Interview with TACA
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Interview with TACA
First off, I'd like to thank everyone on this website for all the useful insight and quite entertaining chatter. I wish I would have found this site a whole lot sooner. So yesturday I received the email from the chief pilot at TACA and it bascially said that they have selected me to start the interview process. Everything I've read on this website is pretty accurate. QOL is poor but an improvement from where I'm coming from. And the only reason Im getting a chance to interview is because I have a family member who works there and personally handed my Cv to the chief pilot. So my question is this: does anyone have more insight to their interview process? Gouge possibily? ANY positive advice is welcomed.
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Well I received my Salvadorian I.D called a DUI. The DUI I got because both my parents are Salvadorian. They went to El Salvador to get a birth certificate under my name which I have rights to because both my parents are from E.S. Once I got the DUI I applied for the passport which proves you can work in E.S. So to sum this up and answer your question about outsiders applying......you NEED a Salvadorian passport and an insider who can give the chief pilot your Cv. Flight time and experience in central america really doesnt matter. Its who you know that can get you in. I have 2000TT and 500 multi, no turbine time. So if anyone has additional insight or has interviewed with other airlines in Central America, your info would be greatly appreciated.
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Good luck man, I assume you speak spanish too. You are right on many things, its who you know within the airline that gets you the job. I have many pilot friends and if you are latino , you will get along very well, good jokes, friendships and chat.
Taca doesnt recruit foreigners, since they dont have the need, your newhire group is indeed very small. Most pilots including captains are young so there is not need in hiring. You also need to be from E.S.
I am waiting for chance in the Taca regional, possibly gettting the call within days, good luck to you, review stuff ( Jeppessen is one of them).
Enrique
Taca doesnt recruit foreigners, since they dont have the need, your newhire group is indeed very small. Most pilots including captains are young so there is not need in hiring. You also need to be from E.S.
I am waiting for chance in the Taca regional, possibly gettting the call within days, good luck to you, review stuff ( Jeppessen is one of them).
Enrique
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Thanks. Fortunately for me my parents taught me spanish first so im fluent in both languages. Its true, the pilots are young and the hire group is small. Ill be in SAL the last week of May. I guess we'll see how it goes.
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Flying For Penuts
WOW, pretty funny post out here lately..... TACA used to be a great company to work for, but look where is heading to... Now, the worst is, that AVA had purchased a big chunk of the Pie and AVA pilots are going to suffer those consequences. GOOD LUCK TO ALL... STOP FLYING FOR PENUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
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Well after a couple of months here is where I stand.....no job. 
So I met up with the chief pilot. It really went well. We got along, I had all the required documents that would allow me to work there. But he dropped the bomb on me when he told me that I had to convert my license to the Salvadorian equvilant on my own dime. So out of curiousity I called the appropiate aviation department at the government and I pretty much have to take all my checkrides and writtens to convert with the exception of my PPL they will honor that and my hours as well. So I called around and priced it around $3000 to do all this. At the end, it didnt matter. Approx two months later he sent me an email saying that at this time they have met their pilot staffing needs but that he will keep me in mind for future staffing needs. So i've moved on. Ill wait on this supposed hiring boom here in the states.
So I met up with the chief pilot. It really went well. We got along, I had all the required documents that would allow me to work there. But he dropped the bomb on me when he told me that I had to convert my license to the Salvadorian equvilant on my own dime. So out of curiousity I called the appropiate aviation department at the government and I pretty much have to take all my checkrides and writtens to convert with the exception of my PPL they will honor that and my hours as well. So I called around and priced it around $3000 to do all this. At the end, it didnt matter. Approx two months later he sent me an email saying that at this time they have met their pilot staffing needs but that he will keep me in mind for future staffing needs. So i've moved on. Ill wait on this supposed hiring boom here in the states.
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I had to convert my license to the Salvadorian equivalentnt
1dayA320 you'll be fine...You'll get a job sooner or later
!!I have a question if you dont mind,when he said that you needed to convert licences to the equivalent,which specifically?Commercial,IFR only??I'd like to know so I can start going over those question I found the website of the "Autoridad de aviacion civil de El Salvador"they have the sample question and they're the same as the english version.
!!I have a question if you dont mind,when he said that you needed to convert licences to the equivalent,which specifically?Commercial,IFR only??I'd like to know so I can start going over those question I found the website of the "Autoridad de aviacion civil de El Salvador"they have the sample question and they're the same as the english version.
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Yeah the AAC is a copy/paste of the FAA. Everything is identical. So, they told me I had to take my instrument and commercial written. As for the checkride it would be a multi comm instr. checkride. If its similar to what they do here, you would do commercial maneuvers in a milti with a single engine ILS. They funny thing though.....Im pretty sure El Salvador only has one ILS and thats at comalapa airport which apparently that airport isnt used for training. This is coming from the chief pilot so ill take his word on it. Maybe someone else can clarify this point. The writtens are $20/ea the examiner fee for the checkride is $80 not including the rental fee for the airplane. Renting a multi over there averaged $400/hr. I called a couple places and that seemed to be the average. So you see how this process can quickly get you a few thousand dollars in debt?! I cant drop any more money in this career. Its enough that this industry pays starting pilots very little. Good luck.
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Taca
1DayA320=Wow Good info.....Yeah I also called A flight school down there called "dardanos" based at Ilopango airport(which I think you are right about the ILS,San Salvador, I think is the only one that has that approach and Ilopango does not)Anyways Dardanos charges about 380 for a multi, I was 
wow but on the other hand checkrides and writtens compensate for that.Well thanks for the info and good luck to you as well and God bless!
wow but on the other hand checkrides and writtens compensate for that.Well thanks for the info and good luck to you as well and God bless!
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TACA
I am probably extremely late, but I trained in El Salvador for a year or two, and yes their only ILS is in comalapa, or MSLP. Even though they do not use it for training, as a student pilot there, you do shoot a few ILS there to minimums during the light times of the day. I was also wondering if there are any more news on TACA, any hiring info? I heard a rumor that they are hiring again for bot the embraer and the airbus.