737 or A319 Type Rating

[van_the_man]

If you had the choice which type rating would you do and why? I am from Dublin and am not fussed on working for Ryanair. Easyjet would be perfect so would the a319 be more appealing to them considering their fleet orders?

Thanks.

[and rotate]

hi Van,

I think with an A319 rating you will find it easier to get a job. I did a 737 type rating and it was difficult to find employment as there are so many others like me. By looking at how many Airbus's are delivered each month compared to Boeing and you will see the way things appear to be going.

Basically if i could turn the clock back I probably would have gone airbus.

Whatever one you do, work as hard as possible and with excellent reports from instructors etc, I dont think you will have too much trouble. Remember though that most summer recruitment has been concluded now, so be careful as to when you decide to do this. I think a good time to start a type rating is around November, as when you finish you are in the thick of it.

Hope some of this helps.

and....rotate

[Flying Fiona]

Without doubt get the A319. It is the future. The 737 is old hat.

[Arrowhead]

I did A320 (ie A318/319/320/321 - its all the same). Easier to fly than Boeings as its always in auto-trim, even without autopilot. But you have to be okay with computers.

Oh, and its only a 5 day course to skip onto any other Airbus. And the delivery rate is similar/better. And you have less chance of flying a rust bucket into a hell-hole.

[van_the_man]

Thanks for the advice. Airbus seems to be the way to go. Anyone recommend any of the courses? Been in touch with CAE and GECAT. Any others worth trying??

[lovis9]

van- the- man,

who many hours do you have? do you think having 1500h is quite mandatory ?,I saw lots of company requesting the 1500 and the TR, but with 500 and the TR I do not know you go very far, what do you all think about?

Bye all,

Lovi.

[WindSheer]

Airbus - definately!!

As mentioned above, the 737 is 'old hat'.
A 'bus rating will set you up nicely for the future!!

[flystudent]

Further thoughts on this question ,given the order books and the amount of low cost carriers going with Airbus it seems the logical choice. Though I personally would like to do a Boeing rating, because it's a Boeing (I'm a bit old fashioned).

I did read somewhere that the last quarter of orders was a little misrepresentative as Boeing did actually have a bunch of orders that were not officially included in the Quarterly stats (though don't quote me).

What about if it was the choice of 737 or 757/767 or airbus 318-21 rating ? would people still opt for the airbus ? I appreciate the 757 is no longer manufactured but with this rating you are into the 757 and 767 market, would this stand well for Boeings new aircrafts coming off the line and those in use or does airbus win again.

I think I'm going to have to pay for a type rating and this is the thoughts and worries I am having at the moment, would like to fly Boeing though would I be committing job harkari by not doing an airbus rating !!??

Cheers
FS

[Jetavia]

It also depends on where you want to work. I considered doing the Airbus rating, but considering I preferably want to work in northern europe (Scandinavia, UK) I made a 180 and turned to the boeing, mainly as there are more boeings than airbus'es in northern europe. However if you want to work in mainland europe go for the airbus..

One last thing, I have been told that pilots going onto Airbus'es as their only jet-type typically have problems later transitioning to boeing' as they now lack basic skills required to fly an aircraft as we know it... "non-airbus"..

A course you may look into is the jetlink.lu course, it will give you the A320 rating (Sabena flight training) as well as 500h on type (Adria airways/Air Arabia). I went for selection for this course and found it to be a serious course worth considering if you have the cash..