717's heading down unda
 

I have heard conversations around the work place about 10 717's heading down unda. I believe a UK company is the interested party.

As a 717 engineer I would be interested if anyone has any knowledge regarding the company leasing these aircraft. Name, working conditions etc

In addition does if anyone has any information regarding working visa's in Ausy I would appreciate it.

Imboeingmad

Hm, if it's a UK company then i suspect it would be Cobham, as far as I know, they own, or are a major shareholder in National Jet Systems. NJS has contracts for a few more years with Qantas to operate 717's under the QantasLink banner. NJS operate a number of 717's from Perth and Darwin mainly.

Visas - not sure. If an employer can sponsor you and it is a skilled profession then there may be options, Department of Immigration and Citizenship should have some info in there somewhere.

Hope it helps.
NM:)

Nightmode,

Yes thanks very much.
From what I understand they are snatching up some 717'2 that are not currently leased, and at a very good rate. After a brief search 10 more aircraft more than doubles their current 717 fleet, although they do have some other significant numbers. BAe 146 and Dash 8's.

Again thanks for your information.

Mad, sorry to be a doubting Thomas but having worked for that :mad: outfit for 13 years, I would say don't do it unless you are desperate to get to Oz.
I will run naked down any street you care to name in the world, if NJS ( or anyone in Oz ) get 10 more 717s, especially in light of the current economic situation. NJS/QF just sent 3 717s packing, some to Hawiian I believe.
I know plenty of experienced pilots/engineers that have left this outfit in recent months and plenty more that are thinking about it.
The 717 business is completely at QFs whim and contrary to what some NJS employees may believe, this can be terminated at any time, without notice, as they have done in the past with the 146s.
Good luck

Go on Cunning, tell us why the 3 717s went off shore? Couldn't possibly be that the lease terms were unpalatable could it????

Cunning,
I know you don't have a very high opinion of the CIA, but you're going out on a thin limb with that promise! :=:E:}

Possible wind-up? Ten airframes is a LOT for the existing operator, or new aussie operators, to take on.

More Kleenex for the Sunstate crewrooms, stat!!:p

IBM, NJS has room for type experienced engineers, new deliveries or not. Re: comments above - work at any outfit long enough and you know good stuff and bad stuff. Check them out for yourself. There will be an NJS engineer on board each of the ferry flights to Hawaii, why not walk up and say 'aloha?' General details and recruitment details on website Cobham Australia

Perhaps there was something more to the recent ad for flightcrew by Cobhams than just topping up the hold files? :hmm:

From the Boeing available aircraft website.
 

It looks like 16 B717's are available for lease somewhere in the world, newer ones too. So there may be some truth to the rumor.

http://active.boeing.com/commercial/...&pageid=m38072

We'll have to wait and see.

Goday, I have made contact with engineers over there and it appears to be generally a happy and reasonably satisfied group. The real situation seems to indicate that yes, there was some unhappiness in recent times which lead to people leaving for greener pastures, some of those people have found their way back to Cobham.

My next question is which would be the nicest location to live out of all the bases. I believe the following are available Adelaide, Brisbane, Broome, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. Not all have vacancies. The feedback was that Sydney was the main location they were reveiwing.

To get a tan in cairns you would need to frequent a solarium or get a spray on one. Beautiful wonder perfect the next my arse.:oh:

You would certainly need to invest in a raincoat!!!

I think you would need licence coveraage on Dash-8's in Cairns, there is only 1 x 717 overnighting at present so bugger all line maintenance a few turn arounds and lots of Dash work.

Imboeingmad wrote:

Imboeingmad, did they say they would require your 717 engineering experience in Sydney, or would you have to get licenced on the BAe146?

I only ask because the 717s are not based in Sydney... at least not yet anyway! :E

UFA wrote "and for the official official record.... Cobham/National Jet do not operate the Qantaslink dash 8's out of cairns...it is only the 717s

so if u like the idea of bugger all work (1 overnighting a/c and 3-4 turarounds a day), welcome aboard"


For the official official record.... CFOSA/NJS DO operate several Dash8 aircraft for Surveillance / Customs in Cairns with most engineers licenced on both Dash and 717

GM:ugh:

The engineers are not purely QLink they work for Cobham. Their job requires them to work on both 717's and Dash 8's and up until reccent times Islanders and any other type that was required. There are three times as many Dash 8's in Cairns as 717's. The Cairns base is not a maintenance base for 717's it certainly is for Dash 8's. guess what that means, lots of Dash 8 work, with the odd 17 turn around. You need to get out of the galley a bit more and find out what goes on in your own base!

Thread Drift

Haven't gotten wet in ages and my garden's as dry as a dead dingo's donga.

End Thread Drift

You also don't live in Cairns:confused:

Capt_Claret: "Haven't gotten wet in ages"

Ohh GG too much information. Too many overnights I see?

ImBoeingMad:
You need a visa to live in Perth (one issued by the department of Western Australian immigration, not by those twits in the East) and with a Prune name like that, you won't get one! :}

Rumor has it that the 717's, airline services will be operating a few flights out of Adelaide starting next year

Broome doesn't do any B717 work as far as I'm aware, not even turn arounds. It's all Dash 8 work.