China, the zoo minus the joy of Pandas.
I was doing OK lately because they have only been assigning me the most SOP pilots.
Good for them. They know I fly standard. But let me tell you of my history. I am not the most standard guy on property. I would never and could never be a Line Check Airmen. I do not possess the intelligence or the insight to teach, judge, and command at the same time. So when I am the most standard guy on property, there is a huge problem.
Today I witnessed the Chief pilot try to coerce a pilot to fly against the MEL. This was the last straw. This is not a cheap 135 outfit. This is flying a jet engine with 100 passengers on your plane. I was trying to be culturally correct and try to explain gently for 30 minutes to the chief that flying against the MEL is no good. I talked to the other pilot and he told me the passenger were taking pictures of the plane with the oxygen masks that had deployed in first class. Yet the Chief Pilot says but no performance has been degraded so maybe it is OK.
A few days ago they tried to put a cabin attendant in the bathroom and for takeoff and landing because the cabin was full. Every once and a while will try to send you to a Chinese only speaking military airport with only Chinese charts you cannot read. Chinese Resource Management.
This is why I tell pilot its nice if you have 500 hours PIC on the EMB 190 and you come here good for you . They will most likely hire you but if you have not defined yourself as a captain or a pilot before you come here you will never fly anywhere outside of China afterwards if this is your primary training as a captain. You will be a ruined piece of tissue paper on the floor. No one will use you again.
If you are intimidated in an interview or by a chief pilot you don't have the backbone to work this contract. Daily you must defend the safety of flight and rules of the flight.
Don't get me wrong, there are some hot pilots here and within the Chinese system they can fly beautifully. But as an internationally standard pilot this place is a black hole. There are some military pilots here that I would hate to fly against hand flying because they would blow me away. But in an airline it is more than just hand skills.
China Airlines has just been blasted by the CAAC for irregularities. Irregularities that would shut a normal International airline. Air China is China's flag carrier. Is it normal that you must ask again and again for an English copy of the CCARs(FARs). There is yet to be produced to any Chinese airline a copy of the actual rules of flying in English.
The answer to this and many other airlines in China is...Well, this is China.
(yes we finally received the version 4 of the CCARS after almost a year of asking. Many things are the same but many things we are trying to track down what is different.
Last edited by pilotss2001; 15th Feb 2012 at 21:12.