The negatives in KAL had been done to death on Pprune over the last decade. Pilots are still lured there simply due to word of mouth by some die hard expats who seem to enjoy life there. Well for a number of these guys from first world nations, KAL was the best thing that could happen to them; they would have not made it up the big leagues elsewhere especially in their home countries. The rest are from the third world countries and the money at KAL is way above what they can dream for in their national airlines.
For those who made it through the initial pre-employment checks, and OE training and checks, there would be a honeymoon period enjoying some of the travel benefits and freebies like free meals( yucky stuff though ). After some years, you would then realise you had aged tremendously, your relationship with your family became sour and distant, your health suffered and you had become a robotic creature with all your finesse gone all due to their ridiculous operational procedures.
The years of having to explain everything 3 or 4 times just to get a simple message across ( and yet wondering in utter unease as to whether your crew really understood what you meant ), having to fly almost solo because the
inept f/os stuffed up all the R/T communication and were totally lost, situation awareness wise, enduring the most silent of cockpits in long cruise, would eventually take their toll. Worst of all wondering if you would come out alive or dead whenever you were the augment/relief crew or deadheading ( no pun intended ) when the locals or some foreign riff raffs were flying when you had good reasons to worry that they were going to stuff up.
There were so many incidences which could have made the front page headlines but didn't, by the grace of God. You would certainly wake up one day and wondered why you ever came on this ride!
Last edited by Chuck Canuck; 3rd Aug 2012 at 22:02.