Eastern Airways

[Northern Highflyer]

Does anyone have any recent information on the T's & C's with Eastern. What are they like to work for ? Any information on roster patterns, lifestyle, annual hours, time to command, etc would be gratefully received.

NH

[Northern Highflyer]

Hopefully the lack of response is due to Eastern crews not using prune. Hope it's not because you are all worked so hard you don't have time to reply. :ooh: :ok:

[Prince Buster]

The prince used to work for Eastern. Working max hours and max duty is common. They've lost loads of people to jets and will continue to do so.

Roster hasnt been that good lately due to lack of crew but that can only change to the better (I hope).

Cheers

[Recleared]

NH

Eastern is generally a good company to work for. The roster is usually 5 on 2 off, so most weekends you have free. Normally you’d work one Sunday in three, with a 4/2 6/2 roster. At the moment they are very short of crews so everyone is working very hard (as Prince said max duty and max hours) and normally you work all the standbys. There are more people coming through, but people are continuing to leave for bigger and better things.

The money isn’t great (but hey money isn’t everything!) and having most weekends off definitely makes up for it. However there is no pension and there is little roster stability, so planning an evening out is very difficult as they can and do change shifts on you last minute. When they sort this out (i.e. when there are more crews) it will be a great airline as the Guys and Gals are all a great bunch to work with.

Hope this helps.

[Northern Highflyer]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like there are worse out there. :ok:

[cavortingcheetah]

;) You could have a little look here if you like:

http://www.bad-aviationjobs.com/index.php

Go to airlines and bubble along blissfully.

I will make no comment other than to say that I was not too surprised to read what was written.
You can wait a very long time in aviation for a third or fourth level carrier to crew up to full speed. Management will always work on the shoestring and once they've forced sick crews into flying, the one off becomes the norm. I very much doubt that the crew levels will change much during the average length of stay of a pilot with the company. But there we are then, perhaps you'll make it into the left sooner rather than later. Just hope you're not destined to be one of the Captains implied in the website quoted.

:E

:) Oh yes, as a postscript:
I had absolutely nothing to do with the aforementioned and quoted website. Honest Injun!

[Riker]

Are all newhires placed on the Jetstreams or are some placed on the Saab 2000 or E145? If placed on the Saab, where would you be based and how hard would you work vs. the other fleet types?

[Charley]

There will be somebody with more concrete knowledge than I whom, I'm sure, will be able to offer a definitive answer.

With that caveat in mind, it's my understanding that Eastern disposed of the Embraers long ago. Furthermore, the Saab 2000s used to be leased in from GoldenAir of Sweden and on the Swedish register. Since then the Saabs have been moved onto the UK register but whether that means they're now crewed by Eastern guys or not (it was a wet-lease in the first place, I believe) I don't honestly know.

You may find that a new entrant at Eastern is given 'Hobson's choice' when it comes to type. If not, the Saabs and their glass cockpits would be quite appealing...

[cavortingcheetah]

;) If you can be flexible then trade your willingness to base anywhere for the base where the aircraft which you want to fly are based.
If that's not basic enough then I fear that you'll find the SAAB to be so. It hardly has a glass cockpit, just a little tweek above the primitive.
:E

[Charley]

It hardly has a glass cockpit, just a little tweek above the primitive.

My mistake, I thought the 2000 was glass.

[cavortingcheetah]

:) Please permit me to apologise aand say that I doubt that you are mistaken. I think that the 'glass' concept is one of degree and terminolgy. Perhaps I should qualify my previous post by saying that the SAAB 2000 is neither the glassiest nor the classiest aircraft which I have flown. I expect that such a comment might upset SAAB pilots so I shall, with my usual bashful modesty, say no more on the subject. Thank you.
:)

[Talking Checklist]

Eastern Airways are not the best payers in the industry but you have to balance things out in your choice of aviation career. How many other airlines do you know of that can offer the kind of lifestyle on offer here? Typically 2 or 4 sectors commencing at 6.00AM or 4 sectors in the afternoon commencing typically at 2.00PM. (Most sectors average between 40 - 60 mins). The fun in flying which is what attracted most of us to it in the first place is taking off, puching through the clouds into a blue sunny sky, skimming along the tops of the clouds when you get the chance and landing. You actually get to fly the aeroplane as well as operate one! You are home almost every night and get most weekends off, probably working one Sunday in Four.

Rosters are reasonably stable - tell me of an airline where you dont get dicked around occasionally! Its still an Airline where you feel like a part of the team as opposed to just a number and the staff are a great bunch of people to work with (with the odd exception).

Granted you can earn a lot more money flying a 737 around but its all pro rata. When I weigh up the time I spend working coupled with the evenings and weekends home with the family it beats the pants off working for SleazyJet and the rest!

[cavortingcheetah]

:( I am truly sorry to hear that.
It used to be a great little company. Everyone was left alone. The outlying bases ran themselves and I believe one used to have very jolly get togethers of an evening from time to time.
Management in those days tried to keep a pretty 'hands on' profile and any problems could be easily resolved with a chat with the bossman in that funny place with the big bridge. It is a shame that it now attrcats such a dreaful press. If I remember correctly, Eastern is the only Uk airline to receive a kicking on that website which I posted some days ago. It is a monstrous shame and if I had the heart and the stomach for it; I'd post that site to Humberside.

:{

[Riker]

Are most newhires put on the Jetstreams or can newhires (depending upon hours) be put on the Saab 2000 and E145?

Where are the Saab 2000 pilots based and is this a good fleet to be on? Which fleets have the "best" schedules? Are some fleets better than others?

Cheers

[Richard Taylor]

Name any airline(any company in any industry for that matter)in the world & you find find criticism & praise,dissaffected employees & those who love what they do.Those who have done well,those who have an axe to grind,& on it goes...

Eastern,BACX,Flybe...I've read praise/criticism on all.

NH, bear both sides of the argument in mind by all means,but remember that ultimately only YOU can make your own mind up whether to join or not,& if you do,how you find it.DON'T BE SWAYED into one camp or t'other or make a decision by what you hear on here;when all is said & done,it's down to YOU.

Eastern sound as if they are successful,they are certainly busy enough of of ABZ.

Riker,they no longer operate the 145,now a mix of JE32/41 & Saab 2000.

Just my tuppence-worth...thanks for listening TO ME! ;) :ok:

[Globalwarning]

R.T thanks for your two p worth.

The airline has changed alot in the last year, and only for the worse. Small minded and cheap management, with very poor T+C's

Just go into it with your eyes wide open. I know a number of people that would have loved to have continued with Eastern provided they were treated with some respect. :ugh:

[DB6]

He has taste then :ok: .

(Hmmm, lots of posts deleted so this one no longer makes sense. Ho hum :} ).

[Stu Bigzorst]

So, nobody here has mentioned the new starter / type converison / command course bonds that are increasing by the day?

[cavortingcheetah]

;) Starter and Command Course Bonds? I've never heard of those and it sounds like a dastardly scheme to shackle very low time pilots into a long rigmarole? I only remember the type bonding, but it was pretty stiff four years ago.
Any idea please whether the Ops Manager has changed (the individual, I mean) in the last three years or so? The last one I remember had drifted across from Air UK. Thank you.:)

[Globalwarning]

Command course bond !!!!! YOU have got to be kidding. How much?

Gather the last ops director had enough, but has been replaced by a well known thruster. Another change for the worse I gather:yuk:

[cavortingcheetah]

:) I was talking with a staff member yesterday and was led to believe that an FO had just completed his command training and was then handed a two (maybe three) year bond for a £8,000.
I understand that this is Ops Normal at the moment.
Don't know the new Ops Manager. I gathered that, when the SAABS came on stream, the CAA required a full time Ops Manager.
No comment was made on him other than 'he does things by the book.'
Sounds a trifle outrageous to me.
;)

[Globalwarning]

Cheetah, When did you have the miss fortune of working for Eastern Front? Where did you end up?:ok:

[cavortingcheetah]

;) I don't think that I ever said that I worked for the boys in the barbed wire. Why would I say a thing like that. Now would I ever? Oh my gracious! Not never not no how would I have said a thing like that! (As Snudge said to Bootsie.)
I went back up in God's Country. Africa. Where you can still buy guns, ammunition and women and watch the shooting stars at night.:E