EVA. Help Please.

[ILS13]

Hi All,

I am posting this new thread to inquire about the current situation at EVA. I am in a bit of a dilemma. Firstly, let me just say this: I am a westerner, but I was living (and working) in Asia for most of my life. So please don't give me the whole 'Asian culture is rough' talk. I know what it's like in Asia, how to deal with it, and I don't mind it in the slightest.

I am currently an FO at a regional in the US. Sitting at just under 600 121 time in the CRJ, and 2200TT. I am debating whether or not to apply to EVA. I don't want to apply, potentially be selected, and turn it down purely because I didn't think it over well enough. I think there is a potential for messing with later opportunities at EVA if I were to do that.

My wife is from Indonesia, and now that our daughter is starting to get a little bit older, I want to find somewhere where we can settle down, get the daughter ready for school, and begin to build a proper life (most likely, Indonesia, and commuting to work). The US is ridiculously expensive, and I cannot see a long future here, given our situation (No PR, citizenship etc).

I know however, if I stick it out for a little bit longer here, I will hopefully have the opportunity to upgrade to CA, which would be fantastic.

I have no issues at all with my present employer, and I have had an absolute blast in my first 121 career. Having said that, family is also very important to me, and money/current standard of living isn't too attractive for us (wife is unable to work due to immigration law).

What do y'all think? Take the plunge and give it a shot? or stick it out here for a while until I can at least upgrade? I am just asking here in the off-chance that there might be someone who is/has been in the same ship I'm in.

YES, I did read other threads, but most of it seemed full of 'Asian Culture' Issues.

I am also looking at a few other companies, namely Air Japan, and Hong Kong Airlines, however my current stats are still a bit short of their requirements.

Thanks All!

[wingdeagle]

Hi All,

I am posting this new thread to inquire about the current situation at EVA. I am in a bit of a dilemma. Firstly, let me just say this: I am a westerner, but I was living (and working) in Asia for most of my life. So please don't give me the whole 'Asian culture is rough' talk. I know what it's like in Asia, how to deal with it, and I don't mind it in the slightest.

I am currently an FO at a regional in the US. Sitting at just under 600 121 time in the CRJ, and 2200TT. I am debating whether or not to apply to EVA. I don't want to apply, potentially be selected, and turn it down purely because I didn't think it over well enough. I think there is a potential for messing with later opportunities at EVA if I were to do that.

My wife is from Indonesia, and now that our daughter is starting to get a little bit older, I want to find somewhere where we can settle down, get the daughter ready for school, and begin to build a proper life (most likely, Indonesia, and commuting to work). The US is ridiculously expensive, and I cannot see a long future here, given our situation (No PR, citizenship etc).

I know however, if I stick it out for a little bit longer here, I will hopefully have the opportunity to upgrade to CA, which would be fantastic.

I have no issues at all with my present employer, and I have had an absolute blast in my first 121 career. Having said that, family is also very important to me, and money/current standard of living isn't too attractive for us (wife is unable to work due to immigration law).

What do y'all think? Take the plunge and give it a shot? or stick it out here for a while until I can at least upgrade? I am just asking here in the off-chance that there might be someone who is/has been in the same ship I'm in.

YES, I did read other threads, but most of it seemed full of 'Asian Culture' Issues.

I am also looking at a few other companies, namely Air Japan, and Hong Kong Airlines, however my current stats are still a bit short of their requirements.

Thanks All!

Your shiny fourth bar at a regional is only good if you would like to get your 1000 hours PIC 121 and carry on to a US major, something you apparently are not planning to do.
If family is your priority, why waste time ? Go to the Asian companies you mentioned, get international experience and at some point get your command upgrade there. Do not let anyone intimidate you with the “Asian culture” talk. Asia is a huge continent full of different cultures and you cannot generalize it as one ! Japan is not Korea and Taiwan is not Indonesia. If you are open minded and respect the locals and their culture anywhere you go, you could enjoy your time there. Just my two cents.

[ILS13]

Your shiny fourth bar at a regional is only good if you would like to get your 1000 hours PIC 121 and carry on to a US major, something you apparently are not planning to do.
If family is your priority, why waste time ? Go to the Asian companies you mentioned, get international experience and at some point get your command upgrade there. Do not let anyone intimidate you with the “Asian culture” talk. Asia is a huge continent full of different cultures and you cannot generalize it as one ! Japan is not Korea and Taiwan is not Indonesia. If you are open minded and respect the locals and their culture anywhere you go, you could enjoy your time there. Just my two cents.
Thanks. Just the sort of reply I was looking for. I didn't think the PIC time here would play too large a factor over in Asia. I wouldnt mind being able to wear that fourth bar though.

Yes, I love the variety of culture there, makes it such a fun continent to live in!

[typhoonpilot]

I would offer a different opinion than the first response.

I would suggest staying in the USA and upgrading to Captain. Get the 1000 PIC. Get 500 PIC in the CRJ and if EMB-170/190 is an option down the road get 500 PIC in that. Doing that gives you many more options should you later decide to move overseas. With PIC time you can go somewhere as a direct entry captain or possibly on another type.

You do not want to roll the dice and go to a foreign airline as an F.O., when upgrades can be very selective or many years into the future. The airlines in Taiwan treat pilots like crap. Pay is low and workload is high by comparison to many other places. The local airline that I worked for 25 years ago pays captains less in real dollars than I made in 1995, it's pathetic. EVA pays captains less than the expats they hired in 1991 on the 767, 28 years ago. Again, pathetic.

To be clear. I live in Taiwan now and have lived and worked overseas for multiple airlines over the last 25 years. A huge consideration for you will be schooling for your child(ren). The Taipei American School is just under $30,000/year/child. That amount is pretty typical for international and American schools. Outside of that your only options are local schools , home schooling, or the second/third tier international/American schools.

The U.S. is not ridiculously expensive, not even close. A reasonable apartment in Taipei is $1 million; Hong Kong and Singapore would be significantly more than that, forget about ever owning a single family home in most parts of Asia. You can easily buy a single family home in much of the USA for $300K or less. Thailand would be an exception to that, but there are very few expat job opportunities in Thailand, although it is a good place to commute from. Plus schooling in the USA is free through high school.

You say your wife is Indonesian. Most of the Asians to the north, to include Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Japan will look at her as a second class citizen, basically like a maid. Something to consider when choosing a location outside of the USA or Indonesia.

Outside of China, there are only 3 good commuting jobs in Asia. They are Korean; Air Japan; and Air Hong Kong. Eva and China Airlines are not good commuting jobs.

If you really want to live in Asia Find a way to get hired by Scoot/SilkAir/SIA and obtain a Singapore residency so that you can buy an HDB flat and send your kid to local schools. Forget Hong Kong, it's lost to the commies now and will only go downhill from here.

[wingdeagle]

I would offer a different opinion than the first response.

I would suggest staying in the USA and upgrading to Captain. Get the 1000 PIC. Get 500 PIC in the CRJ and if EMB-170/190 is an option down the road get 500 PIC in that. Doing that gives you many more options should you later decide to move overseas. With PIC time you can go somewhere as a direct entry captain or possibly on another type.

You do not want to roll the dice and go to a foreign airline as an F.O., when upgrades can be very selective or many years into the future. The airlines in Taiwan treat pilots like crap. Pay is low and workload is high by comparison to many other places. The local airline that I worked for 25 years ago pays captains less in real dollars than I made in 1995, it's pathetic. EVA pays captains less than the expats they hired in 1991 on the 767, 28 years ago. Again, pathetic.

To be clear. I live in Taiwan now and have lived and worked overseas for multiple airlines over the last 25 years. A huge consideration for you will be schooling for your child(ren). The Taipei American School is just under $30,000/year/child. That amount is pretty typical for international and American schools. Outside of that your only options are local schools , home schooling, or the second/third tier international/American schools.

The U.S. is not ridiculously expensive, not even close. A reasonable apartment in Taipei is $1 million; Hong Kong and Singapore would be significantly more than that, forget about ever owning a single family home in most parts of Asia. You can easily buy a single family home in much of the USA for $300K or less. Thailand would be an exception to that, but there are very few expat job opportunities in Thailand, although it is a good place to commute from. Plus schooling in the USA is free through high school.

You say your wife is Indonesian. Most of the Asians to the north, to include Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Japan will look at her as a second class citizen, basically like a maid. Something to consider when choosing a location outside of the USA or Indonesia.

Outside of China, there are only 3 good commuting jobs in Asia. They are Korean; Air Japan; and Air Hong Kong. Eva and China Airlines are not good commuting jobs.

If you really want to live in Asia Find a way to get hired by Scoot/SilkAir/SIA and obtain a Singapore residency so that you can buy an HDB flat and send your kid to local schools. Forget Hong Kong, it's lost to the commies now and will only go downhill from here.

Many good points too, with exception that there are very few if any expat jobs for CRJ/EMB in Asia (not saying none will open up), so the 500 PIC hours will not make a difference. Korean doe NOT upgrade, EVA maybe and Air Japan does give command upgrade after around five years.
Another option is to get hired by the the likes of Frontier, Spirit or Allegiant (no jet PIC necessary) and get the A320 type. It’s the most marketable rating for expat pilots in Asia with many choices and some command upgrade opportunities.

[ILS13]

Many good points too, with exception that there are very few if any expat jobs for CRJ/EMB in Asia (not saying none will open up), so the 500 PIC hours will not make a difference. Korean doe NOT upgrade, EVA maybe and Air Japan does give command upgrade after around five years.
Another option is to get hired by the the likes of Frontier, Spirit or Allegiant (no jet PIC necessary) and get the A320 type. It’s the most marketable rating for expat pilots in Asia with many choices and some command upgrade opportunities.
That is something I would be looking at, however I don't think those carriers will hire E3 Visa pilots (I do know of one guy in Spirit on the E3, but that is most definitely a one-off).

Eva and Air Japan / ANA were the only ones I was really looking at too, I'm wouldn't be in any huge rush to Upgrade.

[ILS13]

I would offer a different opinion than the first response.

I would suggest staying in the USA and upgrading to Captain. Get the 1000 PIC. Get 500 PIC in the CRJ and if EMB-170/190 is an option down the road get 500 PIC in that. Doing that gives you many more options should you later decide to move overseas. With PIC time you can go somewhere as a direct entry captain or possibly on another type.

You do not want to roll the dice and go to a foreign airline as an F.O., when upgrades can be very selective or many years into the future. The airlines in Taiwan treat pilots like crap. Pay is low and workload is high by comparison to many other places. The local airline that I worked for 25 years ago pays captains less in real dollars than I made in 1995, it's pathetic. EVA pays captains less than the expats they hired in 1991 on the 767, 28 years ago. Again, pathetic.

To be clear. I live in Taiwan now and have lived and worked overseas for multiple airlines over the last 25 years. A huge consideration for you will be schooling for your child(ren). The Taipei American School is just under $30,000/year/child. That amount is pretty typical for international and American schools. Outside of that your only options are local schools , home schooling, or the second/third tier international/American schools.

The U.S. is not ridiculously expensive, not even close. A reasonable apartment in Taipei is $1 million; Hong Kong and Singapore would be significantly more than that, forget about ever owning a single family home in most parts of Asia. You can easily buy a single family home in much of the USA for $300K or less. Thailand would be an exception to that, but there are very few expat job opportunities in Thailand, although it is a good place to commute from. Plus schooling in the USA is free through high school.

You say your wife is Indonesian. Most of the Asians to the north, to include Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, Japan will look at her as a second class citizen, basically like a maid. Something to consider when choosing a location outside of the USA or Indonesia.

Outside of China, there are only 3 good commuting jobs in Asia. They are Korean; Air Japan; and Air Hong Kong. Eva and China Airlines are not good commuting jobs.

If you really want to live in Asia Find a way to get hired by Scoot/SilkAir/SIA and obtain a Singapore residency so that you can buy an HDB flat and send your kid to local schools. Forget Hong Kong, it's lost to the commies now and will only go downhill from here.
As I already said, the US long term is not an option for us. I don't feel like going through the hassle of getting PR, even if I will eventually be elegible for it. It's expensive, and yields no real benefit to us.

As I also said, we would be living in Indonesia, and what residents of other Asian countries would think of my wife is irrelevant, as she wouldn't be living there. Indonesia is nice, and cheap. Property cost is still reasonably low where we are looking at. As for the other aspects of living, I am aware of those, as that's where I grew up.

I too have heard good things about AHK and Air Japan, they are right up the top of my list. EVA has the -slightly- lower requirements which I already meet, that's why I was considering them now.

Thanks for the input.
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[Mumbai_radio]

If you are looking to move to Asia eventually why not now. You do know PIC hours on CRJ/EMB wont do anything useful out of US, you will be in the righthand seat again anyway when you get a bigger type on boeing or airbus in Asia. EVA does upgrade expats and there are hips of expat captains from everywhere. So move now and get seniority and on-type hours.

[ILS13]

Does anyone have any insight re. a training footprint? From the first interview up to beginning Line Training?

Also how could one prepare for the interview? Will the contract agencies provide info on this?

[typhoonpilot]

I see a lot of really bad advice in this thread. PIC time is huge no matter what. If you are in a position to get some, then stay where you are and get it. Especially considering you are flying for a U.S. regional airline. You will get excellent training and that training will serve you very well for the rest of your career. It could easily be the difference in successful job interviews overseas in the future, versus failure. It also sets you up to know better when flying with poorly trained local captains in some of these countries. That U.S. training and experience can save your life, literally, when put in some situations by poorly trained local captains. Just look at the accident/incident statistics of Indonesia and India for example. They run airplanes off the runways with an alarming regularity. Taiwan was no better when I started there in the mid-90s. China Airlines had one of the worst accident rates in the world at one time and there are still many incidents at the airlines there that aren't reported widely outside of Taiwan. Not to say there are not some good local pilots, there certainly are, but there are also a larger number of poor performers than you would be used to in the States or other more modern countries.

Don't get Shiny Jet Syndrome looking at the potential to get into the right seat of a B777 quickly. Stay where you are and put in some work to build your professional expertise before you jump into the dirty pool of expat flying.

[jpn crj driver]

Yo Oz dude at Skyworst...

Typhoon has a lots of good points, however understand your situation... Keep plugging along at getting your times up to Air Japan mins because that will be the BEST place for you with your considerations...

You plan to place the family in Indo so you need a good commuting contract in Asia... Best commuting contracts are Air Japan and Korean... Korean does not upgrade so nix that... So Air Japan is your number one target... If you upgrade at OO and get 500 Pic CRJ, Ibex DEC now becomes a option... You could bring the family to Japan and Ibex does cover 75% of the Intl School cost... Or you can commute, not quite as good a deal as AJX but do able... 3rd would be EVA because the commuting contract does not have the days off but they DO upgrade...

Research all your options but DO NOT rush... Yes the wife may become restless, buy a zed fare and send her to Indo as often as you can and that will extend your time line in the USA and lessen the pressure to make a move...

Keep looking and asking... Be aware as Typhoon said Intl Schools are $$$... In Indo not so as you know... Check all the Lease Company websites for the Carriers you are interested in... For Ibex and Air Japan maybe Longreach as a Ozie... Eva not so sure... Best of luck...

Kampai, Jpncrjdriver

[etops777]

I see a lot of really bad advice in this thread. PIC time is huge no matter what. If you are in a position to get some, then stay where you are and get it. Especially considering you are flying for a U.S. regional airline. You will get excellent training and that training will serve you very well for the rest of your career. It could easily be the difference in successful job interviews overseas in the future, versus failure. It also sets you up to know better when flying with poorly trained local captains in some of these countries. That U.S. training and experience can save your life, literally, when put in some situations by poorly trained local captains. Just look at the accident/incident statistics of Indonesia and India for example. They run airplanes off the runways with an alarming regularity. Taiwan was no better when I started there in the mid-90s. China Airlines had one of the worst accident rates in the world at one time and there are still many incidents at the airlines there that aren't reported widely outside of Taiwan. Not to say there are not some good local pilots, there certainly are, but there are also a larger number of poor performers than you would be used to in the States or other more modern countries.

Don't get Shiny Jet Syndrome looking at the potential to get into the right seat of a B777 quickly. Stay where you are and put in some work to build your professional expertise before you jump into the dirty pool of expat flying.

I agreed with with TP pilot! The managements, the culture in EVA or CI will take its toll on you. The quality of training, the PIC time is priceless. Take the command in OO you will be surprised at the opportunities it will present.

[spleener]

I agree wholeheartedly with the above replies. Steady hand on the wheel: Get the Command time.