Spartacan
I no longer work for Eastern but might be able to shed a little light of the facts.
Roster Patterns
There was no such thing when I was there but it can vary from base to base depending on how much weekend flying is done at that base. Most days off will fall around the weekend since this is when a lot of the fleet is sitting around doing nothing.
Annual Hours
I have heard of some skippers touching 900hrs which used to be unheard of, however the hours flown will probably vary from base to base. If you are planning on a left seat position then expect to be worked reasonably hard.
Bonding and the Standard of Training
The bonding system has changed since I was there so I would not be the best person to advise you on the latest details regarding this.
Training was very good but I can only comment on the J41 since that is what I flew. I was trained by BACX but now all the training is done in house but by all accounts the standards have been kept at a high standard. TRI/Es are a very good bunch and very practical with their approach to the job. Line trainers when I was there did a good job to keep standardisation reasonably good on the line. I could not fault my type course nor recurrent checks/training.