Kit Darby says pilot hiring is going strong

[Bjammin]

Thanks, no worries mate.

They have had to hire so many of us that I hope in time they see we are all not a bunch of runaway air cowboys.

Everyone has there day in the barrel. I was FO when an Aussie pressed TOGA on final instead of A/P disconnect. Of course I have had my own grand moments as well like staying in HDG SEL and flying right through our next point.

There is now God of aviation or any nationality that produces better pilots then others. We all just need to do the best we can and hope we never are the cause of bent metal of hurt people.

 

[pilotyip]

All part of the 2007 hiring boom

 

[RJ_Driver]

They have had to hire so many of us that I hope in time they see we are all not a bunch of runaway air cowboys.

Speak for yourself, bjammin.

LOL

He who flies NON-EFIS is always a "cowboy"

"Cleared to descend via the Dylin2 Arrival," Wash Cntr
"Negative, Center. Unable," Unknown Cowboy.

 

[(o) (o)]

deleted

 

[(o) (o)]

I'm on the cargo side, but was doing PAX for 6 months out of HK. I LOVE IT!!! You spend alot of time in ANC, but with a good book or laptop it can be very relaxing. They do a very good job making sure you get the proper crew rest. I get 6 weeks of vacation a year plus a bookable free of charge round trip ticket for my entire family every year. I make more money then I did as an Lieutennant Commander over 18 years of service, the medical is better then I had with the military, and starting out as a 744 F/O is pretty cool.
The company has just put in a huge new order for 777's and A330's so I should move up the ladder pretty quick and obviously the company is doing very well.

The downsides:

Long, very hard training cycle (at least for me)

Some anti-Americanism from the Brits and Aussies, not the Chinese.

No bidding for trips, just days off and that's way in advance.

Clock can get way meesed up if you are not careful.

All in All, I think I'm much happier then I would be with any other airline.

I just painfully found out that the "bookable" ticket was only a high priority standby ticket that can get yo and yo family's arses bumped off the plane. Kinda puts a whole new twist to the word "confirmed".

Also, the part about it being "free of charge" is also a lie...it cost me 900 bucks HKD to a round trip to SFO.

Good luck to yo.

 

[Bjammin]

Yes it is high VERY high priority. From what I understand you only get bumped if paying PAX are about to get bumped. I have no problem with that. Do you see the note in inter CX about how few no shows there are lately and how many people are getting bumped?
We had a record year in profits and I will take that over a number of empty seats available for me any day.
Also $100.00USD in international airport taxes I have no problem in paying.

They might not be the best flight privledges, but I'm willing to deal with them to work for this company.

 

[FN FAL]

so if you press the to/go button instead of the autopilot disconnect, there is some kind of explosion of the airplane and the wings come off?

 

[Bjammin]

No, but the airplane will add a bunch of thrust and start to pitch up. You then have to be quick to diconnect the entire system and get the flight directors off or you will go way high on the glideslope and won't be able to get back down. It's a pain in the but close to ground.
It's an easy mistake to make, but can lead to a go around.

Basically you are telling the airplane to "Go Around" then "Psych".

 

[RichardRambone]

He who flies NON-EFIS is always a "cowboy"

Awesome. I ride big bad horses then. Yeeeeehhhhaaaa!!!!

 

[FN FAL]

No, but the airplane will add a bunch of thrust and start to pitch up. You then have to be quick to diconnect the entire system and get the flight directors off or you will go way high on the glideslope and won't be able to get back down. It's a pain in the but close to ground.
It's an easy mistake to make, but can lead to a go around.

Basically you are telling the airplane to "Go Around" then "Psych".

So if you hit the to/go button instead of the autopilot disconect, wouldn't it be a good idea to go around and try the approach again?

We have a policy on unstabilized approaches and we're only 135, I'd think 121 carriers would rather you take the go around if you inadvertantly hit the to/go buttons.

I say buttons, because on the AVRO RJ85 there were two buttons that had to be pushed at the same time on the front sides of thrust levers 3 and 4 in order to command a to/go. In the mighty little caravan I fly now, the to/go button is on the power lever as well, but it doesn't make the power lever move, it just sends a signal to the flight director.

 

[Bjammin]

When it happened we were at about 2000ft and we worked fast enough to be able to get stablized well before our 1000ft limit, but it was WAY early in my initial training and was a little nerve racking.
If it happened at 500ft, we probably would have had to go-around.

And yes you do have to press both buttons at the same time, and he did!

 

[VVJM265]

Bjammin,
As always good gouge from you. Has CX changed the retirement to something greater than 55 yet?
Thanks,
265

 

[Bjammin]

Kinda. You can transfer from the PAX to the freighter and stay till sixty, but you will take a huge pay cut. Guys are taking though.

I think it won't be long until the entire airline goes to sixty, definatly by the time I'm worried about it.

 

[VVJM265]

Kinda. You can transfer from the PAX to the freighter and stay till sixty, but you will take a huge pay cut. Guys are taking though.

I think it won't be long until the entire airline goes to sixty, definatly by the time I'm worried about it.

Thanks! Keep us posted please. I'm sure there are other guys-n-gals that are interested in Cathay but the 55 yo retirement might be a sticking point for them. I'll be 43 1/2 when I finally hang up the "bag" next Feb.

Curious though, if they have partially changed it so that you can fly until 60 on the freighter side why you would take a pay cut? Do they put you back to First Officer?

Thanks again for the info,
VVJM265

 

[Bjammin]

Freighter captains get paid less then PAX capt's. Same with PAX FO's and freighter FO's.

 

[VVJM265]

Thanks.

 

[B777]

I think the seminars are a waist of money. I almost went to one of them in order to meet an employer I wanted to apply for. It was in IAD I believe. I did not go and a week later I actually got the call from that employer that I wanted to work for! Then, my friends kept on telling me to listen to the Air Inc taped interviews. I was like what for??? I can get all the info I need from aviationinterviews.com but at the end I succumbed to peer pressure and joined air inc so that I can listen the taped interviews. What a mistake it was! The tpaed interview was outdated, it had incorrect information. It said that they give you a written test, and they don't! Questions were wrong too! Aviationinterviews.com was right on the money! Everything listed in aviationinterviews was asked during my interview.

Even before the interview, I called AirInc asking if I can show up at the door at IAD and pay less money as I was only interested in meeting just a couple of companies. NO, you have to pay full price. What a scam!!!

So yes, I agree, that Darby is blood sucking looser who is preying on young desperate pilots who don't even have the money to begin with!

 

[pilotyip]

777 other people have the opposite opinion

 

[Publishers]

Let's see, you want to show up and only pay for the companies that you want. That's a novel concept. It is pretty much assumed that the indviduals that go to these are there for one or two employers. In all the ones I have been to, Air Inc or others, I never heard one pilot prospect say,,,, you know it hurt my chances meeting that recruiter.
Secondly, if you saw the garbage that comes in here in the way of resume's or the lack of ability to speak intelligently, or, the applications that show one was not even qualified for what they were applying for, you would know that the world needs the Kit's, Resume Writers, and all the other help you can find.

 

[Flyguy6]

WHats with all the name calling and negativity on this board. I have read the word "idiot" at least 20 times already