Korean (KAL) is screwing over ex-pats..
I just got this after looking closely into a KAL position for myself. This doesn't bode well for ex-pats looking for work in Korea.
This is long so I will post in two or three parts..
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This report is 8 pages long. It is submitted to inform you of the
corruption involving B-777 `training' by Korean Air and/or a CASA
government official. Please advise all B-777 pilot applicants to
Korean Air that they have a very poor chance of passing a Korean Air
check ride causing a blemish on their professional record.
Korean Air B-777 Dec 3, 2007 training class.
As of April, 2008 the final pass/fail results for our class is:
There is only one pilot that passed his CASA check ride. Only one
pilot remains employed out of six (6) that started in the Dec 3, 2007
B-777 class at Korean Air! Two members of our class had thousands of
previous hours flying the B-777 (they were NOT newly rated) and the
rest of us were highly qualified, but newly rated B-777 Captains.
Every one of us passed ALL of our other Korean Air check rides and
oral examinations and recommendation ride. We passed everything
except for the final CASA check ride. Neither of the previously rated
B-777 pilots passed their check ride. The only one that passed was
newly rated and had been a B-737 Captain. (More background
information regarding my qualifications and flying experience is
outlined below.) The statistics presented in this report should be
very revealing, especially if you consider the fact that most of the
class previous to ours didn't succeed in making it through their check
rides either. I understand that the same CASA inspector conducted
their check rides as well. And the class before that - most of their
pilots failed. For the last three classes in a row, CASA and/or
Korean Air failed all of the pilots except for one or two. Korean Air
refused to give me any details on the exact failure rate and told my
class that those pilots had failed because they lied on their resumes.
That is not consistent with the story that I heard from a very
reliable source or the way myself and others in my class have been
treated. Statistically, anyone should be able to see that something
is very wrong with this process! It is devastating to the pilots that
have invested so much of their time, money and professional reputation
to pursue a job at Korean Air. My intent in this report is to inform
new applicants of the situation at Korean Air before you throw away
your time and money. I also must set the record straight to protect
my professional reputation. I am telling you this so you can hear it
from me personally instead of the "spin" that will surely be put on
the real truth by CASA and Korean Air management. I have no doubt
that they will simply say `[we] were not qualified' and/or did not
live up to Korean Air Standards or didn't follow the POM/FOM. It is
not true! Do not believe it. Here is why:
My credentials: I passed the Korean Air Law Test, the Korean Air Oral
Exam, the Korean Air simulator check ride, the Korean Air ETOPS check
ride, the recommendation ride and the CASA oral exam. I have never
failed a check ride in 34 years of flying. I starting flying Gliders
in 1974 and was flying C-130's in the U.S. Air Force by 1976. I have
flown for 34 years without accidents, incidents or any violations. I
have received awards for flight safety including the Delta Air Lines
2005 Safety Award. I have been an instructor with thousands of hours
of instructor time and I have been a Line Check Pilot. I have more
than 15,000 hours of total flying experience. I have FAA ratings on
the B-777; B-767; B-757; MD88; and L-382 (C-130). I am a graduate of
one of the hardest academic schools in the world, the United States
Air Force Academy. I was employed at Delta Air Lines, Inc. for over
21 years and have flown as Captain for 16 years (including Air Force).
New Hire Status: When Korean Air offered me a conditional job based
upon obtaining the B-777 rating at my own expense, I paid for and
received the B-777 rating from Boeing / Alteon in Seattle , Washington
, USA . I passed all oral examinations and rating rides in the
simulator at Boeing/Alteon in Seattle , Washington . Although it was
a new type rating, I was highly qualified and have been a Captain on
the B-767/ 757 for eight years and have over 7,000 hours of PIC time
at Delta (much more if you include Air Force time). I started ground
school class with Korean Air in Seoul , Korea on December 3, 2007 and
started my Operational Experience (OE) training on February 11th 2008.
"No Notes" and Negative Training: As of March 25, 2008 I have flown 8
trips (16 sectors/legs) with 5 instructors. I have had so many
instructors because I requested an instructor change after the first
four legs and apparently they could not regain continuity in
scheduling with any other instructor. It was necessary for me to
request a replacement of the first instructor and here is why: He
spoke very poor English at best. I just couldn't understand him. It
could have been his frustration in his inability to speak English that
caused him to communicate with me by actually yelling at me, insulting
me and belittling me. He chastised and berated me for not knowing
all HIS flight techniques that are being taught as procedures. I only
understood a small percentage of what he said although his favorite
line was "Do you understand!!?" in a booming voice. No, I didn't
understand. However, I did understand him when he said he couldn't
believe that I had been a Captain for a major airline. Others in my
class complained repeatedly of similar disrespectful comments and
treatment. My final decision to change instructors was made when he
told me I could no longer refer to any of my written notes. He
threatened to have me fired if I referenced them again. He threatened
me with termination for doing what I have always done for 34 years!
Since I had just started my Operational Experience (OE) and since so
many others had been terminated, I had to consider his comment to be a
viable threat. He was a Korean Air Line Check Pilot (LCP). His
unreasonable requirement included my not being able to use the route
study notes that I had written down from the required viewing of the
audio visual route and airport videos (AV Packs). This was a double
standard because he constantly referred to his own notes for
frequencies, PA's etc., etc.. EVERYONE I have ever talked to and
flown with at Korean Air Lines has told me they used their notes to
learn from, fly with, and to survive the arduous memory requirements
of Korean Air training. I have used personal flight notes for 34
years starting in gliders with a knee board to write notes while
flying. The absurdity of his `no notes' concept is - if they wanted
us to memorize everything, then why do we even have electronic
checklists, POM, FOM and PA guides or even the `Airport Analysis
Charts' in the cockpit? Those first four legs (sectors) of my OE were
totally wasted in negative training. At its worst, it was pure
harassment. At its best, every ride was treated as a check ride. It
was constant ridicule with very little instruction. It certainly was
NOT western style training. I knew I would not survive the OE with
this instructor so my only choice was to request an instructor change.
It was a difficult decision to make because I had been told of the
potential dire consequences of requesting an instructor change (due to
the `losing face' issue). That difficult choice was only made after a
lot of consultation. I consulted with Foreign Captain "Advisor to
Line Operations", Al Makdisi. He told me not to use my notes. I also
consulted with Tom Divine, "Advisor Flight Standards and Training" and
many other line pilots.
Each new instructor taught me his own techniques and called them
Korean Air procedures. I complied and faithfully followed those
procedures and documented all the changes in a script that I sent via
email with multiple updates to many other pilots who were starting
training class at Korean Air Lines in order to assist them in getting
a head start before their OE. After studying for months, I knew the
content of the FOM/POM but was not aware of its interpretation or its
application until I was almost finished with my OE since each new
instructor `inspired' constant changes to the techniques and "the
script". Even on my check ride.
The final Check ride:
03/25/08: I received my CASA Check ride by CASA Captain Hwang Sa Sik
#01411234. He is a former senior Korean Air Captain.
Captain Choi Mu Yeol #9005765 was the LCP in the right seat acting as
First officer who was worried for his job. He did not support me
throughout the flight or in the debriefing because he would certainly
fail his next check ride if he spoke on my behalf. He therefore
remained silent while CASA Captain Hwang talked. He apologized to me
for not supporting me after CASA Hwang departed.
I contend that my check ride result was predetermined long before I
left the ground. It was a hoax and a farce. The results had nothing
to do with my performance. CASA Captain Hwang lied about the events.
He fabricated the reasons for failing me on my check ride which I
will discuss later in this report. As far as I am concerned I passed
in every department. I have never failed a check ride in my life and
this was no exception. I admit there were a few debriefing items
(because it is impossible to do all Korean techniques), but absolutely
nothing was unsafe and my landings we picture perfect smooth landings
with cross winds. It is obvious that Captain Hwang, SA-SIK – a CASA
government official, is intentionally failing foreign B-777 pilots on
their check rides. He either has a personal agenda or is being
instructed to fail us by someone at Korean Air. I think he is failing
foreign pilots because he was a former Korean Air Captain himself. He
either has a `bone to pick' with Korean Air due to possible forced
early retirement or is helping his union pilot friends at Korean Air
by keeping the B-777's grounded without foreign captains to fly them.
Maybe he is just trying to ensure Korean Captains upgrade faster than
Foreign Captains. I don't know which answer is correct, but I would
bet my career on the fact that the failure rate of domestic Korean
Captains is nowhere close to the dismal failure rate of foreign
Captains. I think Captain Hwang is intentionally countering the
Korean Air's President Jong-Hee Lee's push to hire more foreign
Captains. His dishonorable actions are both personal and political
and foreign Captains are being caught in the middle as victims who
spent precious time and money pursuing an unachievable dream with
potentially dire consequences to their professional reputation. The
check ride was a hoax and a farce. Korean Air is lending credibility
to this farce by terminating the employment of the foreign Captains
after not passing the CASA check ride. This treatment of Foreign
Captains does not appear to be happening as often on any other fleet.
Everyone else (in my class) on all EXCEPT the B-777 has passed their
check ride – (They probably had other CASA officials as the check
pilot). Don't let Korean Air tell you it was the qualifications of
our B-777 class. All except one in our class were OVER QUALIFIED and
at least as qualified as other foreign Captains on the other fleets
who passed their check rides.
Additional details of the check ride:
Prior to the check ride I had not been given any time for route study
since my oral was less than 24 hours prior to flight. After passing
my oral with a high score, CASA Capt Hwang requested my log book. He
expressed that he wanted to confirm my hours. I told him I did not
have my pilot log book in Korea (except for the Korean Air log book I
had started) and offered to give him a letter the following day from
Delta Air Lines, my former employer, which gave a break down of my
flight time.
On the morning of my check ride I showed up 3 hours prior to push back
time for route study. Captain Choi, the LCP, showed up VERY late and
did not even know a check ride had been scheduled. I was frantic and
only had 15 minutes to brief him before going to the aircraft for the
`Joint Briefing'.
CASA Capt Hwang met us at the aircraft and requested my OE training
record upon arrival. I also presented him with the copy of the letter
from Delta Air Lines. (Early into the flight to Hong Kong , he
actually took my OE training record from me and then proceeded to
reference the FOM as he started writing. Apparently he needed help
from the FOM and my OE training record in developing his reasons for
failing me. It was too early in the check ride to start writing
because at that point, nothing had happened.) It would be impossible
for anyone to maintain an objective and neutral opinion after reading
anyone's OE training record. He is human and would become biased to
look for past weaknesses - even if he saw you do everything right on
your check ride. This biased process would never be allowed in most
ICAO nations.