ELAC
quick question for you... if indeed we are not the signing authority what column do we put the time flown then as a expat captain.... when under the controls of the aircraft and in the left seat - whether it be for the cruise portion or the t/o and landing portion...
no sarcasm intended its a real question.
WJP
No problems.
Things get a bit more complicated once you start working expat contracts as the rules tend to change from one locale to the next.
The way that it's been approached by most of the expats I know is as follows:
Unlike in Canada, when you show up for work in China (or Korea, India, Middle East or wherever) the company is going to hand you a company logbook. Record your hours there in whatever manner the company and the local regulator approve. If they say you can log PIC time when you are not the PIC, then so be it, the hours are entered according to their rules.
Your personal logbook is a different matter. Most expats will, over time, acquire any number of different licences (and company logbooks) and the rules for logging hours may be different in different places. You will, however, generally use only one "base" licence as the credentials you present when going from one carrier to the next. If your next stop turn out to be in the Middle East, for example, the licence you will present and that will matter to them will be your Canadian one, not the Chinese one (which you will not be allowed to retain, btw). So, what goes into your personal logbook should be consistent with the rules for logging hours that apply to the "base" licence that you will be presenting to get future jobs. If there's then an issue relating to what your exact duties were you can provide the company logbook to support that although not the PIC you were a qualified captain and employed in that capacity.
When I worked in Canada 15 years ago the requirements for augmented crew operations were that all crew members were to log all of the flight time and that only the designated PIC could log the flight time as pilot in command. The remainder of the crew, regardless of whether they held a position of captain or first officer recorded their flight time as 2nd Pilot. Times may have changed in Canada since then, but my betting is not.
The usual work around for flights crewed with more than one captain was to have one designated as the PIC for the outbound flight and the other designated as the PIC for the return. This is the practice that I've seen put in place in every other locale aside from China. Here, the practice at my carrier has been that the qualified expat captain is always the PIC on international flights except when the other captain holds a training/checking authority. Mostly this isn't an issue as the Chinese captains we're paired with usually hold a more junior grade, so it's no different than when the training captain is PIC instead of the expat line captain.
Ultimately, though, the question people interested in CSA as destination need to answer is not how they are going to put their hours into their logbook. The important question is what job are you being hired to do, and is it position that you will be satisfied to accept? As per another poster, the understanding of what the job is boils down to:
1.- CSA does not hire PIC's. They hire CAPTAINS. Captains are ATPL holders rated on the aircraft who can fly on the left seat iaw company procedures.
....
4.- All CSA long-haul flights on the B787 and B777 are double crewed and therefore all expat CPT's will always be paired up with an unrestricted CPT (presumably a Chinese guy with whiter hair than you) who will be the designated PIC for the flight, weather he is flying, sleeping or taking a dump.
....
6.- Even when not operating (flying) the leg, the unrestricted CPT acting as PIC will still be responsible for all decisions regarding the flight and not the expat CPT. This includes signing the techlogs and related legal paperwork for dispatch.
If those terms are acceptable then one should go for the job and enjoy. If not, then don't go and start looking elsewhere. There are plenty of carriers out there that hire expat captains for the purpose being pilots in command. In fact, until recently, there was never any doubt about that being the expectation of the job.
Cheers,
ELAC