Hello everyone, I wanted to thank you all for those helpful comments.
It is incredible how our industry works. People from Europe with decent jobs go to the Middle East hoping to see tons of money (or just enough to pay their debts), others to have a life experience and in a way to fulfill their dreams of flying a nice airplane around the globe. Then they realize they want to spend more time with family so they move to another airline with a better roster, maybe in Asia, and then they realize they just don't want to be an expat anymore in an unfamiliar culture and go back a LCC in EU where it all started. People Flying 777 in their home country go to the Desert, others flying NG at home to beautiful beaches go to fly NG at night to dangerous places, then others go back to LCC living on a budget from a luxurious lifestyle. Is like nobody is happy anywhere!
Something is true, maybe everybody is having what they want in life at the moment they wanted and moving on. We can't just have everything at the same time right?
Leaving the chapter about life lessons behind, I would like to share some info about jobs out there that I got this past week. Just in case somebody missed any of it.
I meet with a friend flying at Copa Colombia, I was amazed to hear that they are also having a hard time, closing bases, returning airplanes, they spend max 22 days away from home with layovers everywhere just to fly under 50 hrs. a month. Low salary, long time before sitting in the left seat.
Also a Captain from Lan Cargo with at least 20 years flying 767s is afraid that he might lose his job. He told me that they are even thinking about closing LAN cargo
I don't know how bad is the company really, but is sad to see that not even at an airline like LAN a Cap with a good seniority, flight instructor etc. is safe. He did apply and got called at Qatar just in case, as an escape route.
A friend with just 3000 hrs. got called from Emirates, very interesting profile they are looking for. He got in flying MD80. Others at the interview process with him flying A380 did not make it.
More about the topic, I got in contact with some pilots at Turkish. I was surprised how nice and polite they all answer me back. They were very friendly and talked very good about the company. They say for wide body roster is 8 days is a row +1 day for travel. That the company have worked hard on CRM issues and is a lot better now. Single pilot’s ops is a thing from the past. Now there is a reporting system available for FOs who wishes to report Captains. There is an allowance during training about 2000 USD per month, and housing provided for the first 45 days (not sure yet about deductions for Non type rated, I will like to know about that) A320 drivers flies about 70 hrs. a month. 737s a little more, could be 80 hrs. About 8 days off a month but from 10 to 15 nights away, some are night’s turnarounds to Africa and others are layovers. This seems to be a lot more relaxed flying on the a320 fleet, with just 3 to 4 layovers and 10 days off. Salary is about 6000 $ after training.
Thanks again to all Turkish pilots for their kindest and good info.
Also, I had a chat with a nice and friendly EK captain on the 777. Average days off 10 min 8 max 15. He told me about those swap rules commented on this forum that annoys everyone. He also confirms what everybody thinks here about EK being the best package, best training and more secure operation out there. With the best friendly cockpit being mostly expats unlike (some) Asian carriers. Also Dubai being one of the best places to live for expats apart from the heat.
Thinking about EVA, yes there is a commuting option but, Taiwan is so far from everything! Is like 4 days commuting for every set of block days off. Not sure if that is going to work out for many.
About my current conditions, I'm very fortune to have a job, especially since I got to fly jets and I enjoy it every day. Unfortunate I don't have any future in my country. As an example, few days ago while at recurrent training abroad, I went to the Boeing store and got myself a Boeing cockpit poster (for motivational purposes only I happily spent those 10 $
) and as it turns out to frame it and put it on the wall it cost 80 % of my base salary! That how economy works in my country and that is why I'm considering the best option to move my family away. Hopefully with hard work I will make it happen.
There is another route that a found recently which was not available months back. Continuing with this experienced pilots shortage, Norwegian has lower required minimums. Now they are only asking for Jet time, no EFIS, Glass cockpit or even 737 hrs. That could be an option for somebody with the possibility to work in EU. This brings some other questions. Does it worth to spend the time and money converting to EASA? It would be a long shot since just a few airlines are hiring non type rated. Is it 4000 Euros enough as a first officer to sustain a family in EU? What about commuting from base to home inside Europe? Roster? Quality of life in Europe would be a lot better in my opinion, especially in my case since my family does not speak English (less than me
) and they could actually work there (also help to pay the bills ). I think this is very important aspect for whole thing to work with family. For them to have something useful to do, people around with almost the same culture, to have a social life while we are away on those days of duty.
For those without the advantage of working in Europe there is also a Job with Cargolux China an excellent company with the best commuting option out there, about 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. Pay is very good, in Euros about 8000 for FO. The only downside, like some of those dream jobs in Asia, you need to get your Chinese ATPL. About 6 months of study plus another 6 month of training on the actual airplane.
Thanks for sharing guys, please let me know what you think the European route. I would like to read comments about quality of life for a pilot in EU vs Turkey vs Dubai. Especially for with a Spanish Family. And what about Turkish roster/experience vs FlyDubai or Emirates?
I'm only considering jobs available for non-type rated with less than 2500 hrs. Of course there are better jobs out there.
Cheers!