EVA Air pilots: do you mind...

[Awful Golfer]

...answering some questions for me about T's & C's? I have done a search but need some short answers. (Sorry SNAM, I know you have posted something similar but it doesn't cover what I want to know).

1). The website talks about heavy jet time. Okay, I don't have that. But I do have: * ICAO ATPL * 6500hrs TT * 5500hrs turbine *500hrs jet-B737 as F/O * EFIS * 1300hrs heavy turboprop (C130) * 32 years old * A sunny and pleasant disposition:hmm: So, would I be pushing it if I applied for an F/O position at EVA?

2). Could one commute between UK or Canada and Taiwan? How are the roster duty days 'blocked'?

3). Local taxation? If so, how much?

4). Is there flight pay over and above salary?

5). I would really like to know the name and fax number of the person who receives application forms. Then I can politely address them instead of the ether. Which has never replied to me. Yet.

Thanks in advance, please forgive me if I post a few more questions if they come into my head. There's plenty of space.

[egpws]

Hey Awful Golfer...

Regarding your question #1, I think you should apply, YES.

I have a friend who used to fly Embraer 145´s as F/O for Rio-Sul (a Brazil´s Varig subsidiary) and he was hired by EVA few months ago as B747 F/O. In addition, my friend also flew the 737 for about 1000 hours also as F/O.

He was put in touch with EVA Air by Varig, who has/had some sort of agreement with the Taiwanese carrier in order to send some of the Brazilian crews to the Far East.

Another information I can share is that, according to this friend of mine, the medical exam at EVA is very thorough... a great deal of the Brazilian pilots who went to Taiwan for the recruitment failed the medical and had to return to South America.

As my friend will fly the 747, he was told that he is supposed to work for 40 days (maybe 45, I am not sure) and then he´d have 20 days OFF, at home here in Brazil. Yes, commute is possible since he will come to the USA flying the EVA 747´s (counting time for his pay) and from there he will take a flight to Brazil in one of the EVA´s partner airlines. Trip back to Taiwan is the same scheme... ticket to the USA in an EVA´s partner airline and from USA to Taiwan he will be scheduled to take the 747 through the Pacific!

Well.... hope these info helps you! Good luck, sir!

EGPWS - Brazil

[Awful Golfer]

egpws, thank you for your response. Which leads me to the following additional questions:

1). So the medical is tough. In what way? Why did those unfortunate Varig chaps get sent home? My blood pressure is normal/optimal, and I have a liver fitted as standard equipment. I wear corrective lenses for very slight astigmatism in one eye (in fact one 'strict' Asian licencing authority lifted that restriction on my licence:confused: ). I can hear okay albeit with a slight echo from inside my skull. I have a JAA class 1 medical, so have done an EEG - with showed no abnormalities! Must have been a rookie operator...
So if one fails on some physical aspect, and it is corrected, can on e re-apply?

2). I suppose you can jump-seat for commuting purposes, and use a cabin seat if available?

3). I did a bit more research and it appears that personal tax is 22%

Any info, especially from EVA crew is well appreciated. I know it can be tedious answering these sort of questions, so short and blunt is fine.

Thanks.

[typhoonpilot]

Awful Golfer:

Do yourself and your career a favor and stay away from EVA. You have the experience to get a decent job elsewhere. For you EVA would be a big mistake. If you want to fly widebody aircraft then your target should be Virgin, BA, Cathay, Dragonair, and possibly Emirates. Those carriers have reasonably clear paths to the left seat, EVA does not.

I've said it numberous times, here and elsewhere, DO NOT GO TO TAIWAN AS A FIRST OFFICER/CRUISE CAPTAIN. The cruise captain title is a red herring, you are merely a relief pilot in that position.

Five of my friends went to EVA as Cruise Captains in 1997. Within two years all had either been fired or quit. At my present company I have met two guys who did the 4 year contract and left after they saw that no upgrade would be forthcoming. That says it all right there.

As my friend will fly the 747, he was told that he is supposed to work for 40 days (maybe 45, I am not sure) and then he´d have 20 days OFF, at home here in Brazil.

Yea right :suspect: Your friend may have been told that but lets find the number of Brazilian pilots at EVA who actually get that. EVA was/is notorious for changing schedules at the last minute and not giving guys their time off, especially on the MD-11.

You've been warned.

Typhoonpilot

[bound_for_dubai]

Awful Golfer,

Everyone has something to say, do your research, and this forum is a good place for it. Many of these airlines Typhoon have listed have tons of their own problems. I know two pilots at Eva both on the 747, when they left they never came back so I am assuming they are quite happy there.

Good Luck!

BFD

[Awful Golfer]

typhoon pilot and b_f_d, thank you for your input. Obviously very different points of view, so as mentioned by b_f_d it is a good thing to do the research in this forum. So please, anybody with an informed opinion (esp. EVA pilots), kindly respond and don't let this thread fall into the category of being viewed 500 times with only a few responses.

typhoon pilot, you bring up a point about two of your present colleagues leaving at the end of their four year contract because no upgrade was in sight. Was that 'upgrade' to cruise captain? I don't know what their experience was when they joined, or what was promised them, but getting an upgrade to captain after 4 years would be the exception rather than the norm. Particularly compared to the likes of BA, Cathay, Virgin etc.

[Dune]

Awful Golfer;

Please do not take any serious career advice from this snot nosed mini college wannabe BFD who is not even close to joining the ranks of professional pilots. Scroll through his previous posts to get a feel what this idiot is made of.

As far as Emirates, just check the Middle East forum to get a taste of what you are in for if you came. New ground breaking "work for free" terms shoved down our throats this week.

Seriously looking for other work myself now.

Cheers and best of luck.

Dune

[Awful Golfer]

See what I mean? Over 500 views and only six replies.

:)

[Circe1]

Heads Up

Beware of EVA.

Nice company to get huge hours as a F/O on widebodies. There are no more RCA positions for foreigners.Actually it is now called SFO.
Definition of huge hours? some guys were grounded in December due to reaching 1000hrs for the year!

Pay pathetic for F/Os but OK for PICs.
Upgrade prospects? Not bad to SFO. To PIC 10 years maybe.(Don't hold your breath).

Time off? MD11 35 days on 14 days off.
747 short month 8 days off long month 9 days off.
A330 you arrange either MD11 or 747 time off.
Scheduling only MD11 is irregular like any "all freighter operation".
Rest of the fleets OK.
SNY travel permitted and quite freely.

Tax around 20%
Annual Leave new joiners 20 days and you don't often get it.
LOL yes free.
Medical insurance provided by the State OK but you pay for it.

Conditions in general?
Free batchelor type pad.(Small)including utilities.
You are illeterate.
Treated like a peasant with no respect of any sort whatsoever.
Pollution terrible but heck you should have been here 10 years ago!
Like all expat. employers you are abused at the expense of the locals (and they are in the majority now but generally nice guys).
Anything else? Just ask

I see and know all.

PS ignore statements by ex types as this place changes daily!

Sorry forgot!

The medical: it\'s tough and if you have any worries about being 100% OK see your own GP before you waste your time getting here.
Forget your class 1 medical that\'s the real world. Here they want you to live to 100 years and fly a space shuttle until then. (I\'m not kidding).
Glasses and eyes no problem, work out why for yourself. The rest be sure you are GOOD.:\\

[Quietachiever]

All these comments are true and apply to China airlines as well which is probably a worse job.
Do not go there by choice.

[Noctivaga]

Many things in life depend on your point of view, and this is one of them. I agree with much of what Circe had to say, but do take exception to some of the details. Not that he is not entitled to his opinion, but.....
I joined EVA almost 11 years ago, as an RCA(Relief Captain). As an RCA you do the left seat type rating, and all of your sim checks are done in the left seat, which can be a bitch if you don't fly there regularly. Unfortunately, at the time the Taiwanese CAA wouldn't allow non-type rated expatriates into the country. That has since changed, and now we hire first officers like anyone else who then can upgrade to senior first officer (SFO) allowing them much the same job and role of the RCA but without the sim checks done in the left seat. So it isn't quite true to say that we have done away with the RCA position, it has just been adjusted.
Timing is so important in much of life. When I joined as an RCA there was no upgrade policy, but you had hope. Then they created an upgrade policy, and damned if after 3 years at EVA I didn't get the nod. I've now been in the left seat since, so it does happen. What with 9-11 and SARS, and complicated by a significant number of National FOs who were now getting some serious experience, the time to upgrade for expats has expanded, and the guys we are upgrading now have more like 6 or 7 years at EVA. Upgrades are done by seniority, and you get your number when you are hired. Surprisingly, even if you have a zillion hours and some National pilot has the minimum, if his seniority WITH EVA is senior to you, then he gets the shot at the job. Gee, sounds like racism. (Please understand that I say that with tongue FIRMLY in cheek). I understand the frustration of the guys who came to EVA as RCA/SFO with 20K+ hours, but seniority rules. Ummmm, not so different from any other airline is it?
The current pay package for new hires sucks big time. No way around that. It does help to put it into perspective though that the monthly pay is for 50 hours. If you fly 80 hours per month then you make a much more respectable number, but you will NEVER get the same money as BA or AA or LH or whichever is applicable to your country. And we are so short of pilots, most guys fly near the max hours per year. Also don't forget that in Asia there is a pretty much mandatory bonus which in our case is a 13th month pay paid annually. And for Christmas we got an additional month, for what that is worth. That may just be a one time deal, we'll have to wait and see what the future holds. As far as taxes go, the ROC authorities mandate a flat rate of 20% witholding for foreign workers. Then at the end of the year, if you have been in Taiwan more than 185 days you get to use a formula which gives you various deductions. In my case tax worked out to be about 7%, so I get almost another month pay in tax return. Most guys make the 185 without too much problem, and the company will alter your schedule if you are close to the limit to ensure that you make 185. Days flying count as days in Taiwan for tax purposes, so even long haul trips keep you 'in town'.
SNY is supernumeray travel. Basically they load you onto one of our flights as an extra crew member. That way you get the tax exemption, you have no hassles with visas and in return you travel standby in uniform. The guys go to great lengths to make sure that guys can get home, and it is fairly rare to get bumped. In the worst case you might end up sitting in the cockpit for your trip, but it is better than buying a ticket. You can travel pretty easily on any of our flights to any of our destinations. Once there, you make your own way home using either ID or ZED tickets....up to you. Myself, if I can't work the flight to New York, then I'll SNY to Newark on my commute home. Depending on your relations with the scheduler and to a degree on your fleet, they will make an effort to schedule you in and out of the EVA destination closest to home. If I get to work both ways, then I get in effect an additional 4 days at home each cycle because I don't spend my days off commuting. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't. If it is in a formal pattern like what they have on the 747, then it works VERY well.
Circe speaks about being mistreated. I must say that there are those of my colleagues that I would be quite happy to never deal with. However, in all honesty the vast majority of my colleagues both National and ex-pat are excellent and have made my stay at EVA so far a tremendous personal growth opportunity. If any of you know of an airline where you are very well treated in every aspect and with never a complaint of any kind, where all of your colleagues are excellent co-workers, then please let me know. To my experience, Shangri-La doesn't exist. There are bad apples at EVA, but not so many as you might think.
As far as the future goes, we have something like 50 aircraft at the moment. We get another 5 A330s next year, the first two of our 35 B777s, and we say goodbye to 6 of our 767s and also 2 of our 747s. At the moment, nothing else is scheduled to depart, so by 2010 we will probably have an 85 plane fleet. The upshot of that is twofold, nobody is getting annual leave because we are so busy training new hires, and upgrade for qualified candidates is going to be faster rather than slower. We have had guys leave, there is always someplace where the grass is greener. We have also had guys try to come back, so it isn't always as promised. There is a lot of downside to the ex-pat game. It isn't all fabulous salaries and lovely lifestyle. Do your homework, and be very sure before you venture into these waters. If you do decide to take the plunge, there are some very good reasons to come to EVA, and also some reasons to avoid. Make a reasoned eyes open decision, and you'll be ok.
I fully expect to be flamed by some, but hey, I'm entitled to my opinion.

[CaptainProp]

A VERY good and informative post for once!!!:ok:
So, what can one expect to earn as newly hired?? Tried so search the forum and rest of the net....no result...

[filejw]

Does anybody know the T & C of the short term contract on the 757?And why the need.Look's like it could be fun for 5 months,something different but I definitely don't want to be stepping on any toes.

[IFT]

Thank you Noctivaga. Most informative, perhaps there is a little light at the end of the tunnel...I was looking at not heading that way for an interview, however, as usual when one starts digging more info becomes available, both good & not so good! All info whether positive or negative is greatly received should more people care to post their experiences.

CaptainProp - While training 3400USD per month. 5000 when checked to line. As Noctivaga & others state, it is ****! It seems after 50 hours each month there is a supp per hour of which the amount I'm unsure of. Maybe someone would post that please.

[Noctivaga]

filejw, the short term contract that you mention is for the B767, we don't have 757s. You wouldn't be stepping on any toes, if you took it. The 767 fleet is being downsized, and the pilots are all going to either the A330, MD-11, B777 or B747. As I said, we are REALLY short of pilots, and we can't afford the personnel to gradually transfer guys, so they are looking for guys who can fill in on the 767 for the next 18 months, keep it operating while our crews get trained on their next aircraft. My understanding is that there will be direct hire captains, as well as the FO slots.
Now, when the 767 does retire, those guys hired on the short term contract are supposed to be offered fleet transfers to either of our fleets, but and it is a big but, they will be offered on the basis of their seniority. I do not think that any of the DEC will keep the left seat when they transfer fleets, as face it we have lots of guys ahead of them in the seniority game. If you have a short timeline, this may work out for you. If you are thinking of medium term, then it probably isn't a good deal, if you are thinking long term then it is just a bump in the road.
I am not privy to the thinking at the higher levels, being a mere peon myself, but this is the information that has been given to us. And one expression that you will hear at EVA is "Ever Green, Ever Change". Tomorrow we may all be playing a different game.

[IFT]

Can anyone tell me what routes the Eva 747 flies?

[Noctivaga]

I'm not on the 747 ( I passed the flying skills test so I didn't have to go). All of our flights start in TPE, and we go to: EWR, JFK, SFO, LAX, ATL, DFW, ORD, SEA, ANC in North America. In Europe it is LHR, AMS, CDG. In Asia it is HKG, MMC, MNL, SIN, KUL, PEN, TSN, CGK, BKK, and OKA. I've probably forgotten a couple, but as you can see it is a fairly extensive route structure. Anyplace important in Asia (except mainland china), sees the 747 from time to time. Its a much more varied list of destinations if you manage to impress the checkers with your flying skills and they put you on the MD. But then some would say that I'm a bit biased. I can't imagine why.

[filejw]

Noctivaga,
Thanks ,
I must have misread the ad.I'm on the 75 and was just looking to do something different for about six months on the 75 or 320.The rat race here in the states is starting to get to me so I plan to try an other country for about six months..

[Circe1]

Not to create an argument I agree with noctivaga about one's own opinion.
However I would like to mention a couple of items he has mentioned.
We do not have any new RCA's only SFO's and these are not type rated! Anyway the Taiwan license is not recognised by any other authorities so if you don't have a kind CAA in your country you won't be able to get the rating on your home license.
By disrespect I was not referring to our colleagues I was referring to the clerks who rule our lives. I repeat almost total disrespect.
Yes if you have been here for a long time you do get the opportunity to upgrade and yes the guys who have been RCA's for +7 years are now getting their chance. Further I am glad I joined the company as a PIC because the upgrade system at EVA makes other airlines upgrade policy look like a picnic in the park. Note 7 years to upgrade is now the time it takes. However all new joiners are F/O's and join at the bottom of the pile (I include cadets who are training for 2 plus years) so if you realise that as I speak there are around 350 F/O's senior to you if you joined today then I leave it to you to work out the math.
7 years ago some RCA's got the gap to upgrade after 3 years but that was a one off and yes I agree that the half dozen or so people concerned were VERY lucky!
I too have been here for a fair period of time (10 years) and have seen our contracts deteriate with each new signing but hey all airlines are the same aren't they?
I will not argue the hours to salary situation because some pilots benifit and some don't, you work that one out.
Good luck but please do your homework very carefully.
:\

Just also noted that noctivaga referred to us getting an additional 1 months bonus at the end of December.
That is correct however he does not mention that the amount paid was 1 months BASIC pay and roughly this would equate to plus minus US$1000 averaged amongst all the pilot salary grades! Bonus my butt! Our ground staff got 4 months and our holding company staff got 10 months go figure!

[IFT]

What aircraft will be used on the 767 routes when it is phased out?

[EL CAPITAN]

A330 is the new kid on the block, so most probably it will go there. 777 will take over most 744 routes. If I was out of work and wanting to get good experience for 4 years and then move to greener pastures(if you can find them) I'd give it a shot. Good aeroplanes, good routes, lots of nice fellows, same good things and bad things like any other place, not the perfect place but tell me where is one???? Take care..................The Capt.

[virage]

Hi there,
guys can anybody tell me how long does it take to upgrade on A 330?
Thanks.

[Stereolab]

circle 1 (or anyone else),

Just to clarify, if a non-rated FO joins up with EVA they will not be typed in the airplane? Or is it you do get typed and western countries will not recognize the type rating?

That's a new dimension I have not considered. I would feel like an idiot signing a bond for training and the type rating won't show up on my FAA ticket.

Which leads me to my next question, which countries in Asia are recognized by the FAA and European agencies if you get typed in that specific country.

Ex: Your an FO for SAI Cargo, you get typed on the 747-400, will the FAA (or EU country) recognize the Singapore licence w/ the type rating? Do you have to beg the people at your employer to fill out special paper work? Again, having a type rating not recognized in your home country really makes the training bond not worth it.

[scanscanscan]

Hey Stereo..... You get the flight experiance and the training poured into you and nobody can steal that from you ever.
If you can fly and eat and save dollars working off a non FAA licence I think you should consider doing so.
I junked my British ATPL and FAA ATR for 26years and flew off an Arabic licence and hey I have a house mortage free and can now feed my family for for the next thirty years. The Arabs trained me on the L1011 and The B767/B757 and I am ever grateful to them.
Dan Air cancelled my Comet course and then a few years later went bust the best thing that ever happened to my aviation career.

[Stereolab]

scan,

Sounds like good advice...

stereo