the place that is opening up to foreigners. China Airlines in Taiwan has hired expats for decades. It used to be they only hired Captains, lately they have hired First Officers. You can go to Pprune and see my posts telling people to avoid going there as F.O.s, much like my friend AA717 said. You could never pay me enough money to be an F.O. for an Asian carrier, excepting Cathay, Dragonair, or others that have a more western culture.

Bjammin makes a good point about Cathay, but it again is not a mainland Chinese carrier.

I have trained China Northern Airlines pilots in the MD-90. Some are good, actually very good, others are shockingly bad. I honestly wasn't able to figure out much of a common thread in what made the difference. Some of the younger Captains with good English skills were the best, while other young ones who were civilian trained were very bad. They were also relatively low time. Some of the older guys, who had very high time, were very bad and others were okay. The Chief pilot was dual rated on the MD-90 and A300 and was very sharp.

China is a huge country and the flying would be very interesting, especially as a domestic narrow body captain. They fly in QFE still and their controllers speak in Chinese most of the time. It helps tremendously to have a working knowledge of the language for situational awareness. It would also help in your daily life as not many Chinese speak English. Maybe today the younger generations do, but when you are trying to buy fruits and vegetables at the corner market or trying to take a taxi somewhere you had better know some Chinese.

The pay and accomodation would be the key points for me. What city would they base you in ? What type of housing would they provide ? or would they provide an allowance ? Would they pay you in dollars or renminbi ? Would they direct deposit that to any account of your choice anywhere in the world ? How many days off per month ? how many days of vacation per year ? Will they be responsible for handling any taxes you might owe in China ? If not, how much is it ? Are there any schools for my kids and how much do they cost ? What kind of discounted or free travel do they provide ?

As you can see there are lots of questions that need to be answered. The Chinese have a nasty habit of eroding your contract terms and conditions over the years. They would probably entice people over with some some deals and then cut them as the years go by. Your contract will never get better than the day you sign it. If you can live with a 10% reduction in terms and conditions per year then it might be worth looking at. I wouldn't go there for any contract that didn't allow me to save at least $5000 per month. That is after taxes, after school fees, after housing costs, after food and entertainment, etc. Life as an expat is hard and unless you can justify it with the cash you are making it just isn't worth leaving the States. Some guys might do it to get some good experience and that is okay, but you need to have a long term exit strategy or a goal that it will help you achieve. Once you leave the U.S. borders you are a mercenary pilot for hire and you will succeed or fail purely on your talent as an individual. There is no union protection; seniority lists don't mean much; contracts don't mean much; it isn't an easy life.

All that said, if you think you can handle it, going overseas is a great adventure.

Typhoonpilot

Mercenary pilot for hire.

 

[bafanguy]

To add a bit of specific info to Typhoonpilot's comments, I saw what is likely a typical ad for pilots at a new (?) Chinese airline, Jetwin Cargo in Shenzhen.



Captains: 5000ttl time ( "...airline time..."), 3000 jet PIC,, 2000 hours on type (737-300), "...current and valid B737-300 rating..."

FO: 2000 ttl time, 1000 hours on type.

These are fairly high requirements if the country is really that hard up. From my observations, most overseas outfits want relatively hight ttl time, typed, current, and XXXX hours in type...just what I've seen in the agency ads for the last two years. I'm sure the world is full of people who meet these requirements. It'll be interesting to see if the Chinese can actually attract all the people they need.

There are obviously exceptions as in the CFI's who go over there to work for an airline. Didn't someone recently mention some Spartan instructors who'd been hired by a startup there ?

This is all a pretty interesting prospect and I'm sure Tyhoonpilot's comments are dead on as he's been there/done that. It's still something I'd want to know a lot more about.

I've been unable to locate much contact info for reaching these outfits directly other than Jetwin. Anyone got the info ? Already looked at pprune.