quote: You need to hope that someone with my point of view is the person making the decision.

Lets hope so. I'm sure it is a great place to work.

Did anyone else receive an email today from the Advisor to Pilot Recruitment with regard to the re-forecast for 2009?

SPig are you sitting on a LOI? If so from when? No email what was the forecast?

Spiderpig how about you you cut and paste the email so we can all have a look or are we meant to be mind readers?

May I offer an observation? What is it with people popping on hear and giving cryptic clues and then buggering off never to be heard from again? Either these people are playing a sick game or perhaps you should share all the information you have?

After all it seems that this is the only reliable source of Info. As we all know QF recruitment loves to speak in double negatives and has mastered the art of never actually answering a question! Maybe they should go into politics Im sure they would do well! :yuk:

Yea paste it up! I haven't got anything! You'd think they'd send it to everyone as a group email like the others. What did it say?

re-forcast is not yet released.
You would assume that things are not looking too good.

reforecast due after 07/08 financial year.

The forecast is due in the new year. It is based on expected attrition vs establishment levels required for the new flying program. The flying program is influenced by this so-called 'economic crisis', and it will be lower = less flights = less aircraft required = less pilots required. Aircraft requirements will be managed as documented in other threads and by the media last week. Pilot numbers get managed by assigning leave, reducing flying, adjusted promotions and transfers, and a reduction in recruitment.

Exactly what these recruitment figures will be won't be known till the forecast actually comes out.

What the forecast is nobody knows, but from those who are flying the line, two things are obvious unfortunately. Currently the amount of hours being flown by those in each rank is much lower than has been for a long time, and the divisors (the amount of hours each roster holder is given) is at the minimum for almost all ranks. This means a lot of reserve line holders.

Secondly, for years it has been almost impossible to get leave. Now, they are offering as much leave as people want, yet they are not getting as many as they need to reduce the numbers. Every roster, people are now getting assigned (forced) to take not just annual leave, but long service leave also.

This all means the amount of flying has really dropped off. Traditionally, recruitment only really ramps up when they are almost on the verge of cancelling flights due to lack of crew. The big cycle turns predictably in this industry, but how long it takes to go the full circle varies. Currently it is on the downward cycle, but like the stock market, who knows where the bottom is.

As to whether the coming 380's will need a lot, it depends on how many aircraft are retired when they turn up. This is what the forecast will tell, but when it is available and how accurate it is - nobody really knows.

Rhodes,

Some people don't just bugger off, they get called out on a standby for a 4 day trip and I for one don't spend my time sitting about in hotel rooms online.

The email itself was stamped "Private and Confidential" hence why I did not post it. All it said was, as I stated previously, no news just busy re-forecasting numbers for 2009... I wish it said more

The grammar used in the email and the way it was addressed lead me to believe it was a general email.

Cheers, SPig

380 Crewing
 

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone is in the know of total flight crew numbers required to operate one 380. I have heard that for the 744, it is approx. 16 people; is the 380 simular?

Cheers, K

'Flight crew' generally refers to pilots, engineers, etc. That number for the A380 is two. Extended tours of duty would require supplementary crew. For typical LAX flights that will be 4 crew in total- 1 Captain, 1 F/O, 2 S/Os. In the short term though, many flights are over crewed. A flight last night had three captains, one F/O and one S/O. Training requirements or something like that.

If by 'flight crew' you meant 'air crew' which means both cabin crew and tech crew then I seem to recall the 744 having 15 cabin crew. I have no idea how many cabin crew on the Dugong.

I think Kannon is asking about the number of establishment positions required to man an aircraft for continuous operations?

I know for short haul you're looking at between 4 and 7 complete crews per airframe (depending on your scheduling) - imagine LH would need substantially more?

Ah, I certainly didn't get that! :O

The QF 744 fleet has 30 aircraft and they have about 230 Captains, 230 F/Os and nearly 400 S/Os. That indicates just shy of 1:8. The 767 has 29 aircraft showing a compliment of about 180...about 1:6. I seem to recall the 737 operating at just over 1:5.

The A380 numbers will probably be close to the 744 numbers given the flying will be virtually identical.

Thanks for the response guys..sorry I should have been more concise.

I was curious on the numbers you have given Keg, thank you.

Kannon.

Can someone please confirm what others are saying and that is recruiting has stopped until the end of '09 beginning of 2010????? :sad:

Has anyone got a letter from recruiting recently stating this as fact or is it all rumour and have people been given Feb / Mar courses??

Eq

Eq,
What happened? I thought you already had a start date? How come the sudden interest?

No news as usual, the same "we are waiting for re forecatsing numbers to come through". The same old crap as usual although from the posts above it doesn't look good, pilots being asked to take their accrued leave and min divisors being flown. Interestingly, Qantas have cancelled the cadet course until at least mid year. So not looking good.

Keg dont know whether it was this thread or another but you mentioned being an SO for 6-8 years. Please, please tell me this is by choice and not the usual way of Qantas? Its an awfully long time to be sitting doing nothing watching other guys do the fun parts. On the bright side you'd get to know all the frequencies between here and London by heart.

I do it happily. Its all about big picture long term.

5 years would be the average at the moment. As short as 1 year for a few guys recently who have taken a 737 base.

SO is a bloody great job, if 6-8 years out of a career of 30 odd years scares you, then you probably won't suit the job. Yeah you do get to know a few of the frequencies and how to say hello/goodbye in Russian and Indian but who cares, most of us love it!

It will be interesting to see whether Qantas remains a 'preferred employer'. It wont surprise me to see the better applicants go to Jetstar where they will have a command after 3 to 5 years (on good money) as against still being a second officer in Qantas.

Gen Y care less about long term. It's about what's happening now. Status is less important and a job for life is no longer considered either desirable or achievable. I think you are going to see the cream going to Jetstar/Tiger....