No, Surely not?
 

Hi Crew,

Here's one for you, I was talking to a bloke at my local the other day who claimed to have been employed as a bag thrower by a major airline (Virgn) who then was able to transfer to flight crew after he completed his licenses with a piss ant 350hrs?? WTF??

Surely this bloke is having me on, does anyone know anybody else whom has just "slipped" into the system in this fashion?? As far as I'm aware VB dont operate a cadetship in any way shape or form??

rocket

Flight crew as a trolley dolly mebe? Some I've heard talk sound as though they are flying the Aircraft rather than selling drinks down the back.

A foreign flight crew told me yesterday whilst sitting at an aircrew internet cafe at the Hilton.... "regardless of where you sit in the aircraft, it is the same aircraft afterall." !!! Maybe your guy knows this girl.

Looks like bull****, smells like bull**** , tastes like bull****. Good thing you didn't step in it huh?

There are a couple of cabin crew at V who in a short time will be in the front seats.
Its not what you know but who you blow/know, goes for a number of cruisers there as well.
There are a number of cruisers looking at leaving due to poor management decisions like this. I think they are just waiting for the first one to jump before following.
Its just the way it is these days, nothing you can do about it.

Well I know a bloke who's got a blue star but hasn't got the required hours. He's got around a thousand quality (Cheiftain night freight) multi hours.

Reckon your mate's full off sh!t unless he has sheet loads of hours before he chucked bags :E

How short was his skirt?? :eek:

Sounds like a playground............."it's not fair, he got in with less hours than me" :8 There needs to be a dummy spitting icon :E

I agree. It always was a "boys club".

Merit and experience mean nothing there.

too true..

Being a p!sshead does mean something....

Out of the blokes I studied with, the ones who were the biggest plonkers got all the good first jobs in GA :confused:

Does that still stand in the RPT world?

Ive heard some truly hilarious and frightening stories about crew's antics on stopovers..

Trying to transition from working at the airport, to the flight deck may not work.......
(Tommy does seem to have the mental aptitude for a cadetship though.....no, lets not go there....)

and dont call me Surely !!

350 hours?
Most of the pilots here think they should be a 747 Captain with that.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s...icon_dummy.gif

I doubt if he'll ever make a pilot, but he's got a great future in airline management :cool:

Yeah, I'd much rather taste it!

Unless things have changed I call bullshi* on that one. I knew one bloke that was chucking bags with betweeen about 1000 hours and he couldn't even move into an operational role let alone flying within VB - he eventually left. Another nearly had their mins and worked in an operational role, was always told this would not lead to a flying job, eventually got promised it then basically they renegged as they had no one that could do his job if he left - he walked as well.

Might have changed since but nearly everyone I've spoken to that worked for in VB in ground positions said that transferring from pit crew to nearly anywhere internally was VERY difficult.

"...was able to transfer to flight crew after he completed his licenses"

What, you mean like in most other parts of the world?

Employing a pilot with the "licences" does not constitute a cadetship.

I dunno, if this is indeed true, it sounds like a pretty fair way of doing things to me. He has shown his loyalty to the company, and they have returned that loyalty with the "progression" that all you blokes out there all harp on about. I have lost count of how many times I have heard someone whinge about a company due to lack of progression...now when an excellent example of progression is given, you whinge that its not fair. Make up your minds.
In the ag world its always worked this way. You start of loading the plane as ground crew, prove you're a good worker, and with any luck you'll be able to work your way up to a flying job. This bloke has obviously proven himself to be a good worker, and been rewarded for it too.:ok:

Hear hear aileron_69,

Just like all those Doctors-to-be toiling away cleaning the linen at the hospitals, all of those Judges-to-be climbing to the Bench by spending year after year working as Prison Guards and all of those Astronauts-to-be currently sweating away in a third-world factory making the badges that Little Johnny is going to wear on his hat when he goes to watch the shuttle launch. True progression from within the ranks!!!:ouch:

For many people an Ag flying job IS entry level, not top of the rung for fertiliser loaders. What you advocate (to such a degree as a baggage handler jumping straight to seats in the front row) is a backwards step for an already too backwards industry!

FRQ CB

PS I am not insinuating that Ag flying is only a rung to a shiny jet, many many people make a fulfilling and lucrative career below A001.

I think you're missing the point? I think the point the original poster is making is that he didn't have the mins and was hired?