Cruise Pilots

[Tosh McCaber]

Do any of the long haul airlines still recruit Cruise Pilots?

[Manflex55]

CX & QF do, amongst others.

[Tosh McCaber]

Are any of them taking sub- 2000 hr candidates?

[Luke SkyToddler]

CX cruise pilots are normally their cadets, who are without exception Chinese nationals. Having said that, CX's normal minimum requirements for FO are only 1000 hours and FATPL. It's all on their website.

I haven't heard anything about QF cruise pilots for a long time but I can tell you there are people with a LOT more than 2000 hours in Oz who still can't get a look in.

[sinkingship]

Hello All,
Can anyone inform meof companies who recruit cruise pilots.
Thx

[dartagnan]

cathay...xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Gillespie]

air mauritious (sp?)

[Artificial Horizon]

Cathay, Air New Zealand, Qantas ..................

[zerograv]

Air Canada has "Relief" pilots.
I'm not saying that they recruit "Relief" pilots.
It is for long haul flights and it works in a seniority basis.

Zerograv

[sinkingship]

Thanks for the replies, I was wondering what my chances of geting a job with low hour ATPL(f) in the asis region.

[Martin4]

What about KLM, dont they have relief pilots...?

I watched a program on Sky TV about KLM and there 747 in which there was pilots in the crew rest and flight deck if my memory serves me right.... (I could be wrong though)

[Lil' Pilot]

Yep,

KLM has so called Second Officers. They're the cruise relief pilots on the B747/ B777, MD11 and A330 nowadays if I'm correct.

[Piltdown Man]

True, KLM have Second Officers (KoKo's - Koffie & Koffers) but may I suggest that if you haven't been to KLS, NLS or been trained by one of the Dutch armed forces you forget about KLM. They appear to be a little choosy.

[no sponsor]

And Virgin Atlantic will...according the chap at the BALPA conference. (Although maybe not for a while yet).

[scroggs]

Virgin did in the past. We may again, though I personally think it unlikely once the pros and cons have been assessed. Don't hold your breath.

Scroggs

[no sponsor]

I couldn't quite figure it out. First, the Virgin chap said our minimum hrs are high due to the limited number of landings a pilot will get flying the line - one or two a month; hence you needed to build experience in other airlines, preferably short-haul ones. In the next breath he talked about this cruise pilot thing. When Virgin offered a cadet scheme in the past, they had their A320s and a limited short-haul network. Of course today they only have long-haul & ultra long haul.

Economically it would make sense on three-crew routes, but from experience building I can't quite see it squaring with the initial comment.

[scroggs]

Which is just one of the reasons I think it won't happen, though a tie-up with a short-haul operator has been mooted. Only (IIRC) three people got onto the VS cadet scheme, and I think Virgin Sun folded before they would have got on line. I'm not sure what happened to them subsequently. The earlier cruise pilot scheme was around 10 years ago, and had pretty high entry requirements of around 1000-1500 hours - and they all got to go to Sun to start their FO time with VS after cruising for a couple of years. Pretty much all those guys now have commands.

Scroggs

[hardcase]

when i worked for vs, they recruited 5 cadets...all worked on virgin sun A320/321, then after virgin sun closed i flew with one of them, the only one who got onto the A340, he said the rest were at easyjet, etc.

when i first joined vs as cabin crew 10years ago, i met a guy downroute who had 2500TT and 1000hrs jet time with Monarch and he was a cruise pilot, i asked him why he left to be a cruise pilot and his reply was "it was the only way to get into vs at the time", most of the others had similar experience to him.

:ok:

[scroggs]

Thanks HC. I was aware that 5 had started the cadet thing, but I was under the impression that only 3 finished. Anyway, I remain doubtful that a second scheme will be forthcoming, but who knows?

Scroggs

[pushapproved]

Can't provide any details, website, requirements etc. but I have heard that new start up Oasis Airlines flying Hong Kong-LGW may be looking for cruise pilots on their 2 B747-400s. Sorry I can give any further information but I don't know any! Just one to watch out for - due to start commercial ops towards end of October I believe. :ok: