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Yep, for an airline chap those 100's of hours flying sounds like going to work. For those in the military those 100's of hours flying feels more like getting away from work. In the military it's the hours not flying that are the painful ones.

Other than for training, why are AirTanker/MOD trying to crew with expensive civilian pilots (Probably well in excess of £100k needed to tempt a current airline pilot) when they can crew with RAF pilots for half the cost?
I hear from the Gulf that initial senior RAF pilots on A330 conversion course finding it tough going!!

A330 conversion - how hard can it be?

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Just a little caution with regard to hours comparisons advised I think. If you think that the fewer hours flown by RAF crews would therefore mean either more home time or perhaps the possibility of another low-hours job on another airline, you must not forget that those 300-400 years come with additional 'free' umpteen hours on q at Brize or Falklands, another something-teen weeks away each year on det, typically 3-4 weeks at a time for circa 20-30 hours flying...(Let's not include the Ellamy surge). So to summarise, the leisurely appearance of 3-400 hrs/year is more like the work hours of 900 a year once you factor in the legendary Ascot efficiency. Oh, and those who have left, forgotten and considering returning, don't forget that your schedule/roster will change 3-4times per day and if you're not in the vicinity of the desk 24hours a day then you life will be f@c£Ed about from pillar to post and you won't even know what you're doing next week reliably never mind in x-months time for your daughters/fathers/sisters christening/birthday/wedding etc...

The trouble is that if this is an AOC operation (which to a certain extent it will have to be if the pilots are operating with civvy licences), all of the above counts as duty time one way or another. The current limits are 2000 hours duty time in twelve months and 900 flying hours. Either is restricting so "Q" will probably end up in flight time terms as "airport standby". :\

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I hear from the Gulf that initial senior RAF pilots on A330 conversion course finding it tough going!!

Who told you that rubbish? The 'senior' RAF pilots I have spoken to who have recently done an Airbus conversion have had no problems at all.

"senior" in flying hours and experience or "senior" in rank I wonder...The 2 are not necessarily coexistent...

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A330 conversion - how hard can it be?

Obviously, not very....:ok:

Trust all's well.

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"senior" in flying hours and experience or "senior" in rank I wonder...The 2 are not necessarily coexistent...

Experience would suggest the two are now more often mutually exclusive than not.

No one struggled with TR cse but it was apparently something a culture shock compared to the standard 6 month RAF OCU.....

That reminds me of the Britannia course at Filton. RAF - 9 months from start to finish. Laker - Two weeks!