Dornier 335
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2005
- Posts
- 1,089
All right, here's some update: My overall impression is ok, just with a real bad taste at the end that left me bitter towards Tianjin and WASINC.
The two week interview process started with medical examinations, that stretched over a couple of days. Just to see and experience a Chinese hospital is quite something. X-rays were taken without lead protection for your lower abdomen, people smoking in the hallways and the lady taking your blood doesn't bother changing her latex gloves (we did all get clean and sanitary needles though). Most of the time I felt I was back in 1940.
The written test wasn't as easy as I thought. It required some guesswork and the preparation given by WASINC wasn't really that good. 75% out of the FAA question bank, the rest some Airbus or Boeing figures and Chinese ATP questions (most of them were poorly translated). While you take your exam you have about 3 to 4 cameras watching you.
Sim check was done in Sanya on the Hainan Island SW of Hong Kong. We were each given 1 hour of sim prep which was very rushed and not really beneficial. We were told to use our SOP form our current/former employer in case we hadn't memorized the Tianjin SOPs. The checkride the next day was the weirdest and most illogical I ever had. Not only for me but for most of the other guys. Many were faulted for using their SOPs and not Tianjin one's. The debrief if some had any had nothing to do with your flight performance. I believe the company already knew who they wanted to hire and who would be given the boot. Some examples: One guy was told that he used too much rudder on t/o, another was too unstable during the V1 cut (despite the fact that he stayed on centerline), one guy was criticized for not notifying ATC before commencing his emergency descent and for using bank to lose altitude. Some guys on the other hand had hard GPWS alerts on the non-precision approach and went around. Another guy started with his initial descent for the ILS too early. This wasn't even mentioned during the debrief, but they got the nod. Part of the debrief was done by a long time f/o who has just completed his upgrade. F/o's in China are not authorized to perform t/o or landings. Some of his comments were quite hilarious from a person that hadn't touched the controls in the last 5 -7 years.
I contacted WASINC about this and haven't heard back from them at all. They don't seem to bother anymore. Attitudes like this really pisses me off, a simple email from them explaining that there's nothing they can do would have sufficed.
I feel sorry for the guys that went through the trouble of getting their circling restriction removed. My advice to anyone is to think hard and twice before investing to remove the circling restriction and to get all the other paperwork done. Get hired first and then take care of the rest. That's how it should be.
Looking back at it, I don't regret having gone. I had the chance to sight-see and experience China, their culture and people and really liked it. Transportation from Tianjin to Beijing is on a 205 mph German-built high-speed train. Train tickets are cheap and the frequency is good. Tianjin is a busy place and pollution or crime didn't seem to be much of a problem. There are no noisy scooters anymore, everything now is on E-bikes, which was impressive to see. People were usually very friendly and polite. No problem with food. Just fitting into their corporate picture, I guess ...
The two week interview process started with medical examinations, that stretched over a couple of days. Just to see and experience a Chinese hospital is quite something. X-rays were taken without lead protection for your lower abdomen, people smoking in the hallways and the lady taking your blood doesn't bother changing her latex gloves (we did all get clean and sanitary needles though). Most of the time I felt I was back in 1940.
The written test wasn't as easy as I thought. It required some guesswork and the preparation given by WASINC wasn't really that good. 75% out of the FAA question bank, the rest some Airbus or Boeing figures and Chinese ATP questions (most of them were poorly translated). While you take your exam you have about 3 to 4 cameras watching you.
Sim check was done in Sanya on the Hainan Island SW of Hong Kong. We were each given 1 hour of sim prep which was very rushed and not really beneficial. We were told to use our SOP form our current/former employer in case we hadn't memorized the Tianjin SOPs. The checkride the next day was the weirdest and most illogical I ever had. Not only for me but for most of the other guys. Many were faulted for using their SOPs and not Tianjin one's. The debrief if some had any had nothing to do with your flight performance. I believe the company already knew who they wanted to hire and who would be given the boot. Some examples: One guy was told that he used too much rudder on t/o, another was too unstable during the V1 cut (despite the fact that he stayed on centerline), one guy was criticized for not notifying ATC before commencing his emergency descent and for using bank to lose altitude. Some guys on the other hand had hard GPWS alerts on the non-precision approach and went around. Another guy started with his initial descent for the ILS too early. This wasn't even mentioned during the debrief, but they got the nod. Part of the debrief was done by a long time f/o who has just completed his upgrade. F/o's in China are not authorized to perform t/o or landings. Some of his comments were quite hilarious from a person that hadn't touched the controls in the last 5 -7 years.
I contacted WASINC about this and haven't heard back from them at all. They don't seem to bother anymore. Attitudes like this really pisses me off, a simple email from them explaining that there's nothing they can do would have sufficed.
I feel sorry for the guys that went through the trouble of getting their circling restriction removed. My advice to anyone is to think hard and twice before investing to remove the circling restriction and to get all the other paperwork done. Get hired first and then take care of the rest. That's how it should be.
Looking back at it, I don't regret having gone. I had the chance to sight-see and experience China, their culture and people and really liked it. Transportation from Tianjin to Beijing is on a 205 mph German-built high-speed train. Train tickets are cheap and the frequency is good. Tianjin is a busy place and pollution or crime didn't seem to be much of a problem. There are no noisy scooters anymore, everything now is on E-bikes, which was impressive to see. People were usually very friendly and polite. No problem with food. Just fitting into their corporate picture, I guess ...
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