Direct Entry First Officer
 

I see many of you discussing working as SO at CX, but few talking about DEFO.

I’m 737 FO in my home country where English is not the first language and my total time is reaching 800 hours or so.
For those of you at CX, would I have any opportunity to enter CX when I have 1000+ hours or are there other factors to get a job at CX like nationality, flight experiences?

I also want to know “crew culture” at CX. It’s quite usual for captain take FO and sometimes even flight attendants to have some beer and light food after long flight, probably 1 or 2 in morning then the FO and other crews are supposed to go with the captain even if they rather want to get sleep in hotel room. It’s power harrassment for some.
I guess there’s no culture like this is CX or other airlines and I want to see if I’m right or wrong.

Here we go again , it's already been covered

With those hours it would be DESO. I expect the guys who join as DEFO have at least 3000 hours FO time in a jet. Used to be 7,000 hours or military but times have certainly changed.

Oh brother, what’s the point? He’s not qualified, but they’ll probably take him because they’re desperate. He’ll be miserable at CX for as long as he stays, and nothing will EVER change, until CX is sold and/or chopped up for parts and pieces.

Agreed, such an easy target for an utterly disorientated crew recruitment office. In five years time a candidate of "this" "caliber", with close to almost 800 flying hours, is probably over qualified! LMFAO :D

Your first step would be to approach CX recruitment. As already mentioned, you currently do not have the required hours for DEFO. If you joined as a SO, you could expect approx 5 years in that role.

Regarding your "culture" question: If you don't want to go out for a beer, ... just say no. Your apparent lack of assertion would not be a desirable attribute for the cockpit.

Cx has stopped hiring defos anyway. No ability to train them with all the guys coming off the 777.

I would have to agree with this comment. Grow some balls of your own man.

These comments show you have ZERO knowledge of how society works for locals in many Asian countries.
Good news is, no nothing happens if you don’t go out with the capt. at cx if you don’t want to.

Now asking the crew out for a drink is “power harassment” and all that may entail? Well sod that then you band of &$)(/@& .. !

To be able to say no, or no thank you, is an absolute required skill of a pilot, irrespective of culture, being it inside or outside the cockpit. You, obviously, lack the understanding of the importance of acceptable cockpit cultures. The dude is struggling to comprehend the CX entry requirements and feel pressured to go out for a beers with the rest of the crew? as I said, grow balls.,

Again, you have NO idea of the social dynamics in many Asian countries if this is your comment.

I am not saying these are good cockpit practices, but if you look at the poster's location I am not surprised one bit by the question.
That's the way it has worked for many many years in that part of the world, I can promise you good cockpit practices are not going to change that.

He's asking a very legitimate question considering where he's from, and a simple answer is enough. CX is essentially a British company so no, you don't need to go out if you don't want to.

Oh yes, very British indeed! Just ask the Yankee and Ozzie founders ;). Off you go carry on tally ho dear boy!

Faust. Check out the Swire flag which is on all the aircraft. I know it was originally the flag of the China Navigation Company but it isn't Oz or Yankee doodle!

bringbackthe80s

What I'm saying IS, no matter WHERE you come from, being it culturally or geographically defined, you have to be able to adapt to an industry norm cockpit culture. You really don't have to try and lecture me on Asian, including Korean, culture. Let's not even go down the road of how the company culture, including local culture, has put such and unnecessary amount of Korean Airline planes into a hole in the ground. So, should the airlines adapt to the local culture? I don't think so, buddy. There's just not room for that approach and that goes for ANY culture. Period.

Right, you’re talking about good cockpit practices again now. I give up

Guys do some research about a guy who lost his job after not having beer with one of notorious captain in KAL.
Have you guys forgotten about all the accidents happened in KAL due to power distance and FO could not be assertive in cockpit to prevent that.
It's very natural for that guy to feel pressure if he has seen cases like that. Grow some balls? What's the point if you lose your job or make your life miserable in cockpit because he's scolding you every little mistakes.
I am sure he can be more assertive if they would allow him to do so without threating his job. Agreed?

Thanks, gentlemen.


I know my total time hasn't met CX requirement, but I'm flying 80 hours a month. So I thought I'm gonna be eligible to apply for sooner or later.


About the culture I mentioned, those of you seem to be aware of asian culture whilst others doesn't have an idea of what it is.
I totally agree that right assertion is an essential part for flight safety and I gotta say something I have to say in the cockpit. But the thing is that culture can't always come before flight safety unfortunately and I think this is oriented from air force as ex-air force pilots make a large portion of airline industry.


I might be defending myself but these are some practices of culture in my country.


FO should show up and examine all the plans, wx and notams before captain comes.
FO should walk behind or at least half step behind captain.
FO should introduce him/herself before flight if it's the first flight with captain.
FO should wear a coat if captain shows up with coat on in winter times and shouldn't wear if captain doesn't.
FO should ask captain what time he/she’s gonna have breakfast next morning on layover flight (so that FO will have breakfast with captain not to make the captain eat alone.)
FO shouldn't turn his/her map or chart light on brighter than captain's.
and many more...


One day at night flight, a captain told me that I'm rude because I didn't turn my map light towards him when he was reading weight and balance sheet.


I love flying and it's why I chose this job. But this culture issues make my job difficult.

God and his slave !

Don't know whether to laugh or cry......

Your life expectancy might go up with a slightly more chilled outfit.

Good luck ;-)

avi8safety, there are ******** captains in every company I’m sure however at Cathay there is no requirement to do any of the things you stated.

We do our part because we’re professional pilots, not because we’re told too.

If a captain told me off for not turning the reading light I would tell him to just settle down and focus on the important stuff...