Is Anyone Flying for Grand China Express Thru WASINC or NetCompass or Another Agency?

[your_dreamguy]

I may have the opportunity to fly in China with a regional called Grand China Express. I have heard conflicting things. I have heard that you are paid well and have good accomodations in your base (which you must pay for yourself). However, I have heard that hotels on the overnights are disgusting. Your Chinese pilots that you are paired up with may be dangerous. Does anyone have a realistic view, honest evaluation?

 

[Guinness Girl]

I have also been going through the motions with WASINC regarding the Grand China Express contract. Although I do not know anyone who flies for that carrier I do have a good friend currently flying for Kungpeng which is another WASINC contract based in China. Although they are different carriers I am sure that there are many commanalities between the two operations much as there are many commanalities between airline operations in the US.

First off, the compensation for flying an RJ is very good, most of the money is tax free, and your employer pays your Chinese taxes. The cost of living for a nice western style apartment is relatively low. I have seen his place and it is quite nice. Even after you pay living expenses you are clearing quite a bit of money. His complaints are along the lines of what you have already expressed. His FO's are very low time pilots who have come through ab-initio programs. This in itself is not really the problem. If you are currently flying for a regional then you have probably flown with several FO's with similar flight time as these guys have. The real problem is the language barrier. I am under the impression that levels of English range from non-existent with translators in the jumpseat to broken English that is somewhat conversational. The next "problem" is mostly cultural. Dispite your experience and position you will constantly be needing to prove yourself because you are a foreigner and you will initially be very distrusted. The largest overall problem though is just disorganization within the operation. His carrier was an upstart and Grand China Express has been operating for several years now so hopefully they have worked out some of the kinks he is experiencing regarding just general disorganization of the operation in general.

In reality if you go over there and do not like it there are ways to legitimately terminate your contract with no real penalty. Go through those motions, buy a ticket home and call it good. Just keep in mind that if you terminate an ex-pat contract early you will have a very difficult time finding another contract position if you ever decide to give it another shot.

GG

 

[RemoveB4Flght]

Bump... they have made a facebook group for this with some good info on it: Grand China Express pilots

 

[AbOvo]

The Grand China Express contracts on WASINC are for EMB-190, DO-328, and EMB-145. Is there a separate CRJ contract listed somewhere?

 

[RemoveB4Flght]

I am not aware of any CRJ's planned for Grand China's fleet

 

[5w5flyer]

The CRJ contract was with Kunpeng Airlines. Kunpeng is returning their CRJs, and replacing them with ERJ-190s. They are therefore no longer taking on CRJ pilots.

Grand China so far does not have any expats online. The bureaucracy in China is pretty outrageous. I think that they interviewed two people in November, but they have yet to start class. I think the delay is a holdup of Chinese gov't approval, but I wouldn't be suprised if economic factors are making them rethink taking on expat pilots.

 

[Road Rash]

I have also been going through the motions with WASINC regarding the Grand China Express contract. Although I do not know anyone who flies for that carrier I do have a good friend currently flying for Kungpeng which is another WASINC contract based in China. Although they are different carriers I am sure that there are many commanalities between the two operations much as there are many commanalities between airline operations in the US.
GG

Hey Girl,
you called me a friend... ahhh...:blush: I miss my Guinness Girl!

I wanted to bump this up, the CRJ contract has been canceled and we have been left to hang in China. After Mesa repo'd the aircraft, Kunpeng stopped paying us even though there was a two month buy out in the contract. Currently I am owed over 20 grand, and don't think I will see much of it unless Wasinc wants to save a little face. I believe Guinness Girl also paid for the circle to land restriction to be taken off the FAA cert. out of her own pocket and never even got an interview. I have heard there are others out there with this same problem.

Bottem line, don't trust Wasinc!:angryfire

 

[Dornier 335]

Bump... they have made a facebook group for this with some good info on it: Grand China Express pilots

I couldn't find anything. Has someone more info? Has anyone gotten an interview date for 145s yet?

 

[5w5flyer]

I initially applied for the 145 Captain position during the Fall of last year. To date I have nothing firm. Almost 10 months and not even a hint of an interview. They claim that they were interviewing 190 Captains this month, but I have not heard if they actually did. I was lucky that my old airline gave me my initial ATP and 145 type without the circling restriction, so I didn't waste a few grand getting that removed. I've decided to try to go into the military instead of waiting around to see if this will work out. For others though, I would think long and hard about paying your own money to remove circling limitations for these people. Maybe if you can get WIA money to do it, but it still will probably be a waste. If they want expat pilots bad enough they should remove the circling limitation for you on your interview. Good luck, it sucks finding a job right now.

 

[Dornier 335]

I was lucky enough to use my PIC or P1 type on my JAR license which does not have the circling restriction. I have to agree with 5w5flyer to think hard and (more than) twice before spending your hard-earned $ to get the restriction removed. Latest rumor I heard was that the interview will take place by the end of July/beginning of August. Let's keep our fingers crossed for those that are waiting for this opportunity.

Interesting thing is that another flight crew leasing agency advertised with the exact same t&c than WASINC for immediate openings. Two leasing companies looking for pilots for the same airline, kinda weird.

Last thing that keeps me wondering is where all those 190 Captains are coming from... Surely, they can't all be Republic!

5w5flyer if I may ask, did USAirways tell you how long to expect to be on furlough?

 

[5w5flyer]

I think the only 170 pilots that would even consider leaving Republic would be Captains that are being downgraded to FO. I'm not sure if they are even downgrading at Republic currently. Once there was talk that GCE, aka Tianjin Airlines, would take non-type rated applicants for the 190. I sent an email to WASInc to point out that I already had the 190 type, even though I didn't have any PIC time in the 190. I thought it would make more sense than training someone with no experience on type. WASInc sent a response to me that it was possible, but I never heard anything else from them about it. It sounds like both WASInc and GCE aka Tianjin Airlines are both very disorganized.

As far as US Airways, I asked one of the Chief Pilots personally how long he thought the furloughs would be for. He said they would be 5 years - based only on the change in the retirement age. From what I hear though, they are extremely short staffed and are overworking the crews there. One of the main reasons for the US Airways furlough in my opinion, is only because of negotiations. Whatever, I just hope the military happens for me quickly before recalls happen.

 

[RemoveB4Flght]

It's a ridiculous run around game. WASINC put out a tremendous amount of hoops for everyone to jump through, many of which cost money and many of which would expire in a certain period of time.

On top of the circling restriction for many, they also required candidates to pay for a visa to be able to go interview, documents to be stamped by the chinese embassy at a price.. the list goes on.

What the give in return is a run-around. Delay after delay with no answers. When you call to ask questions, they just give you best guesses and I don't knows. I wanted some specific information on currency requirements, and the guy would just speculate and guess and say "I would probably be alright". I asked him if he would contact the airline and find out and he kept avoiding agreeing to that.

My impression is they never had anything iron clad with the airline to begin with. They keep telling us the airline is short on pilots now, not to mention pending deliveries. There are 190 pilots in europe and australia (yes you guys forget the domestic regionals aren't the only source) who are ready to go, and no one has even been to INTERVIEW yet.

The excuse is red tape and an attempt to accelerate the joining process after you are interviewed, but it's been almost a year and no one is a step closer to a job.

One of their promise filled "updates" is long overdue...

 

[Dornier 335]

I agree with you. It seems somewhat strange to get all the paperwork requirements taken care of and then ... - wait. Honestly, I do not think that the fault lies with WASINC, it's just the way of doing business over there. On the other side, one can always use this procrastinating attitude to get rid of a contract early in case things brighten up (again?).

 

[Dornier 335]

It has been mentioned in another thread in the "regionals" forum; there's another company looking for 145 crews. www.chinaaviationrecruitment.com This is now the third crew leasing company looking for crews for Tianjin Airlines aka GCE. Weird.

 

[DHPFLYN]

If they are having this many problems with these companies why the hell would you want to work for any of them??? A waste of time

 

[Dornier 335]

This thread has been dead for a while, but I got an email from WASINC stating that I should expect an interview date in mid-June. Anyone else around who got the word and is interested?

 

[5w5flyer]

This thread has been dead for a while, but I got an email from WASINC stating that I should expect an interview date in mid-June. Anyone else around who got the word and is interested?

I gave up on WASINC. Ever since I first applied in October 2008 they claimed interviews would be held in a month or two. After a month or two, they again claimed everything is worked out, interviews would be in a month or two. That went on and on for over a year.

Best of luck to you though. Let us know if it finally does work out for you.

 

[5w5flyer]

Just an after thought, if you really want to fly in China, I have seen the exact same job posted with other contract companies. Maybe things would work out better using a different crew leasing company. I know at least a couple other crew leasing companies are advertising this position but the only one I can remember for sure is VOR Holdings. Again, best of luck to you.

 

[Dornier 335]

Interview for me is scheduled from June 27th to July 6th. As far as I know there'll be an ATP-type written, medical exam and sim check. Tianjin Airlines will let you know if you're hired before you return. I really have the impression that it is not WASINC but the Chinese who seem to schedule rather erratically.

 

[spitfire1500]

Hey Girl,
you called me a friend... ahhh...:blush: I miss my Guinness Girl!

I wanted to bump this up, the CRJ contract has been canceled and we have been left to hang in China. After Mesa repo'd the aircraft, Kunpeng stopped paying us even though there was a two month buy out in the contract. Currently I am owed over 20 grand, and don't think I will see much of it unless Wasinc wants to save a little face. I believe Guinness Girl also paid for the circle to land restriction to be taken off the FAA cert. out of her own pocket and never even got an interview. I have heard there are others out there with this same problem.

Bottem line, don't trust Wasinc!:angryfire

Dont trust anything with the word "China" in it in any way!!