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Old 24th Dec 2013, 13:53
  #53 (permalink)  
pfvspnf
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: lagos
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Don't do it!

I appreciate your honesty, however I do feel that you are embarking on a pointless exercise trying to gain line experience. I salute your successes in business and am warning you now that dealing with these agents will result in a colossal waste of time and money!

Let me start off by saying, I get it. We've all been there, these modern day machines are a beast to operate! I might suggest you look into becoming a partner of a Pilatus or a Lear? If you have time on your hands , possibly try setting up your own Part 135 in the US? These are far better alternatives than you paying a middle man to sit in the right hand seat of a Boeing, at least there is potential monetary return!

Please understand that there are pilots who have worked tenaciously to finally get to where they want to be, every single opening is being fought for by thousands of qualified applicants. These programs serve no benefit to anybody,its mostly the agents and the airline bosses that keep the funds for themselves, operating costs are never reduced and the agent will NOT help you should the airline change its mind.

Your age will become a factor, especially in Asia, company medicals are usually much more stringent than Civil Aviation medicals, if you do ever fail a medical there will be no refund and you will be grounded immediately.

Stalling Tactics:

The agent will force you to do the type rating with them telling you its their policy to secure line training slots only for their type rated students . They will tell you this is because of their high standards. In reality this is a lie, who do they think they are? The training they provide is usually mediocre! If you have the money, go to the manufacturer or Flight Safety and do your type from there!

The agent will tell you that slots are full at the moment and you will be on priority wait list when more slots open up. This is a lie , they have limited contacts and will go beg the airline to try and squeeze you in.

The agent will tell you you need to attend their own groundschool , this again is a stalling tactic while they harass the airline to start training.

The agent will tell you your visa or security clearance is taking time! guess what? time waster again

When you ask for a refund, they usually are friendly, you will get the usual excuses - money is stuck, accountant is on holiday, blame the iranians, no time to talk right now...


Please please please be careful look at the track record, look at how many people are being walked over. If you want to fly high performance , start with smaller turbines and find other ways to get access to light jets, it shouldn't be difficult especially in the United States. Life on the line is not all glamorous as it sounds, you will be doing sector after sector with very little rest, if the agent does pull through and get you into a scheme you will have very few PF sectors, airlines are reluctant to release low timers and may ask you to do additional simulator sessions. Many airlines make it a point to tell you that you are not welcome, this pay to fly phenomenon has been a CRM disaster!

Skies and Eagle are terrible people to deal with! PM me and I can try and give you some leads into partnerships.
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