China Eastern
Hey Guys,
The license is indeed based on the FAA, JAA ATPL syllabus. We were given about 10,000 questions to study as well as an FAA ATP guide. I locked myself in a hotel for 10 days and got through just fine, but there are several who failed. Its a 2 strikes an your out policy with CE so you would get a second chance.
Any of the expats would have all the info and study material you would need to pass.
Its true to say that some of the question have very strange wording as they were at one time or another literaly translated from chinese. It is also worth mentioning that 15-20 questions are only chinese regulations thats a guarenteed. There are 100 question in total.
Its true about the Paris base. Approx. 20 ex Austrian captains have been hired and are part timers based out of Paris, however non of them are online and flying as of yet. The whole process of changing your licence to a CAAC licence is a very long winded and time consuming process. It took us approx 8 months from start to getting on line.
Havn't heard anything about LAX base, but will be in the Office next week and will make some enquieries.
Its worth mentioning that out of 4000 pilots, currently 12 of us are non Chinese.
We are a very new concept to CE and its taking everyone a little while to get used to us and visa versa.
A couple of strange examples for you:
All flight crew have to complete a tech exam before each flight.
All Captains undergo a physical including blood pressure check before each flight.
Chinese pilots don't like to fly above FL200 because of radiation - all this whilst smoking a pack of 20 during the flight. The list is endless. It takes some getting used too.
As for the money, depends on several factors, but between US10K and 15K after tax (paid by company)plus housing(nice 2 bed appartment in great complex). US175 per hour after 80 hours.
I'm not sure who is the agent currently handling the China Eastern account. It was a company called Red Dot based out of Singapore, but they no longer have dealings with CE. Airbus also supply pilots directly to China Eastern.
Hope this helps. May see some of you at CE some day!
Last edited by Texasishy; 29th October 2007 at 15:03.