No, Surely not?

[rocket66]

Hi Crew,

Here's one for you, I was talking to a bloke at my local the other day who claimed to have been employed as a bag thrower by a major airline (Virgn) who then was able to transfer to flight crew after he completed his licenses with a piss ant 350hrs?? WTF??

Surely this bloke is having me on, does anyone know anybody else whom has just "slipped" into the system in this fashion?? As far as I'm aware VB dont operate a cadetship in any way shape or form??

rocket

[Super Cecil]

then was able to transfer to flight crew after he completed his licenses with a piss ant 350hrs?? WTF??


Flight crew as a trolley dolly mebe? Some I've heard talk sound as though they are flying the Aircraft rather than selling drinks down the back.

[VH-XXX]

A foreign flight crew told me yesterday whilst sitting at an aircrew internet cafe at the Hilton.... "regardless of where you sit in the aircraft, it is the same aircraft afterall." !!! Maybe your guy knows this girl.

[porch monkey]

Looks like bull****, smells like bull**** , tastes like bull****. Good thing you didn't step in it huh?

[rustywings]

There are a couple of cabin crew at V who in a short time will be in the front seats.
Its not what you know but who you blow/know, goes for a number of cruisers there as well.
There are a number of cruisers looking at leaving due to poor management decisions like this. I think they are just waiting for the first one to jump before following.
Its just the way it is these days, nothing you can do about it.

[Jack Ranga]

Well I know a bloke who's got a blue star but hasn't got the required hours. He's got around a thousand quality (Cheiftain night freight) multi hours.

Reckon your mate's full off sh!t unless he has sheet loads of hours before he chucked bags :E

[PA39]

How short was his skirt?? :eek:

[Super Cecil]

Sounds like a playground............."it's not fair, he got in with less hours than me" :8 There needs to be a dummy spitting icon :E

[John Citizen]

Its not what you know but who you blow/know

I agree. It always was a "boys club".

Merit and experience mean nothing there.

[Homesick-Angel]

Merit and experience mean nothing there.

too true..

Being a p!sshead does mean something....

Out of the blokes I studied with, the ones who were the biggest plonkers got all the good first jobs in GA :confused:

Does that still stand in the RPT world?

Ive heard some truly hilarious and frightening stories about crew's antics on stopovers..

[tmpffisch]

Trying to transition from working at the airport, to the flight deck may not work.......
(Tommy does seem to have the mental aptitude for a cadetship though.....no, lets not go there....)

919IA_Lj0Ko

[SIDS N STARS]

and dont call me Surely !!

[Peter Fanelli]

350 hours?
Most of the pilots here think they should be a 747 Captain with that.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s295/bigt57/icon_dummy.gif

[Ovation]

Trying to transition from working at the airport, to the flight deck may not work....... (Tommy does seem to have the mental aptitude for a cadetship though.....no, lets not go there....)

I doubt if he'll ever make a pilot, but he's got a great future in airline management :cool:

[Lord Spandex Masher]

Looks like bull****, smells like bull**** , tastes like bull****. Good thing you didn't step in it huh?

Yeah, I'd much rather taste it!

[puff]

Unless things have changed I call bullshi* on that one. I knew one bloke that was chucking bags with betweeen about 1000 hours and he couldn't even move into an operational role let alone flying within VB - he eventually left. Another nearly had their mins and worked in an operational role, was always told this would not lead to a flying job, eventually got promised it then basically they renegged as they had no one that could do his job if he left - he walked as well.

Might have changed since but nearly everyone I've spoken to that worked for in VB in ground positions said that transferring from pit crew to nearly anywhere internally was VERY difficult.

[oicur12.again]

"...was able to transfer to flight crew after he completed his licenses"

What, you mean like in most other parts of the world?

Employing a pilot with the "licences" does not constitute a cadetship.

[aileron_69]

I dunno, if this is indeed true, it sounds like a pretty fair way of doing things to me. He has shown his loyalty to the company, and they have returned that loyalty with the "progression" that all you blokes out there all harp on about. I have lost count of how many times I have heard someone whinge about a company due to lack of progression...now when an excellent example of progression is given, you whinge that its not fair. Make up your minds.
In the ag world its always worked this way. You start of loading the plane as ground crew, prove you're a good worker, and with any luck you'll be able to work your way up to a flying job. This bloke has obviously proven himself to be a good worker, and been rewarded for it too.:ok:

[FRQ Charlie Bravo]

Hear hear aileron_69,

Just like all those Doctors-to-be toiling away cleaning the linen at the hospitals, all of those Judges-to-be climbing to the Bench by spending year after year working as Prison Guards and all of those Astronauts-to-be currently sweating away in a third-world factory making the badges that Little Johnny is going to wear on his hat when he goes to watch the shuttle launch. True progression from within the ranks!!!:ouch:


In the ag world its always worked this way. You start of loading the plane as ground crew, prove you're a good worker, and with any luck you'll be able to work your way up to a flying job. This bloke has obviously proven himself to be a good worker, and been rewarded for it too.

For many people an Ag flying job IS entry level, not top of the rung for fertiliser loaders. What you advocate (to such a degree as a baggage handler jumping straight to seats in the front row) is a backwards step for an already too backwards industry!

FRQ CB

PS I am not insinuating that Ag flying is only a rung to a shiny jet, many many people make a fulfilling and lucrative career below A001.

[Jack Ranga]

He has shown his loyalty to the company, and they have returned that loyalty with the "progression" that all you blokes out there all harp on about.


I think you're missing the point? I think the point the original poster is making is that he didn't have the mins and was hired?


then was able to transfer to flight crew after he completed his licenses with a piss ant 350hrs?? WTF??

[Super Cecil]

For many people an Ag flying job IS entry level
Used to be mebe thirty or forty years ago, nobody's going to give you a job now just for you to get "hours" up. I've been in the game a little while now and in the last thirty years I know of only three who have got out and gone on to airlines.

[FRQ Charlie Bravo]

No disrespect to the Ag game; this guy started drawing parallels with Ag so I kept up that line. Of course, $15,000 for an Ag rating, the long hours and the need for some hours sorts the croppies from the wannabes.

Most Ag guys are Ag (or at least GA) for life and I've seen the kind of hours and money an Ag operation can make in a day.

Apples and Orange,

FRQ CB

[John Citizen]

Out of the blokes I studied with, the ones who were the biggest plonkers got all the good first jobs in GA

Does that still stand in the RPT world?



Yes, unfortunately yes.

I see saw some of the biggest p!ssheads get ahead in GA because of being a being a p!isshead, and now the exact same is happening in the airlines !! :confused:

You can sit and home and study your books every night, you will never get ahead. Drink p1ss every night with the right people and you will go very far indeed.

It's all do with networking. Drink p1ss, get known, be likable, don't be a d!ckhead, and you will be recommended. Unfortunatelty (if you are not a p!sshead) that's how the system works and you just have go along with it.

Although I can understand why it works this way. I have heard many times that the wrong pilot has been hired from a resume and a simple interview and they turned out to be a real d1ckhead.

However, not many people will recommened a d!ckhead and so this system/filter mechanism works better sometimes.

I remember back in GA, when looking for a pilot, the first thing the chief pilot would do would be to ask the pilots if they know anybody or ask them if they know of a particular person who perhaps he is considering to hire.

If the pilots in the company knew you and recommended you (because you were a great person / great person to drink beer with), then you most likely got the job.

It is not a perfect system, and quite a few of these p!ssheads have not been the ideal pilot to employ (sometimes because of their alcohol habits) but that's the system they seem to use these days.

I don't exactly agree with it that's how it is.

If I only I knew this 15 years ago.