Was just curious if there was any recent info about course dates if your successful etc, how many courses are they looking to run for the rest of this year and 2014?Courses are ongoing and projected to continue that way. They don't have enough pilots and there are still some leaving (Americans in the main) to go back to furloughed jobs. There has been no indication that they are going to reduce throughput. At the moment it's 4 per course and, willing to be corrected, I believe it's 4 courses per year. There's some jiggerypokery going on with Qantas sims and, perhaps in the future Asiana sims, but I don't really know how this is affecting the number of pilots going through.
Is it still the case with FOs that you will not have a chance of even assessment for command until the end of your first 5 year contract, don't get me wrong, this is still an exceptionally quick time to have a chance of being assessed for a wide body command but just curious all the same. I don't know where it's been written that there's no chance < 5 years but that's not the case. As it stands at the moment, AJX will begin your command assessment after about 3.5 years. You'll fly with Japanese management pilots and then they throw bones in the air to see who gets to go through. Nobody can fathom how else they do their assessments, so it's no good asking. Once they've decided you're on a command course you are then in the lap of the sim availability gods. There's a lot of training going on at the moment so the sims are full and, consequently, the command 'training' sims get backed up. This may be the reason for a suggestion that it can take up to 5 years to actually get in the left seat but I have no actual data to support this hypothesis. Having done the sim you then get to fly a bunch of trips with non-Japanese and Japanese trainers and, provided everything goes okay, you'll then fly a command check with a JCAB checker on the jumpseat. When the sims have been normally available it has meant guys have got their commands within 4 years of joining.
I did read an earlier post that some didn't get through because it literally was there first attempt at any sort of command, of course having command time previously is good but will it be held against you if you have not been a commander previously?For many it's not their first command but that's not true for everyone. Of the most recent upgrades most of them were first-timers. To the Japanese it's all about book study and if you can do loads of that and regurgitate irrelevant crap then you'll do well on your upgrade course. Being able to think laterally, use your initiative or employ snake-like cunning in influencing others does not play a part in the Japanese thinking. Just buy a mass of different coloured highlighters and you can get through with no previous command experience
Again with regards to earlier posts, people have states that they passed everything only to be told later on that they didn't score as high as other people that also passed so therefore were binned, if it is the case that the sim is 90% of the score, is it really down to nailing and doing the sim as perfect as you can? You won't know how well you've done and nobody gets any feedback. Clearly they're going to take the people they think are most suitable and you'll never know how they judge that. It is true they place significant emphasis on the simulator and it's not the Japanese way to 'wing' it, so it's very important that you study the simulator profile and do it exactly the way they want it flown. It doesn't matter if your airline does it a better way, just abide by their profile and strive for perfection. The Japanese love minutiae, so it doesn't matter if you're a born flyer and can make the machine sing if the next guy in line flies in a boring manner but does everything to the knot....he's the one who'll get the job. The interview is really quite a relaxed affair and is more of a chat about you and how you'll cope with a commuting contract and working in Japan. I can't advise on the technical test because it wasn't in place when I joined. Study the sim profile!!!