Mt Cook Airlink

[atyourcervix73]

Hey all, anyone have the inside oil on Mt Cook at the moment? Im keen to get my foot in the door, have done the research on StaffCV etc, but if anyone has a contact or suggestions please feel free to PM me.

By the way this is not an enquiry from a low-timer..presently Im on jets, but fancy Mt Cook for lifestyle reasons.

Cheers


73:)

[stillalbatross]

Is this a wind up? Everyone knows you need to have been at least 30 generations Canterbury farmers with the usual CD tattoo (on forehead and at least one arm) and have minimum two fathers and an uncle currently flying for them (retired/dead doesn't count). Used to be three fathers in my day but things have loosened up a bit......

There are people out there still on decades old yes/acceptance letters whom the company simply forgot to call when positions came available.

If you're looking for REALLY backwards, then look no further. (we're talking waking up with the sheep here, not just shagging them)

[atyourcervix73]

hmmm albatross, me thinks you need to get out a bit more mate:rolleyes: :p

Apart from all that, yep I want to know more about the company..so I guess albatross there is a bit of the freemasions about the place..and few pairs of deadman shoes?

[Hanz Blix]

Also keen for information on COOK, particulary if anybody has information on what the interview format is like.

Thanks in advance

[kmagyoyo]

Hi Guys,

I joined Mt Cook a few months ago so here goes;

The Company has 11 ATR's and makes more cash for Big Brother than any other part of the operation (so the rumors go, you can check out the ANZ annual report in your own time). We are the 1st 'Regional' in the World to complete a LOSA so despite what Mr S.Albatross thinks we aren't stuck too far in the past (well the odd old fart is).

We have a fortnightly roster which averages out to about 65 duty hours/35 flight hours a fortnight with five days off. CHC is the only base so we get (about) three overnights a roster at places various. At the mo' we fly to about 10 different 'ports but that may change a little as the Dash 8's start to come on line.

The recruitment process is run by Pilots; ie its fairly painless with no psychometric tests. One day at CHC starting with the obligatory group intro with the other candidates, a group ex. or two, some problem solving, a tech/rules quiz plus a recently introduces sim assessment. Like Big Bro you get a 'Yes letter' promptly if all goes well which should put you on a course around three months later.

PM me if you want any more gen.

[Contract Con]

Qantaslink (Sadstate) did LOSA two years ago:rolleyes:

First in InZid maybe

Mt Cook arent all that impressive from what I have witnessed.

Been into ZQN recently?? Nice wheel tracks:ouch:

[Capt. On Heat]

You sound a little bitter StillAlba, it is unhealthy to hold a grudge. Guessing the Just Juice tattoo on your human canvas didn't cut the mustard!

Con-What else have you witnessed from the judge's bench? Besides they were actually made by a Massey Ferguson!

[Contract Con]

Gday Capt.,

No tractor my friend, well, I guess an ATR72 is close at times and may have been the only implement available on that day.

Bloody lucky nothing was at holding point Alpha.

Cheers,

Con

[Cloud Cutter]

kmagyoyo, thank you for actually providing some decent info.

To those of you who are bitter and twisted for various reasons, may I ask that you refrain from continually hijacking threads started by people who want to know a bit about a company. It is obvious you don't know what you're talking about, as every Mount Cook pilot I've talked to is very happy with the company - you only have to look at the rate of attrition to see that. I guess some people just can't help being negative, but if you must - pleese keep it to yourself.

[Capt. On Heat]

Cervix and Hans, word is Cook is a pilot or few short and about half dozen to 10 current ones on yes's / in the process. Interviews next month and probably will need to again early next year. Process as per Kmag, although you actually get a start date and are an employee when on the ground course and will remain one assuming successful completion of type rating and checks. And contrary to Con and Still-a-big-bird is a great company full of great people and good operators.

True Con, but I always thought Alpha was too close to the centreline at QN!

[Hugh Jarse]

Qantaslink (Sadstate) did LOSA two years ago
Dunno about 2 years ago, Con, but I remember working up there on one in March this year, which followed Eastern.

Sorry 'bout the hijack:E

[Contract Con]

Gday,

Capt., yes I agree that it is a bit too close. May have been a Nav light through the F/O's window, had someone been holding there:eek:

I'm sorry if I cast too wide a net over the 'Cook guys. I have just seen a few too many eye opening examples in recent time. Apologies to all that are there and doing a good, safe job.

Jarse, mmmm I may have my auditing terms mixed up. Could have sworn that it was LOSA that had guys sitting in the jumpseat, clipboard in hand at least 18mths ago??(prepares to stand corrected)

Cheers,

Con:ok:

[atyourcervix73]

Sent an email and CV late last week...got a response offering an interview/assessment on the 30th Nov!

Gee they must be short if they want to see me :)

[petitfromage]

Kmag....pm your Chch details/mobile number.
Big push from the Cathay boys to Chch for show weekend.
The wheels could well and truely come off the wagon Friday night....hope you and the boys are about?
Rgds

[TinDriver]

Atyourcervix73:

Inbound PM.

:)

[Hanz Blix]

Capt on heat and kmag thanks for your info, its much appreciated.

[Dixons Cider]

Sorry lads, a bit slow on the up take here, but - what is LOSA??

Never come accross that one before...

[Bongo Bus Driver]

Do Mt Cook take pilots from GA like Air Nelson and Eagle or do you have to have Turbo Prop time?

[Cloud Cutter]

Bongo - They have taken some GA pilots in recent times. I think if you've got competitive experience, and preferably some two pilot ops they will look at you. The min at the moment is 1800 hours and ATPLs, there's probibly other criteria.

I was also wondering what this LOSA thing is:confused:

[PropDuster]

that makes three of us :confused:

[NZLeardriver]

Line Operations Safety Audit (LOSA)
http://www.siaa.asn.au/simtect/2005/LOSA_AC_Draft.pdf

[TinDriver]

Thankyou NZLeardriver.....
Am not so in the dark anymore.

[Capt. On Heat]

Just wondering where you pulled 1800hrs from Cloud?

Also, they have interviewed some who don't have all ATPL's but you will not get a start until you've got 'em all. Probably wont get an interview with less than 4+ though. As for other criteria, probably best to PM Stillalbatross!

Con, I'm sure the guys doing a good job will welcome that. That's the trouble with wide nets, a similar comment about eyes opening or raised eyebrows could be made about isolated incidents seen of Nelson, Eagle, Origin and jets, both blue and red tailed! Wouldn't condemn the company or all their pilots based on that.

[Cloud Cutter]

Was advised by one of the recruitment team "we are currently recruiting at 1800 hours min and ATLP theory"

More interviews in Feb at this stage.

[Capt. On Heat]

Cheers,

Never ceased to be amazed by arbitrary "minimum" hourly requirements. Would 1780 hours be enough? Before the attacks start, yes I agree there needs to be some kind of base experience. Oh well, as Mr Gann said, it's always about the numbers!

Suppose it stems from the CAA 200 hour CPL stance. I believe a more realistic number is 146 hours or 217 hours or 456 hours, all depends on the chap/chapette involved. Does Massey still have that nonsense 150 hour CPL dispensation? Such intensive high quality training!

[Cloud Cutter]

No, I think it stems from the limited file cabinet size. The system Air NZ use is better at judging the suitability of applicants, I certainly agree that flight time is just one of many factors that make a pilot employable. There are always some low time pilots who would be far more suitable for a role than some high time pilots.

Just as the 200 (or 150) hours is minimum for a CPL, many people do not meat the standard untill they have more experience and training, but it would also be reasonable to say that someone who does meat the standard with less time, still does not have enough experience, that is why there are minimums.

Unfortunately the up-keep on a recruitement system like big bro's makes it a bit out of the grasp of a small regional airline.

[stillalbatross]

You can say what you want but it is unbelievable that an outfit like Cook could interview people and after putting them through the ringer find some applicants suitable. Then send them a letter telling them that they have been successful and that they would be on the next intake and then completely forget they had successful applicants waiting and instead recruit again.

I wasn't on the receiving end of this BS but I had some mates who were. There must be more than a couple of dozen people floating around on worthless "yes" letters from Mount Cook and if you changed jobs in the meantime Cook would get upset with you and refuse to return your calls.

If you think as a pilot in NZ you deserve this kind of treatment then you're just what the industry needs at the moment. Why don't you offer to pay for the ATR type rating as well?

It would be nice if Cook took less of a GA mickey mouse approach to it all.

[kmagyoyo]

Stillalbatross,

I wasn't on the receiving end of this BS but I had some mates who were. There must be more than a couple of dozen people floating
around on worthless "yes" letters from Mount Cook

How far in the past are you talking here mate, days of Glacier flying and 'The Bomber' I suspect given your 1st post. I can only re-iterate to those with Interviews that things HAVE changed from the 70's and the recruitment process is not "mickey mouse".

If you think as a pilot in NZ you deserve this kind of treatment then you're just what the industry needs at the moment. Why don't you offer to pay for the ATR type rating as well?

Where the hell do you get off insinuating that people think that? In amongst the genuine posts in this tread I didn't see the one about how we like seeing our fellow Pilots getting f@ck3d over! :yuk:

Rant complete. Good luck for those with interviews coming up :ok:

[BCF Breath]

Line Operations Safety Audit, or words to that effect, sorta.

Some chap sits there watching every time you make a wee faux pas. Like not referring to the approach chart when arriving, not each having a chart, not checking the terrain each time you're over it etc, etc.......

Blah, Blah, things you do every day but according to some grand scale aren't a perfect (or pristine) flight.

[stillalbatross]

Kmang,

I too hope that anyone who puts in the effort and gets through the interview and gets offered employment ACTUALLY gets a job to go to and not a worthless piece of paper merely proclaiming it.

Maybe the nice folks running cook could pick up a copy of flight international and discover 1) that they aren't the only ATR operators on the planet and 2) that their exhaulted position in the scheme of things isn't actually slightly above NASA.

And no the cook "glorified GA" approach to recruitment I refer to wasn't in the 1970's, in fact it was less than 10 years ago................

[Capt. On Heat]

Less than 10 years ago, so 9 and a half years ago then. I believe some of the guys who do the recruitment now have only been there for around 4 years. I'm guessing things in your life are rather stagnant if you expect that nothing changes in a decade. Unfortunately it seems you've got that great kiwi disease of running down your fellow chum(s) based on historical information. The same things could be said about Air New Zealand itself up until recent times with the upturn in employment. I don't know of anyone who's received the shaftings you allude to RECENTLY. Actually do a bit of research and get your facts right about the current situation and get over your past bitterness. Nasa-haven't got Cook mixed up with Eagle do you?!!

[kmagyoyo]

So lets see if I have this right ;

It didn't actually happen to you....
It happened about 10 years ago....
The recruitment team remains unchanged since then....
The recruitment team sends everyone 'yes' letters to not hurt anyones feelings but only calls the people it really wants...
Cook believes it is up there with NASA due to the highly competitive GA Mickey Mouse recruitment process... or was it due to being the only ATR operator in NZ...or because we are such snappy dressers....or because you didn't get in (sorry, forgot, it was a 'friend of yours')

Is anyone else out there REALLY scared at how vindictive Stillalbatross would be if this had actually happened to him??

[nike]

No not really.


Actually its kinda nice to see someone other than the EagleBoys getting some sh@t flung at them (although funny that the first response was to deflect crap in that direction!!)

Surely this is all tongue in cheek, people aren't going to lay down their life cause someone touched a nerve? Have a laugh for once.

[stillalbatross]

Kmagyoyo,

In what normal parallel universe is it common practice to send out acceptance letters to a bunch of people you have just interviewed that you have no intention of hiring so you don't hurt their feelings.............

If the cook recruiters can't cope with recruiting then maybe they shouldn't be doing it.

Kmagyoyo, there is obviously no limit to how low you would stoop or how quickly you would bend over and take whatever cook dished out as part of the recruitment process, and no doubt plenty of GA employers welcome you with open arms.

As I first mentioned, the crap cook used to put people through wouldn't be acceptable in any other subsidiary of any other large company in any other profession anywhere else in the world.

Why you insist on defending their methods is beyond me. I only hope they have changed, they hadn't changed in the 30 years previous and they were still a joke in '99.

[haughtney1]

Same S@"t different day:rolleyes:

Small country small mindset (and Im a Kiwi)...I hope its improved?
Mr Toddler care to comment?

:) H

[kmagyoyo]

I am with you Nike, this is freaking hilairous!

A one day selection process (which didn't involve any outward homosexual behaviour) followed by a yes letter the following week and then a start date a couple of months later isn't particularly arduous in my book and I dont feel I somehow prostituted myself completing it.

Stillalbatross, can we keep personal attacks out of this please, sheeze you ever heard of scarcasm? For the record I have never worked or flown for free...although OCDT salary isn't far off. As Capt on Heat and myself keep saying ad neaus the selection process has changed from what you say used to happen. And I am glad it did! End of story.

I have wasted enough of my day off with this crap...later!

[Hanz Blix]

Anybody off the latest round of interviews got a call or letter yet, or know someone who has?

[Shagtastic]

Off the topic but does Air Nelson still want '50' hours recent NZ IFR time before they'll interview you? ie, pilots who were fortunate enough to get experience outside NZ need not apply?

Shags

[Gravox]

Shags... i believe air nelson ask for the 50 hrs NZ IF so that they can use it as a way to discriminate if they want, but the truth to the matter is NO it didn't stop me.

[Sqwark2000]

I know of 2 from the last group to be accepted.

Congrats boys!!!


S2K

[HI'er]

'50' hours recent NZ IFR time Is the air in N.Z. somehow different to that of elsewhere when it comes to flying?

THAT is soooo pathetic and small-minded.
With a stipulation like that, people who make those petty minded "rules" deserve all they get.

Go and get a life (and some REAL flying experience!....Big fish, small pond).

[Hanz Blix]

So thats two from EAG how about the other good buggers on the interview! Any IDEAS? Would be nice to see them all get in.