First Pilot Job - Advice needed

[skysurfer0805]

Dear pprune community,
At first I wanted to say thank you to all members of this community who make this site such a valuable source of information, dispute and advise - specially to those who are new to aviation.

I have been through hard work from the day-dream of being a commercial pilot to the point when my "frozen ATPL" CPL reached my postbox. In the jungle of FTO's I feel lucky about not loosing tens of thousands of Euros like some friends did, when their highly advertised schools went into bancruptcy during their integrated training.

I feel even luckier to very soon be invited to a job assessment at a regional airline that operate dash 8-300's . Of course this is a great opportunity for a first job and I really want to do it, but there are counter arguments (if i will pass assessment of course); Salary will be very low and typerating will have to be pre-financed. Even the assessment is being charged for! Rumors are that pilot fluctuation is high because of general working conditions. Also I will have to change my residency and leave my house, my non aviation job and other candy that comes along with my home town.

Furthermore there is a good chance for a job right here, on a CJ2+ - probably only half of rating prefinanced, operated from a company with good reputation and decent salary. The only down here is in the nature of executive flight - standby times abroad and possibly less hours flown.

So I'm asking you, how much is turboprop experience worth to companies compared with executive CJ2 if I'll want to move up to something bigger after some years? What would be your choice if it was between this two?

Cheers,

[Guttn]

First of all, congratulations on your CPL Good job!

It seems like you did your research before beginning your initial training and came out of it with perhaps less debt than others do. Well done.

I`m presuming you read some of the posts here regarding SSTR, P2F and 6 month contracts? And I also hope you understand what this has done, and is still doing to everybody`s T&Cs? IMO, any job you have to pay money to get, and/or keep, is not a job you want. Guess what the HR department really thinks of their pilots; suckers! I do, however, understand that it feels good to be invited to screening by commercial operators, but don`t let aircraft size or types blind you completely. I also hope you understand that a flying job 9 out of 10 times will translate to a commute. Big city = long drive in heavy traffic. Based far away from home = air travel to get to and from work. Social life and family life gets amputated. I`m not kidding.

I`m not going to rant on about all this, that has been said in many threads here, but maybe give you a piece of advise; go to both screenings and hear what they have to say. They may not even want you, but you`re not getting any job if you don`t meet and greet. Ask them if they are ok with bonding for a rating as you are straight out of flight school with lots of debt. I would especially have a nice talk with the bizjets folks since they might be a bit more round in the edges than the regular beancounters. Ask if they will bond you. Or even better - rate you on their aircraft so you can fly for them and make money for them. I know, it`s a crazy idea, but it was known to have happened some years ago

BTW, welcome to the world of aviation! Keep your eyes peeled in all directions. Backstabbers are everywhere

[skysurfer0805]

thanks for your reply .. sounds like a lot of true words !! I will go for both and will see what the conditions really are. I slowly start to understand this crazy world and how we look like in the eyes of the HR departments.

I will keep you updated on my progress.

[Neptunus Rex]

Given the choice, I'd go for the CJ2 job. Its a jet, "you can't feather a hole," and it is probably a smaller company. If that is so, you will learn more, and faster, than in a bigger company. On those standby times away from base, you will get lots of sound advice from your captains. If the captains you fly with know that you are working hard, most of them will give you extra help along the way.
All the best, skysurfer.

[bairni]

skysurfer do you have any information about the Intersky assessment? sounds like there will be 100+ people or more in Bregenz... nearly everyone i know has been invited, even FIs with 5000+h
See you on monday

regards,
bairni

PS: is the CJ2+ job with EuropStar?

[skysurfer0805]

good guess on intersky, CJ2 is a private contact.

I expected there to be more than 20 but 100+ ?? I have no information except the usual. Im not afraid however

cu

[21-Lancer]

Any news & details regarding InterSky assesment?

Hi guys.

Will you give us some interesting details about how the things worked? Your info can be very helpful for all of us!

Thank you in advance!

[bairni]

hi 21-lancer!

things turned out pretty good for me and 3 other colleagues

there was a first assessment step two weeks ago with computer tests and psychological tests. quite like the DLR test for Lufthansa. 31 participants.

one week later there was the SIM-Screening and an interview with the Intersky Board. 10 participants.

and now I'm sitting here in Bregenz, studying for the ground course of the Dash8 Type Rating. We'll be in Madrid in two weeks on the Level D SIM and the
start of the line training is planned for 2nd Week in October

happy landings
bairni

[21-Lancer]

Congratulations!