Crappy future or will fluent mandarin make me attractive on the Chinese market?

[MattSun]

Right now I am considering to become a pilot. (I know it's stupid these days, but pls continue reading.) I have been thinking about it for a while already and I have been checking online on forums, such as pprune to find out more about my prospects and job opportunities after I am done. It seems there is little or no chance to get jobs in the States or Europe.

However it still seems like China is recruiting pilots and that they are in need of thousands of pilots in the next years to come. I have studied mandarin Chinese for about four years and two of those were in China, which makes my Chinese quite good, if not fluent. I can read and speak without any problems, although I am of course not as good as a native Chinese person.

My questions are: Should I primarily focus on the Chinese market and get the licenses required to fly there? Should I consider doing the pilot program in China? Bel air, for example, has a commercial pilot package that meets China CAAC flight training requirements. It also includes 20 hours of Turboprop King Air C90A. This package is more expensive than the normal JAA+FAA package they offer though...

I guess if there is little or no chance to get a TR and later a job as FO in China, even if I speak Chinese, then I should probably drop this idea and figure out something else.

I hope that someone with insight in the Chinese market can help me. I am very helpful for any advice and any help I can get.

/MattSun

[mad_jock]

What a skill to have on your CV.

I have no clue about the Chinese market but similar to speaking Russian to high standard there are quite a few Freight operators who would see that skill as a major asset to a crew. You really could pick in the world where you wanted to live.

Personally I wouldn't advise to train for the chinese Lic but would get the UK JAR if you could afford it as it would allow you access to the European market. Its pretty easy to get validated if you have a UK license pretty much anywhere.

Maybe a post in the Freight dogs forum would throw a bit more light on things.

I could be wrong about this but if I was a Captain operating into China I would praise which ever deity you asked if I had an FO that could speak the local lingo. In fact we would have a quick swap of shoulder uniform as part of the decent checks with instructions to use your initiative. I used to do it in France when flying with a frog FO, zero stress and gets the job done. As another advantage Captain Froggy FO used to be able to get pizza delivered to the aircraft, how he managed it I don't know.

[AlphaMale]

I'd check if China need/want foreign 200hr fATPL holders first. From what I have read, it seems the fleets are growing so they are getting local fATPL 200hr to fill the FO spots but have run out of experienced local Captains.

If you have a good amount of command time on a jet and the TT to match then going to China might be a safe bet. But I don't think an experienced jet captain in Europe would need to travel that far to find a job (even in the current climate).

... Worth trying though - especially knowing the language :ok:

[ReverseFlight]

I stand to be corrected but I heard a rumour (unsubstantiated, of course) that as a general rule the State-owned airlines favour local citizens over LaoWai's whereas the privately-owned carriers are more open minded about the issue. I wonder if anyone else has heard the same.

As many Swedes go to the US for flight training, MattSun might consider going down that route as well, as the CAAC syllabus is almost identical to FAA's and that would make conversion that much easier.

[Pugilistic Animus]

Wow, I heard the 'Westerners' find chinese THE most difficult of languages-===excellent:ok: sounds like you took some advice from BelArgUSA:)----impressive!

PA

[MattSun]

Thanks for all the help so far! As mad_jock and ReverseFlight say, maybe it is a better idea to get licenses that are valid in the west and then convert it so that I can work in China as well. I know a lot of Swedes go to the States, and it is probably the best idea, since it's much cheaper than our own flight schools. Getting a combined FAA+JAA license might be the best way to go.

Still, as αMale is saying, there is a big chance they won't want a 200h fATLP holder in the first hand, even though I speak Chinese. That is the big question and I really hope someone knows better. I will try to ask around in the East Asia forum as well as the freight dogs forum.

More help is always welcome! :)

[OneIn60rule]

They prefer sending their Chinese Cadets/Students across and get them trained to that low hour and then convert them back to Chinese Licence's.

If you are a pilot applying for a position as FO, mandarin fluency won't cut it. Include the low hours, nope. A type rating and fluency in mandarin plus 2000 hours or so perhaps.

If you are a captain with say 3000 plus hours then yes.

How I draw that conclusion? Look up several airlines in China and you'll note what they all have in common when looking for FO's and Captains.

Do the same for Japanese airlines.

1/60

[SFDOC]

Matt,

Send me an e-mail at [email protected]

I might be able to help you out.

Be safe

[SloppyJoe]

Dont want to be the bringer of bad news but where the idea comes from that it is easier to get a job in India, Africa or China than anywhere else is a mystery to me.

Could someone please post here if they have a job flying for an airline that they got with under 500 hours in any of these places. I dont mean, if you know someone who has done it, or heard of this guy who was at the same school a year before you who did it. If it is easy to do there should be a reply soon as hundreds will have done it. I dont think ending up there because you have paid for line training counts as you would have had time on type possibly and be a total idiot.

[Ronand]

I personally met a guy who had the chinese and Uk Citizenship and of course fluent in Mandarine was holding JAA CPl ME-IR MCC with abt 500hrsTT abt 300 ME-hrs. He told me he has been trying to get a job in China threw contacts for more than a year (he knew a ctpt in China airlines even) but had no chance to get something there without T/R and at least 500hrs on type... Only If u somehow get the Indonesian citizeship then u might have a pretty good chance of getting hired in Indo! I heared they are really looking for FO's but can't hire expat FO's due to some laws....

[Ronand]

you're right it's actually way harder to get an airline job in Africa, India, Middle east or China with no experience! Without 500hrs on type they won't even look at you and they will much rather sponsor some local wannabe for a typerating than an expat!!
But it might be easy to get a job there if u have the required experience.... From what I've seen there is really a need of commanders in a lot of 3rd world countries...