Just another student

I hope I am in the correct forum.

I have an interview with the said company as a direct entry FO on the 737.

Does anybody have any information regarding this carrier, salary, terms and conditions etc ? I have looked at PPJN and it does not look too pretty, but I guess the same could be said of many airlines.

Thanks

JAS

Just another student

Winglet80, thanks for the response you have gone a long way to easing my mind. I'm sure that the company is only going to improve and expand in the future.

To be honest, this is my first interview for a pilot position and I am some what nervous and not sure what to expect, but looking forward to it at the same time. I'm studying hard going through the 737 systems and limitations etc is this the best plan?

The way I see it is that it would be a great first job and a fantastic place to gain valuable experience.

Can you spare any further information about the airline that might be useful before the interview?

Money is not too much of an issue, I am not flying to become rich, but what is the roster like?

Cheers

JAS

Just another student

Do not worry, I have been working on those tests for some time now, that is just what I wanted to hear
How about the ops and general aviation tests? I have been looking into principals of flight etc for this.

Slightly concerned about the technical interview, should be fun.

Are there many pilots from the U.K. with Air Baltic?
Thanks
JAS

Jimmy The Big Greek

Has anyone got a job at airbaltic without a typerating?

-Freddie-

People get hired for the Fokker-50 without a typerating but I´m pretty sure you need a rating to get on the 737. I just got hired on the F-50 with no rating. I think it looks like a great place to work but then again I´m not all that picky, just happy to get in the air again.

Jimmy The Big Greek

ok, thanks for the info. I have applied to them but no answer yet. Do you know when they are going to hire again?

I failed the interview at westair sweden so I am desperate for a job. I hope I will get an interview at airbaltic.

I have heard that Riga is not so cheap anymore. Can you afford a good living standard with you salary?


Tack igen för informationen.

degothia

Its good to see you here mr Winglet, but enough about rosters and payment. Hows the clubbing!
J. says hello
D.

Blackcoffeenosugar

I've desided not to sound like a "spoiled" scandinavian, so I will spear you the stories on quality of life. Latvia has the highest number of alcoholics per capita an for several good reasons. I'll leave it at that.
The company has been to court three times agains pilots and lost every time. Several pilots have left the company with no job to go to. IF you want to relocate to Latvia, why not go for Latcharter. They are getting 2 new A320's this spring.

Airbaltic were telling us about this fantasic new roostering system they had bought in early 2005. Guess they haven't gotten it yet!?
What you will want to now in advance is that roostering is a problem. They will put 19 pilots on standby to cover one flight rather than give days off, so that you use your holidays when ever you want to have days off. (December 25,27 and 29 2005 to name a few dates)
They will deduct things from your salary without asking. If you get sick- your problem. One of the expats got hit by a car and did not get any pay for two months!
They will only pay you great circle distance X TAS from A to B. No other pay! 2600 after tax!? Yeah.. at year 2 on the 737 after working 90 block hours a month!
I am now working in the real world and am getting paid 3 times what I got at BT. Having lots of time off and a life!

What ever you deside, I wish you the best of luck!
Ps.. you might want to read up on your russian if you want to know what is going on when you fly in bt.

flying eagle

I will like to give my comment to this as well!
I am working for airBaltic and have worked there for a year on the boeing.
airBaltic is a nice place to start your carreer and get some experience outside "the real world".
I have been very happy for getting the opportunity to really start my pilotcarreer here.
sallary is as already said 2100-3200 euroes per month after tax. at least on 737.
The salary has not been increased! but the company is looking into new contracts at the moment (maybe they have realized that the contracts we have now are not legal ). But it will probably take forever before anything happens. Most pilots are paid by a formula which includes greatcircle dist.
There are also many things which are not very good in AB. That is the reason why I think that pilots within the company should try to make things better. Because if we do not do it then nobody will. It is for sure that the company wount. Therefore I see no problem in pilots complaining about things as long as there are reasons for it. which I think there are very often!
I see nothing wrong in discusing things with the other pilots at "the irish pup" if you have been flying with a captain who should never had been a pilot and neverever a captain!
It is always very difficult to get the first job as a pilot. But when you have it and doors are opening then you should start expecting things from your company. Otherwise they will try to use you as much as possible and that goes endeed for AB. I have tried it many times so far
PS: could you please explain what you mean about "spoiled" FOs winglet80?
I really cant see it. If you are leaving your home country incl. family and work for a salary which you could have in your own country having some other job. then having a captain calling you an idiot because he does not know how to fly a full procedure approach and a company which basicly look the other way. I really cant see we are spoiled

I do not want to go into to many details on a public forum but people are of course welcome to send a PM.

Just my opinion


reagards

Blackcoffeenosugar

Winglet, I think you have found your ideal location. You seem to already have succumbed to the indoctrination into Eastern mentality. Watch out!
To give those of you who do not know this mentality an idea; In October 1941 Lavrentij Pavlovith Beria , NKVD chief, and member of the defence committee of the Soviet Union, received a report from one of the few remaining pilots of the Soviet Air force that a 20km long German panzer column was approaching Moscow, and had come to a halt only 170km from the city centre. Beria could not believe this, so he ordered another pilot to fly out and have another look. This pilot came back with the same report. Beria could still not believe it, and this time he ordered a pilot that had receive “extensive” recognisance training to take a look, and again the initial report was confirmed. – And here is where the eastern mentality kicked in – Beria then went to the next logical step, namely to arrest and execute the Air force squadron commander for inspiring panic!??
Later (in 1945) Beria was promoted to field marshal of the Soviet Union.
One of the post holders and captains in bt, will tell you that Latvia was never occupied by the soviet union. It was in cooperation with Russia. This is the same guy that, after a report on a Captain that did not advance the power levers to T/O power until the aircraft had passed the last of the high speed exits, resulting in rotation within the last hundred meters of the RWY! – Sent an email to all of the local captains to see if they could muster up any irregularities on the F/O that wrote the report. As he did not receive any negative feedback he wrote a reply to the report stating that the F/O did not understand the subordination principles of the aviation industry, and such actions as taken by the captain where “captains discretion”
I have countless stories, but what I am wanting to say is that there are so many jobs out there now, and I personally know that there are many pilots in bt that are more than qualified for them. (Subject to them not having lowered their personal standards)
There is no reason to start your career flying with captains that should not even have a license!
I know that were you come from Winglet, companies ARE taking in guys with no experience and paying for their T/P ratings – be it on F50 or ATPs. Five guys are starting on the F50 in a week from now. The salary is double of what I made in bt, and the captains teach you something worth knowing! They know procedures and laws and more importantly they follow them! Technical problems are addressed, not ridiculed. And the company would not repeat mantras like “no room for individuals, we are working for the BIG picture” and “ aviation is a risky business!”
If you have to wait at the airport for more than 4 hours they will give you a hotel room, not make you spend the night in the aircraft like bt does in St. Petersburg.
As far as what you said about the bond – bonds are illegal, so is the contract bt issues. It does not follow EU law, nor does it fit Latvian labour law (see http://www.vdi.lv/admin/files/LabourLaw.pdf and please pay attention to Chapter 12 section 45 and Chapter 17 section 62)
But for the 15000 Euros they charge you, you could get an A320 rating on a JAA license.
The one bt gives you is limited to bt ONLY until you have 500 hours on type and have completed a new skill test with a JAA examiner.

With regards to you comments on making changes, YOU cannot make any changes. The pilot union could… but as you may know, they do nothing (and some say that is what they are paid for) Bt will give you illusions of great things to come! And you may choose to run after this “luft schloss” but you could, and I urge you to consider, leaving and applying for other jobs. It would be what is known as voting with your feet. I did, and it took me three months to get rid of the bad habits I picked up at bt, and the Russian accent to my English -you know what I mean Jaa? It is normal, donnnt wooory!

In my new job I make 4740 Euros after tax and work 16-17 days a month.
Good luck to all of you! There are no offences intended by this post, I hope none were taken.
Happy landing – you never know when you need it

Just another student

Its simple for me, I'm in a situation where I can not be picky and choose where I want to fly. I have to work in order to enjoy this privilege later on in my career.

Air baltic may not be the greatest company on earth, but wherever I have worked in the aviation industry (including one of the best airlines in the U.K.) pilots are not happy and have something to complain about.... its human nature to do so.

Now I may not get the chance to work for AB, they may not even invite me to the sim stage, but if I were to be offered a contract on the 737, I would bite their hands off.

I'm sure AB will be a very good place for me to fly for the first time and build experience so I can then move on to bigger and better things.

The rosters may be dodgy (they seem to be at most airlines), the pay may not be great and some of the Captains MAY be a little sharp as described above? But it is money and experience in the bank and also heaps of good time in the log book.

Winglet, can you give me any advice regarding living, accommodation, cars etc ?

ILSTOMIN

Urgent!
anyone have any useful tips what to expect on interview with airbaltic?
Any tips would be greatly apprichiated!

klavsstig

ILSTOMIN
I see that you are norwegian, if you can read danish try this:
http://www.pilots.dk/forum/topic.asp...rms=air,baltic
I´ve got an interview as well. Does anybody know what the technical interview with instructors is about. I haven´t seen being discussed anywhere ?
Thanks

Blackcoffeenosugar

There is a book called "how to ace the technical interview", it has helped me out alot. There is also a new version of the "from power on to power off" at SAS flight Academy that is REALLY good.
When I did my tests with them I didn't do a single one of their math questions (could not be bothered, just "clicked" through them)- and they told me later that my test results (total score) were amongst the best they had had!? Well if you choose to do the q's the program that they use for testing has windows 95 or 98 running in the back ground. Pushing ALT + TAB will let you open a window that has Accessories, there you can use the calculator

For the tech questions try http://www.smartcockpit.com

Winglet80 - You crack me up! PM me if you want any tips on other good jobs
Obviously things are looking better then when I was there. I had a russian guy in a leather jacket come around and collect the rent in cash (euros) every month.
Make sure you get good insurance! The hospitals are freakishly bad! We had a german guy fall out of a 737 (don't ask me how) and the doc's did not even examin him. They just gave him a hand full of pills and told him to go back to work. He went back to germany and they put his arm in a cast and the guy could hardly walk! (nothing to do with the cast)

The insurance bt gives you only covers around 1000 USD a year! But that will get you quite far in a Latvian hospital.

Good luck guys!
Ps. winglet-yes I would have gotten the other job without bt. It is not considered a good thing to have a lot of time in bt on your CV.

Just another student

Sim stage here I come

Getting nervous already

Winglet80 please check your pm's.

ILSTOMIN

First of all thanks to great advises here on pprune.
I passed "phase 1" interview with Airbaltic, my simulator session is coming up soon, and I would really apprichiate help/knowledge what to expect, what kinda sid/star/appr. we are going to do... Or any other things that might help a nervous pilot out...

Thanks !!!

Just another student

Well done on getting through

I'm having my sim check on Thursday so I am in the same situation.

Basically it is a Cessna based IFR sim and they are going to check our basic flying. Not sure what to expect, working using RANT at the minute Expect some maths questions etc to be asked of us during the session.

I would have preferd a 737 check over this Cessna set up, I would know what to prepare for then

flying eagle

I never did the sim myself but I know the 3 FOs who normaly do all the testing.
As mentioned they are checking your basic flyingskills so no previous preparation is required.
I think you will have a SID and then some airwork(turns etc.)
Intercept of radials, QDM/R. some questions during the flight and then an ILS.
I am not sure if they will give you an enginefailure. They might just kill one of the engines to see if you can do the approach SE.

So keep your focus on flying the a/c and then take it easy with questions etc.

good luck.........and remember it is fun to fly

Jimmy The Big Greek

Does anyone have the phone number to Airbaltics human resources department.

flying eagle

Try this:

Guna Kalnina, recruitment coordinator, tel.: +371 7207116