For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of living in HK and working for Dragonair, let me explain ...
If, like me, you have a family of young children, it doesn't matter how much you are paid, or how quick the commands are, or how good the blokes you fly with are - you still lie awake at night wondering just how much damage you are doing to the health of the people you care most about in the world. It's like a background noise, and after a few years it really starts to gnaw away at you - am I taking the filthy lucre at the expense of my children's futures??
It's that sort of background pressure that led me to send my family back to Oz, and the reason I am looking for a job elsewhere - and before the cynics try to wind me up, I've had a good run professionally at KA, but it doesn't (and nor should it) compensate for the dramatic cost to my lifestyle.
And it's not just pilots - check out today's SCMP: Edo De Waart, HK Symphony's leading conductor has relocated his family to the US out of concerns for his children's health. It really is an environmental disaster.
So, when you add on the most disgraceful management I've ever had to work with (4 airlines), zero control over my roster (that's a whole new thread!), and CX hanging over our heads, if I was looking for work as a pilot I'd be bypassing KA if I wanted any semblance of a lifestyle, especially if I had a family.
Sorry to spoil the party.
