Everythingwemake
thank you for the excellent post. Yes, china is becoming more and more risky for the foreign pilot. Id like to reinforce your points below with my own observations..
Punishment Culture:
I have heard of numerous punishments lately:
$3000 for late gear up selection at BCA (Capital airlines)
$3000 for selecting flap above 20000ft (BCA)
$12,000 loss of safety bonus at Spring Airlines for FO performing 2g landing
$3000 for activating 'SPEED SPEED' warning
Grounding of expat capt for over 3months with loss of pay for lost coms incident of around 10mins duration (BCA)
The list goes on and on, BCA seem to be just as bad as Spring airlines for dishing out punishments. This type of management style seems alien to foreigners but its embedded in chinese corporate culture. All chinese companies issue fines and punishments to their employees. The chinese are only motivated by the stick, not the carrot. This will never change.
Now airlines are bringing in Fines for things that were previously let go. Eg. Being late, Not doing online flight prep by cut off time. Excuses are not tolerated in China.
Chinese airlines are not interested in mitigating circumstances for any errors by the foreign pilot. They often schedule duty with complete beginner FO's with marginal english. When a mistake is made then by the 'crew', its always the captains fault in spite of the extra workload and zero backup.
Only the really brave allow chinese FO to land the aircraft…..enough said.
ATC:
Chinese ATC act more like police than anything and are without doubt the most badly trained, rude, aggressive and unprofessional ATC I have encountered in 20yrs flying.
If you dare to refuse an instruction they will go after you personally, either by reporting you to your airline or to CAAC. They will bark orders and expect instant compliance, and the instructions have to be heard to be believed; descend to a level below me, while I'm still in the climb : descend 1000ft at 3000FPM : always expedite,expedite,expedite!!!
Forget about ATC assistance in times of bad weather, forget about pulling the tapes if there is an altitude bust or similar and you are sure of your position. You are foreigner, YOU will be blamed, YOU can be got rid of easily to save a chinese ATC's guys ass. Count on it…
CAAC:
They are now increasingly micromanaging all airlines operations. They are carrying out spot checks on aircraft at numerous airfields all over china. I have experienced several of these inspections and they are not pleasant. They are definitely there to catch something and make you pay. Make sure your ass is covered in the tech-log with any defects, make sure you carry what you are supposed to carry e.g..second pair of glasses. You will be fined if anything out of place. Be aware that they will often sit back and watch out of sight, then spring on to your aircraft suddenly if they think they see something. You are hereby warned….
Medical issues:
We all know the ridiculous standards for the annual medical so I won't repeat that but be aware of the new tests we must go through to continue working here. Now they introduce MRI scan (very unpleasant ) heart echocardiogram, and carotid artery echocardiogram. If there is the SLIGHTEST thing wrong with you they WILL find it here in china. Do not consider coming here if you have ever had any medical issue however slight. Those of us here know only too well that despite what your contract says this job is a 6 month contract based on the high likelihood of being grounded due to some medical issue. I have seen many cases of groundings with loss of pay and expenses incurred, only to have the issue cleared up later by real doctors in a real hospital as being misdiagnosed by CAAC "doctors".
Also, from speaking to colleagues in China, I note some airlines now introduce MANDATORY breathalyzing for alcohol before every duty, irrespective of reporting time. If you fail this test you will be banned for life from flying in China as recently happened to a HAINAN airlines captain. Im sure arguments about the calibration ,maintenance and testing of such machines will fall on deaf ears.
Also, some airlines introduce blood pressure monitoring before each flight. Expect to be grounded if you pop this one too.
Conclusion:
Flying (and living) in China means taking on an extremely high level of risk. There is a feeling here that somebody is always out to get the foreigner….the company, ATC, medical or CAAC. I think eventually EVERYBODY working here will at some stage fall foul of some rule or regulation, be diagnosed with something terrible or just get tired of the huge amount of bull**** that can be encountered in everyday life.
Is the money currently being offered enough to compensate for this risk?
NO! absolutely not…..
Those of you looking at a job in China, I honestly say to you, the money looks good, but you will pay for every extra penny in compromises you will have to make in both your personal and professional life. If you can keep your nose clean here, you might spend a few years, save some money and get out with your sanity intact. However the odds of that are decreasing every year as they increase the rules, pitfalls and traps.
Good luck to all!