all aircraft?

[teen wanabee crew]

this may sound like a stupid question.. but here goes. if i flight attendant qualifies with an airline like ba are they qualified to work on all aircraft or are they assigned certain types?

thanks :)

[whateva]

hey there,
u will never be able to be trained on all the aircraft types. There are just too many. BA operates 2 fleets, the euro something and the international. pending on which you join, u will be trained on a combo of either 747/777 or A320/??. there is far too much to remember equipment wise on each aircraft and the varients of one type, its easier and safer to have crew only operate a few types. Hope this helps.

[teen wanabee crew]

yeah that helps a lot thanks :) but what about virgin atlantic, as they only use 3 different types of aircraft are the crew allowed to work on all 3?

[apaddyinuk]

Hi teen, the CAA (and pretty much every other aviation regulator out there) rule is that a crew member can not be trained on more than 3 aircraft types. That is to say, that crew cannot be trained on more than 3 different types of doors and if the aircraft doors are alike, the aircraft has to be similiar too.
SO, A crew member can be trained on the A319/320/321 and this would be counted as one aircraft.
In BA our LHR fleet is split on two...Eurofleet which consists all the Airbus aircraft, the B757 and the B767. All EF crew are trained for these aircraft.
The other fleet...worldwide consists of the B767, 777 and 747. This too is three aircraft and therefore the crew can be trained for all three, however only about half of the crew are as the B767 longhaul fleet is pretty small so this does leave a large number of crew capable of being trained on something else...hehehehe, doubt they would like that some how!!!
Virgin are technically trained only on TWO aircraft as the A340-300 has the same doors as the A340-600 but obviously the crew themselves would treat the two as different aircraft, but regards licence rating I dont think it is!

Hope that answers your questions!

[yellowdog]

teen,

although this works like this in the UK, I believe that other countries are different.

I know for example that in the US you can be trained on all types at once. I had a friend at AA who was trained to operate the FK100, B727, B737, B757, B767 and B777.

So it doesn't always hold true that the three type rules is law.

YD

[teen wanabee crew]

thanks a paddy in uk! that was really helpful :)
i have another one for u all... if you apply for a cabin crew position and the airline is based at heathrow and gatwick, can you work from both or do you only work out of one of them?
sorry about all the questions, im just trying to find out as much as i can before i decide what to do! LOL
thanks

[Off Stand]

If there is 2 adverts for a job, one at LGW and another at LHR, then you'd fly from the one you apply for. If both bases are mentioned in the one advert (Virgin?), then I think you'd fly from both.

[apaddyinuk]

Teen it depends on the airlines own policy.
Virgin is dual based. If you fly for them you will be based in both LGW and LHR. They get around the regulation by providing a special coach between the two (if you are regularly on the M25 between LHR and LGW you can see the big red Virgin coach with Dumbo the elephant on the side) as there is something written somewhere which says you can only be based at one airport.

BA is a slightly different story. The company use to have many bases around the UK but they are all more or less gone now with the exception of LGW and LHR. LGW was once split in two as Eurofleet and Worldwide. This all changes next month when it is merged. At present none of the EF crew could operate out of LHR however if the WW crew were needed to operate out of LHR because of crew shortages they could be bussed up. This will change next month and they will be unable to do so.
Likewise, LHR longhaul will be unable to cover shortfalls down in LGW when the onefleet comes into operation.

Hope this answers your question!

[flybywire]

teen,
although this works like this in the UK, I believe that other countries are different.
I know for example that in the US you can be trained on all types at once. I had a friend at AA who was trained to operate the FK100, B727, B737, B757, B767 and B777.
So it doesn't always hold true that the three type rules is law.
YD

Correct. I do not know how the situation is in Italy at the moment but I remeber being certified on the A320/321 (considered one type), the A330, the B767 and the B777 all at once.

In the UK some operators have changed the rules for example when I joined FCA we were trained on the B757, B767 and A320/321. A few months later they changed the rule as they considered the A321 doors2&3 being different so you would either be on the A320 or the A321.
I got the A320, quit the A321 and was ever so happy :E

[whateva]

heya teen,
yes with virgin atlantic they are trained on all 3. We have an exchange program here that allows us from virginblue to go and work for them for a year. The 747 is a stand alone type in their fleet, the A340-300/600 training is very similar, you may train on the 300 and then do a conversion for the 600 outlining the main differences between the types. but in short, yep you get to work on all 3.

[FLYING_HOSTIE]

Hi there, just to repeat the above, I used to fly for Virgin and you are Dual Based, so yes you fly from both LGW and LHR, and will have a mixture each month depending on your roster.. You will also be trained and fly on all 3 aircraft but it is only classed as 2. There is a crew bus and its great but it does add extra time onto your journey, especially if there isnt one that gets you to report on time, as you'll have to get the earlier bus. or if your flight is delayed and you miss the bus home.

Im now at Thomson and I am trained to fly on 6 aircraft, the 737-300 and 800. The 757, and the 767-200 and 300.. This still counts as 3 though as per the regulations, as the 737 and 767 types are classed as varients/conversions.

x

[sebby]

Australian and NZ Qantas crew (not sure about UK crew) train on the whole fleet... 734/8 (same doors), 763/3RR, A332/3 (same doors), 743/4 (same doors).

Even SH crew who dont work on the 747 still learn it.. :8