have an interview wih the emirates , any gouge?

[frenchy]

I just got the interview with the emirates , does anybody know what to expect, questions , sim, writen?, I understand they do not provide travel, so How to get there, any idea?
Appreciate any infos
Thanks

 

[fogrunner]

Try to contact typhoon pilot he is a 77 Capt. for them and provides some very useful information.

www.pprune.com has a lot of info.
Emirates flys to the US, you could start with them.

 

[Airbusnut1]

Try Ethiad, or Quatar also if your willing to come to the MidEast.
Yes, you have to pay your own ticket to DXB to go to the interview.

 

[ForgedBlade]

There is gouge, but there also some study books that you will need for it as well! It's a tough one from what I have heard. A couple guys form ATA went there and I'm just slightly postponing my interview until I hear back from SWA and CAL. I typed "emirates interview" in to Google and found a few pilot shops that sell book packages for the interview. You can also do a search here and there is plenty of info. Hope tha helps!

 

[typhoonpilot]

Congratulations on the interview.

My information is quite old now as I interviewed 3 years ago. The format of the interview has changed in the last year.

You can review the book " Preparing for your Emirates Interview " by Captains X, Y, and Z as well as "Understanding Performance" by AJ Walters. That would be a start towards the technical portion. You may need to go further with "Aviation Weather" or as a friend of mine who interviewed recently suggested " Ace the Technical Pilot Interview ".

The Tech quiz is a minor portion of the interview. You should try to do well on it, but you won't be asked any technical questions other than during the quiz. The key to doing well on the interview is to get along well with your group and the interviewers over the three day period and to fly the sim to a decent and safe standard. I guess that could be said for any interview so I'll expound a little.

The interview is over a three day period. I'm not entirely certain how the new format works, but you will do the tech quiz and the sim on the first day. You will also do a psychological assesment and group exercises. Not sure the order in which those occur. After the second morning there is a cut. If they want you to stay they will tell you and then you'll do more group exercises, the one on one interview, and a tour of the Emirates facilities along with a mini-medical.

The group exercise are designed to see how well you play with others and to assess your leadership/followership skills. Sometimes you might feel the need to take the lead and sometimes you may just try to be of assistance. It's better to strike an equal balance, don't be too passive and don't be too bossy.

The psychological assesment is scarily accurate and will be debriefed by a trained psychologist. It is an important part of the interview so it's best to be honest.

The sim profile was a takeoff in visual conditions to a visual pattern for a landing without A/P, A/T, or F/D. Then a takeoff with a V1 cut, vectors to a VOR, intercept a radial outbound, vectors to an ILS all with A/T and F/D. You either miss the approach or land off that ILS and then reposition for a Raw Data ILS to either a missed approach or a landing. Biggest advice for this is don't hesitate to miss the approach if you are outside of stabilized approach criteria. Most people who miss the approach get hired whereas those who push a bad approach don't. It can either be done in the 777, A330, or A310. Based on your experience I would guess the 777 or 310 are the likely candidates. You use your airline procedures and callouts, the guy in the other seat will modify them as necessary to make it work. CRM is a big part of this assesment as well so work on how you want to approach that. At Emirates you can't brief enough so think of some good long winded briefings especially for the visual pattern.

It also wouldn't be a bad idea to look at the Emirates website to check out where and what we fly as well as what we have on order. You know the typical know your airline type of info that you can thread into interview answers to make it look like you've done your homework. It's a also a good idea to understand the basic principles of Islam and the history and current economy of Dubai.

Emirates does not provide travel to the interview. If you are currently employed and can get ZED tickets or ID 90 that would be the best way, but flights to and from Dubai tend to be very full so you may want to get yourself to Europe on a ZED and then buy a full fare ticket. That's what I did and it worked okay. Emirates does now serve JFK, but that flight is very full this time of year. Malaysian out of Newark is another possibility. The good news is that when you do get here the hotel is paid for and an allowance for meals is provided so you only have to pay for the beer you now owe me for this gouge .


TP

 

[General Lee]

Malaysian stopped the Dubai nonstop from Newark, now flying a 744 to Stockholm and then on to Kuala Lumpur.


Bye Bye--General Lee

 

[typhoonpilot]

Malaysian stopped the Dubai nonstop from Newark, now flying a 744 to Stockholm and then on to Kuala Lumpur.


Bye Bye--General Lee

Okay, thanks for that.

TP

 

[FurloughedAgain]

Just curious Typhoon, did you move your whole family over there? If so, how is your wife finding Dubai?

I've never considered a middle eastern airline (because i'm a jew and value my head)... (well, really because i'm married and value my head.)

But I have to admit. Out of curiosity I checked out your website and looked at the employment package. WOW. the pay is REALLY good, tax free, free housing, free schooling, interest free car loan, 42 days a year off!

Sounds too good to be true! good luck on your upcoming interview.

 

[typhoonpilot]

Just curious Typhoon, did you move your whole family over there? If so, how is your wife finding Dubai?

I've never considered a middle eastern airline (because i'm a jew and value my head)... (well, really because i'm married and value my head.)

But I have to admit. Out of curiosity I checked out your website and looked at the employment package. WOW. the pay is REALLY good, tax free, free housing, free schooling, interest free car loan, 42 days a year off!

Sounds too good to be true! good luck on your upcoming interview.

Hi FA, yes I moved my whole family over to Dubai. At the time it consisted of me and my wife, who is not from the USA. She likes Dubai better than the States, but not as much as her home country. We've since added a son and I have to tell you that Dubai is a great place for a young child. There are unlimited amounts of things for children to do and the culture here is very good towards children. To beat the summer heat all the malls have huge indoor play areas. There are some really good water parks as well. No Disneyland yet, but they are working on an indoor ski slope and an amusement park.

The schools here are far better than a lot of the public schools in the States and the exposure a child will have to many different cultures and languages is priceless.

Emirates is rumoured to have a few Jewish pilots. I don't go around asking everyone I fly with their religion so I can't verify that rumour, but it still exists. I doubt they put Jewish on the application though.

The package is good, you are one of the first to notice that. First year pay is way better than SWA or Fedex, although it doesn't go up too much from there.
Still it isn't a bad lifestyle and we've got quite a few USAir refugees now.


TP

 

[Midnight Mike]

Congratulations on the interview.

The psychological assesment is scarily accurate and will be debriefed by a trained psychologist. It is an important part of the interview so it's best to be honest.


TP

And pilots actually pass this Psychological Assesment, or, are pilots exected to fail?

 

[typhoonpilot]

And pilots actually pass this Psychological Assesment, or, are pilots exected to fail?

Some of us do. We score very well on marking appointments on the correct day . Speaking of that, are you back in London ?

TP

 

[Midnight Mike]

Some of us do. We score very well on marking appointments on the correct day . Speaking of that, are you back in London ?

TP

Tim

Ha! Ha! You know for me to make an error, it was a very bad day. Yep, I am back in London till the middle of August.....


Mike

 

[hawkerflyer]

Congratulations Frenchy. Don't you work for Spirit ?

 

[ForgedBlade]

If anyone cares, I just re-scheduled my interview for 8-10 October, so I guess it's time to spend more money on books. I need to figure out some travel plans too - it sucks to be furloughed!

 

[ILStoMinimums]

What does an Emirates pilot max out at?

 

[typhoonpilot]

What does an Emirates pilot max out at?

Difficult question to answer. The package of an expat is very different than what you would get in the States. The better question is, "how much money can you put in your pocket every month ?". The bottom line, so to speak. As a junior captain my basic pay is $7600 per month. I pay 0 taxes, 0 for accomodation, 0 for utilities, and only need one car as the company car picks me up for work. Besides food and entertainment my expenses are minimal so I pocket most of what I make. The top guys in the airline for 20 years are closer to $14,000 per month.

TP

 

[ForgedBlade]

As an expat, do you have to file a US 1040 every year? It's bizarre to think that all the $$ goes in your pocket - what a concept!! Looking forward to seeing Dubai in October.

 

[typhoonpilot]

As an expat, do you have to file a US 1040 every year? It's bizarre to think that all the $$ goes in your pocket - what a concept!! Looking forward to seeing Dubai in October.

All Americans are required to report their worldwide income every year. One of the few countries that has this requirement. If you are residing in a country outside of the USA then you qualify for a "foreign earned income deduction", currently $80,000. You also get whatever other deductions you qualify for, so you really need to have over $100,000 in income before having to pay any taxes to Uncle Sam.

TP

 

[ILStoMinimums]

Difficult question to answer. The package of an expat is very different than what you would get in the States. The better question is, "how much money can you put in your pocket every month ?". The bottom line, so to speak. As a junior captain my basic pay is $7600 per month. I pay 0 taxes, 0 for accomodation, 0 for utilities, and only need one car as the company car picks me up for work. Besides food and entertainment my expenses are minimal so I pocket most of what I make. The top guys in the airline for 20 years are closer to $14,000 per month.

TP

That's very nice. I'm amazed at the fact that the company treats their employees so well!

 

[Spinplate]

Section 26 out of Training manual:

A) How to disassemble an AK-47 in under 30 seconds

 

[Pelican 10]

I didnt know emirates was still hiring...anyone has their mailing info handy ??

 

[RoyalAviation2]

My dad was hired on with Emirates in 87' and came over from Yemenia. I grew up here in Orange County but would visit him in Dubai every winter and summer. I loved it there. I now am thinking of applying for them when I have competitive times, however from what I hear they don't even consider CRJ700 PIC time as considerable for them. So I basically have to bust my but to get on with a Jetblue or SWA only to quit and go work for them. I also have the option to fly for Ariana but I don't wanna do they're 3 year contract requirement. Typhoon- any word on if they're ever going to consider CRJ700 time?

My dad ended up quitting in 97 because they refused to transition him from the A300 to the B777 because he only had 4 years of productivity left. Biggest mistake he ever made!

 

[Gillegan]

That's very nice. I'm amazed at the fact that the company treats their employees so well!

Typhoon,
Do you want to do the honors or shall I?

 

[Midnight Mike]

That's very nice. I'm amazed at the fact that the company treats their employees so well!

I am sure that at Emirates, there are pilots bitching about something, what is paradise to one person, is hell to another....

 

[ForgedBlade]

My dad was hired on with Emirates in 87' and came over from Yemenia. I grew up here in Orange County but would visit him in Dubai every winter and summer. I loved it there. I now am thinking of applying for them when I have competitive times, however from what I hear they don't even consider CRJ700 PIC time as considerable for them. So I basically have to bust my but to get on with a Jetblue or SWA only to quit and go work for them. I also have the option to fly for Ariana but I don't wanna do they're 3 year contract requirement. Typhoon- any word on if they're ever going to consider CRJ700 time?

My dad ended up quitting in 97 because they refused to transition him from the A300 to the B777 because he only had 4 years of productivity left. Biggest mistake he ever made!

From what I've been told, they want heavy international time before you can be considered. I got lucky with that before ATA started going down the tubes. So sad.

 

[320AV8R]

Typhoon,
Do you want to do the honors or shall I?

G-Man,

Typhoonpilot works for Emirates and gets picked up by a car service at his house.

I work for a major US carrier and just spent 25 minutes in a sh!tty crew bus, enroute to a sh!tty crew lot, without air conditioning, when it was 94 degrees outside, with moderate humidity. (I won't mention the b!tchy F/As on the bus.)

And your point is.............

320AV8R

 

[typhoonpilot]

320, my friend. Gillegan works for Emirates as well and is one of my best friends. He too is a USAir refugee, although one with much more foresight than I as he was the first to join Emirates.

His comment was directed at people maybe getting an unrealistic expectation of life at Emirates. I tend to paint a very rosy picture as Emirates has been a very good career move for me and I enjoy my life and job in Dubai.

All is not perfect at Emirates. There are issues that could be handled better, as there are with all companies. The direct entry captain program is one, as is the luck of accomodations. Some people get a great accomodation, others get a crappy one. No rhyme or reason and no recourse if you don't like where they put you other than to take an allowance that is inadequate to rent a place in Dubai.

That said it is still a very good job in comparison to what is on offer in the States. I'll write more when I get back to Singapore tomorrow, for now I've got to go get ready to fly.


TP

 

[Gillegan]

G-Man,

Typhoonpilot works for Emirates and gets picked up by a car service at his house.

I work for a major US carrier and just spent 25 minutes in a sh!tty crew bus, enroute to a sh!tty crew lot, without air conditioning, when it was 94 degrees outside, with moderate humidity. (I won't mention the b!tchy F/As on the bus.)

And your point is.............

320AV8R

320AV8R,

As my good friend, Typhoon pointed out, I too work for Emirates and have been here nigh on 10 years. Without going into too much detail, I will say that it is a job like any other. I have been out of the aviation scene in the U.S. a long time now and according to my colleagues, probably don't completely understand just how rotten it has gotten there. Most of the guys arriving from the States assure me that Emirates measures up quite well compared with the current state of affairs in the U.S.. That said, there is quite a lot here to be unhappy about.



Typhoon mentioned accommodations. The company does provide accommodation - not a bad deal but there is a downside. You have no choice in where you will live. Some places are very nice and some aren't so nice. You may be put in a very nice 4 bedroom "townhouse" with nice facilities or you may end up on a busy street in a seedy part of town with the bus stop right in front of your door and mosque right across the street. (First call to prayer is around 0400 and some mosques turn up the volume quite a bit). If you don't like it, "tough, you can take the allowance". The allowance for FO's runs 30-40% below the going rate for reasonable villas and that's before the utilities which will also be on your nickel. Bottom line, if you are one of the unlucky ones and choose to find your own place to live, you will be out of pocket $15,000-$20,000 a year. Oh, and in the past year, rents have risen by about 30%.



Upgrade and Direct Entry Captains: Historically, Emirates has always been a place where you could get a relatively quick upgrade to captain on a wide-bodied aircraft. As such, Emirates was able to attract experienced first officers at below market rates. Two years ago, the decision was made to hire direct entry captains (DEC's). Many experienced and qualified FO's were bypassed despite being told at their interview that their upgrades would come between 18 to 36 months. When the initial call for DEC candidates yielded disappointing results (due to the below market rates mentioned earlier), the company gave the pilots already here the big finger and raised the pay rates for just the DEC's. I don't begrudge the guys who came here and took advantage of a good opportunity but the slap in the face to pilots already here still rankles. Oh, and don't fool yourself, there is no representation of the pilot body (or any other body of workers here - trade unions are against the law). When pilots complained (as they are wont to do), they were told, "Shut up and do what you're told." If you come here as an FO, expect to spend a long time in the right seat.



Cost of Living and Inadequate Pay Increases: Dubai is a dynamic and growing city and over the last 3 years, congestion and prices have risen dramatically to the point that the government felt compelled to raise the pay of government employees (nationals - 25%, expats - 15%) to just keep up. The pilots just got their first payraise in many years - 8%. Appreciated, but we have been losing ground here for a long time. And you will have out of pocket expenses, especially if you have school age children. If you can even get your kids into a school, the company does provide an allowance that unfortunately falls well short of the actual fees. This past school year, for two children in elementary school, I was out of pocket $13,000. If you come here as an FO with school age children, you will have a difficult time saving money (in fact, most guys I know in that situation have to dip into savings). You will sign a contract but the terms can and will change over the course of your stay.



Amount of Actual Flying: This varies from fleet to fleet but over the past year has risen dramatically. A year ago, the company decided to "re-interpret" the Flight Time and Duty Limitations resulting in time spent on a "heavy crew" not being credited fully for the purpose of FTL's. This resulted in some pilots flying as much as 140 hours in a month, operating between Australia and the U.S.. (The long way around, via Asia and Europe) Some sanity finally prevailed and the practice was stopped but along the way, the company lost vast amounts of credibility with the pilots. What does this mean to you? Once on line, don't expect more than 8 to 10 days off per month. Sometimes guys get more but that is happening less and less. Oh, and if you are just plain too tired to fly, you can always just tell them that but you'll be on your own.



Don't get me wrong, there are some good things about Emirates also. The flying is interesting, the crews cordial, the pilots are a great bunch of guys and the company gives the captain a fair amount of autonomy to manage the operation enroute. If you have a family emergency, they are generally pretty good about helping you out. Oh, and you do get picked up for your trips. The biggest point that I'm trying to make is that on the surface, it looks like it might be utopia here but it's not. It's just another flying job and it's important to understand both the good points and the bad points if you're going to uproot your family and move them 8000+ miles.

 

[320AV8R]

TP and G-man,

Thanks for the additional information.

No airline is perfect, there are ups and downs at each carrier. I guess one of your ups, (car service), coincided with one of our downs, (hot bus).

My point was that crew treatment has gone downhill. Many things that were taken for granted are now non-existent.

It seems like the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence......but when you get there, it could be a septic tank.

320AV8R

 

[Xfr8dog]

Consider jumpseating on Kalitta Air. You will most likely get a bunk to sleep in on the way over. If not, you will get a 1st class seat and catering either way. Kalitta operates out of JFK to Brussels then down to Dubai three times a week. Sunday, Wednesday and Friday starting tomorrow, July 17th. There are also many flights to Kuwait I imagine a ticket from there would be fairly inexpensive. Heres a link to our union website with the Middle East sevice update...


http://www.ibt747.org/airlines/kai/news/2005/070105kai.htm