PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - TR and 500hours, still looking for a job???
Old 9th May 2013, 08:19
  #43 (permalink)  
truckflyer
 
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Well good luck with whatever that will be!
However few things to consider, I had a friend who went with EJ / Lion - and his initial reports was not the best, still he did get the job with them as promised. However last 12 months, I have not heard anything from, despite several e-mails etc., from this I can probably draw few conclusions!

His time with them was a nightmare, but yes he was getting paid, and getting hours after his initial 500 hours!
Still, to get those hours, it will always take more time than expected. With my current company it has take me 7 months, and I am just coming up to 500 hours now. And my company flies relatively hard, and they let us be more than flap-operators!
Which is the norm over in Asia, a friend who flew for Sebu I think, was told on 90% of his flights, this is a captains flight! (Landings and Take-Off)
Fact was that the FO, with little experience had more knowledge about the aircraft than the local captain with thousands of hours of experience! Few captains even admitted this themselves!

So go to these P2F, and consider what you are actually getting!
500 hours on type, and less than 1000 - 1500 hours TT, will still not get you a job, neither in Europe or Asia!

Now some Asian countries are looking for captains, here is catch 22, stay with a company until you get command, and PIC, with this you will nearly be unemployable with any European / UK airline, as nearly none of them takes DEC!
So unless you plan to live for the rest of your life in Asia or as a travelling one-man band, you need to set your goals and plans for your career early! Get in with a company that will make you happy to work for, that will give you the things you want in life, and you need to go there as an FO, if not, well it gets harder, even if you have all the experience in the world.

We all have various goals what we want in life, I might have complained and bitched about UK for many years, but after being so "lucky" to live in other less privileged countries for some time, I would give an arm and a leg, to be able to get a job with a UK company today!

So back to your original question, 500 hours on type is just a goalpost, than most have either 1000 - 1500 hours TT - so in my opinion you will be stuck between somewhere in between a cadet and low experienced pilot, and your odds of getting a job will not improve enough to justify the cost of the TR and Line training. At least minimum before you do it, was that you have at least 500 - 1000 hours flying in advance, so at least tick those boxes for most applications!
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