Talking/Writing about the last 3 posts here.
What are you guys talking about? Of course SOP's have to be followed, a briefing should be given on EACH sector(how full it has to be is another cup of tea, we have guys in our company briefing for 30 mins and then I want to see what the other guy remembers if the sh** hits the fan).
Strict adherence to checklists should be normal like brushing your teeth in the morning and evening.
Normally you just find this type of people(have by themself this good attitude or being forced by company culture is a diiferent discussion) in any reasonable airline. Simply because the company does not want to see one of their more or less shiny planes sitting upside down at or around some airport making very negative publicity.
I do not think(believe) that someone WITHOUT that mindset even would make it past any serious airline interview(there are always this special companies that never have enough pilots even without expanding), especially EK or some of the other ME big players. I rememeber QR - you could be ****tiest pilot on earth(most likely still the case if you look into some incidents/accidents) BUT you had to know the SOP's and the OM-A even I waked up from your deepest dreams at night. Even with lousy flying skills you would get "Qatari Standard"(lol) at the end of your Sim Check(does this grade still exist?). That's another extreme that is not helping to ensure safety.
Previous aircraft type size for sure does NOT matter - got my first widebody command with QR a long long time ago, flying before just medium jets(but talking about 7000hrs + jet). And I never had problems handling that boring bus. It's like driving a train, have your plan set up about the next couple of steps in advance and it will never bite you. I actually had in an application with EK, but honestly, the lack of any medium jet in their fleet made me reconsider what I want to do with the rest of my flying life, so I withdrew. Apart of course from the fact that I really like to have my good nights sleep ^^.
Still prefer flying my medium size jets again, much more fun, more challenge. But that's a personal choice. Still remember my young days sitting as FO on a medium jet flying into often a bit tricky airports(e.g. Innsbruck, depending on the weather as well Salzburg - circling at minimum wx,...). With our long time captains on that fleet it was easy, no issue at all. Then you had this guys, FO longrange, promoted Captain short/mediumrange - sometimes a disaster. I actually had to do the calls because our tiny(in comparison) jet was just way to fast for this guy(s) - not talking about the airport that then finally gave them the rest(but not all of them, but a good share had problems). Just another proof for me that size absolutely does NOT matter(well ok, in one case it matters ;-) ).
Using SOP's, Checklists and proper (but not toooooo proper) briefings are not a choice. My opinion as well of course.
So, everyone with decent jet time and interested in big airliners and still being young and having no trouble with continuous nightflying should clearly give it a try. Would be a win win situation for company and pilot.
Last edited by tomuchwork; 11th Mar 2016 at 10:13.