Originally Posted by
4runner
If smoke is so offensive, why consider Asia? Or for that matter, even bother to post on an Asian forum? That's like looking for work in Australia and complaining that there's too many uv rays from the sun and koala bears. I hate koala bears...
Haha. Your analogy makes no sense. There are ways to protect from UV but there is no way to avoid the damages of second hand smoke in a closed environment like a cockpit.
I'm not looking for work in Asia. Been there, done that. Never say never but at this stage in life, if I ever get terminated, I think I'll spend my savings on re-educating into another line of work before I fly in Asia again, save for India. I sort of enjoyed my time there, despite the chaos of life in such a place.
I come on to prune for perspective. I am fortunate to be working for an airline with the best pay and benefits in the world
at the moment. That will change, I know that. But for now it's really good (though we've been at the back of the pack before so I try not to be flippant about it). All that said, we are pilots and we complain about this or that as much as the next group of pilots does. So right about the time when my whining reaches a fevered pitch, I come here to read how other pilots are getting on. Suddenly, my gyro is reset. I have it pretty good right now and, given what you all put up with, I really shouldn't be complaining. I recently completed a contract survey that our union put out and in it they provided a 40+ page comparison with other carriers to show, overall, how much better compensated we are.
Last week I had dinner with a buddy who left ANA for an airline in his home country (in Europe). His take home pay is cut by half but his sanity is up 10x. He is happy, dare I say glowing, about where he's at in life. For him the Asian gig, and all it's games played in the name of "culture", just didn't work. It was refreshing to hear his perspective on things and how privlidged I am to be working for a carrier that, at the moment, respects aviators. It's not perfect, but it's about as close as I've seen to that word in 27 years of being a professional aviator.
Y'alls comments confirm that. I feel for you guys who are stuck in the contract pilot world grind. Hopefully one day you all will organize and vote lock step to fight for better conditions. For now, however, the unfortunate truth is you each undermine each other whether knowingly or unknowingly. The companies who hire use that fact to their advantage to continue the process of game-playing either aviator careers rather than focus of building bonds for a great future of running the business together for the collective good of all.
I wish you all the best of luck but don't be under any illusions that the contract world is the way to go. For 90% of us, it's likely better to take a career FO job at your home town or home country airline before any captain gig abroad. At least on a permanent basis that holds true. Contract gigs are for temporary jobs only.