What is happiness?

For me it’s not spending 24/7 with my family. By god I did that in 2020. Jeez I would rather smash out 2000 hrs a year than do that again.

These are the characters in aviation:
First Officers:
80% are super happy. Just want to smash those hours out particularly when low hours.

10% are kind of happy. Enjoy flying but think maybe they should be doing something else.

10% not happy. Various reasons. Poor salary, taking ages for command, definitely don’t like flying and not sure why they started it etc etc. Yes I knew someone who just got into flying because his dad wanted him to. Oh dear.

Captains:
5% still super excited about aviation even when they are over 60 years old still full time flying as many hours as possible. Flown with some guys in this bracket and doesn’t matter time of day they seem to be like excited puppies all the time. Bit annoying at 4am but glad they loving life.

15% very happy. Again usually older people who flew during good years. Saved a fair amount and could retire early. Still enjoying flying.
Another group of Captains in this group are ones that work at airlines that offer what they are looking for eg part time. They are happy to take the cut in salary and enjoy days off thinking about flying while enjoying other past times.
New Captains also in this bracket (First 3 years)

30% moderately happy. Soldiering on day in day out. Been LHS a little over 3 years. Initial wow factor of being Captain has now worn off. Increase in salary has been helping them feel much more financially comfortable. Most of these found at seniority based airlines get most of holidays they request and can pick trips they want etc.

30% not very happy at all. These are Captains that don’t need the money as much but are at airline that doesn’t offer what they want. Been in LHS over 7 years. Every airport is the same now. Fed up of gruelling rosters. Going through security again and again and again. Think back to days when you were flying SEP/MEP into some dirt strip airport which is never going to happen again. Wish you could move companies but would have to start from the bottom again. Your current company doesn’t offer what you would like. (That can be a multitude of things).

20% the grumpiest of grumps. These are the LHS people who moan about everything. Usually been in aviation a long time but not always. Does seem to be a group too deep in to be able to give it up. Too much flying. Too little flying. Don’t get paid enough. Get paid too much. (Yes that does sound weird but I flew with a Captain once who complained about the day off working payments. I said it was great incentive to help stop the flight cancellations due to lack of staff, part time workers will be incentivised through this difficult summer. “NO it’s not. I wrote to our Head of Flight Operations and said it’s not needed. We need to save money. REDUCE these payments NOW”. Erm ok)
Too many nights away. Too few nights away.
Aviation isn’t what it used to be. Another CAVOK day, boring. Same person in winter. Oh FFS can’t we just have CAVOK days all the time Im fed up with this. I wish I had done something else. The list is endless.


Sorry completely off piste from the topic but I had a spare 15 mins to burn.

if some people came from
lufthansa it was for two reasons:

1) something happend there and they stopped recruiting - so a lot of trained and check pilots where sent to the checkin counter or just send to the streets being on waiting list with no details for the future

2) simple as the way to command is to long, we are talking of 15 years plus. And it’s along way throu short haul flying too, until you see long haul.

99% Lufthansa pilots are not leaving it, unless being forced to do so.

during COVID they got a salary of 80% from Norma pay doing nothing sitting at home and a job at the end.

Happiness is a individual thing:

most people are not happy after passing 5 years in the sand pit, but they are happy with money they make and found it better than being a LCC pilot in Europe with a ****ty pay.
getting to EK is easy, getting out very hard. when you find you won’t find a job paying your lifestyle ( the fancy car, the endless number of visits to the beach clubs or the exciting vacation destinations you can reach and afford since they are on the network)

first major drop on leaving EK to a LCC, beside the salary, is the realization that you won’t get ZED tickets and your income does not allow to go to Mauritius or Sansibar etc once a year.

agree :
if your life expectations is to sit at home with your family and/or on your whereeveritis property, talking about your side business than EK or Dubai is perfectly right

so for the Kids:
80% of there activities are indoors just because of the climate

My kids are 80% of the year are outdoor having multiple activities which are free of charge


those with the side business have done the only one right thing. Get distracted from the EK sh…… and maximize the profit once they need to go - these guys have my respect.

most people go to EK - for the lifestyle coming with the income they would never have at home. Be honest look around you what people posse and than think of the same street what it would look like back home (MS and MH)


may I ask what are your off time activities around the year or those of your kids if you have some ?

Anyone has recently been to the Dubai selection stage & could share some useful infos ? This was the initial topic, not an EK bashing contest.

Did anybody boeing rated had been sent any interview message recently ? My application show status "application recieved" for a quiet some time already and ive been told they are calling only airbus guys recently. Appreciate any feedback 😉

Boeing guy here also still waiting for first contact. I applied 2 weeks ago and it shows "application under review" since the day I submitted the application. Where did you hear that they're only calling Airbus guys now? Do they have all the Boeing people they need?

Hi! Maybe you can share the first part of the assessment? (HireVue) What to expect from there? I've sent you a PM btw. Best of luck! :)

You also sent me one. I read it. You should know that in PPruNe people can't reply to private messages until they've reached a certain amount of thread posts as the PM box only fits 1 message. So answering your PM: Just get yourself a month subscription at latestpilotjobs.com Emirates Pilot Interview and Assessment Preparation. It has a practice section and the comment section is full of advice and specific questions that people were asked.

Boeing guys are still going. I know a couple going soon. Got people joining Boeing for sure in October.

Yeah, they're going but they applied earlier possibly. My pal here passed the assessment in Dubai last week and he's now confirmed for course in Nov/Dec. They told him they're hiring 150 Boeing pilots and that the last course will start in February. But they called him just 10 days after he submitted the application about a month ago.

I and a bunch of other Boeing guys I'm in contact with applied 2 weeks ago and we haven't been called to do the Hirevue stage. So could it be that they finished screening Boeing people sometime during the past 2 weeks? Every Boeing pilot I know who was contacted to start the online stages applied more than 3 weeks ago.

My application has been under review since Feb... Boeing hours over 3500 with over 7000hrs TT... Not too sure what criteria they are looking for at this point in time.

Anyone here who has not flown 150 hours in the preceding 12 months been contacted for a screening?

I’m preparing for Panel Interview online.
Can someone advise if it will include technical questions as well?

Might happen, but unlikely. Competency based interview “ tell about a time when you had to …..”.

Tell me about a time when cabin crew invite you for dinner , tell me please

I generally find the happiest colleagues are the ones that have more going on outside of work. Hobbies, getting out of DXB on days off or a side business etc. In the searing summer heat when getting outdoors is a challenge, it is very easy to get sucked into an EK vortex during your spare time, which revolves around coffee, gossip and tales from frustrated colleagues. During a row of days off, happiness is V1 at DXB!

I have it direct from HR, only calling Airbus rated guys now.

Unlikely. In fact the recruitment process has slowed down. New applications are "under review" and people who passed the assessment over the last month are still waiting for a date to start training. Courses are said to take place November-January. They've reactivated the a380 and they're calling back A380 rated people who stopped flying during the pandemic and Airbus people in case they don't find enough. It's unlikely that they'll need to lower the entry requirements for now. A huge amount of European LOCO pilots with far more than 2000h are applying so you'd need at least that. If you expect to reach 2000h in the very near future just apply.

I believe they have excess pilots on A380? Combine with rejoining, they slow down the hiring on the A380. And not all the redundant been recalled.