F.O. to Captain in China?
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Canada
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F.O. to Captain in China?
Hello everyone,
To introduce myself, I am from Canada and currently working as a teacher in China and I love China. I don't really have a passion for teaching in the future. I've heard of the great packages for pilot in China and was considering a carreer change. My bachelor of science doesn't really give me interesting career prospects.
I used to want to go in piloting when I was younger actually, but I was told it was expensive, difficult to get a job, very low salary. After reading, I understand where the difficulties come from but also what can be the benefits, such as flex schedule in China with 4 weeks on 4 weeks off schedules.
So, China requires Captain pilot with 3000 hours + 500-1500 PIC time.
If I would be to go back to Canada, train in flight school for one year and get all my multi-engine, instrument, CPL ratings. Accumulate hours the second year.
I could potentially get a First Officer job in Asia for Vietjet or Vietnam Airlines or Cathay. But I heard that these jobs usually don't offer prospect for transfer to Captain. So would that mean that I wouldn't get any chance at getting a job as a Captain in China in the future? Because I'm assuming you can't accumulate PIC time doing First Officer job?
What is the best path to accumulate PIC time and eventually get a captain job in China/South Korea/Japan/Middle East?
PS: I like adventure and a 4 weeks on 4 weeks off job would be my TOTAL dream because I would spend a lot of that time off traveling. I'm pretty sure I would have a blast flying too. I have an uncle with a PPL and used to go on flight with him for fun.
Family is not an issue as I'm not planning to have children in this life. Relationship is not planned until I get my life together and I find somebody that love adventures equally.
To introduce myself, I am from Canada and currently working as a teacher in China and I love China. I don't really have a passion for teaching in the future. I've heard of the great packages for pilot in China and was considering a carreer change. My bachelor of science doesn't really give me interesting career prospects.
I used to want to go in piloting when I was younger actually, but I was told it was expensive, difficult to get a job, very low salary. After reading, I understand where the difficulties come from but also what can be the benefits, such as flex schedule in China with 4 weeks on 4 weeks off schedules.
So, China requires Captain pilot with 3000 hours + 500-1500 PIC time.
If I would be to go back to Canada, train in flight school for one year and get all my multi-engine, instrument, CPL ratings. Accumulate hours the second year.
I could potentially get a First Officer job in Asia for Vietjet or Vietnam Airlines or Cathay. But I heard that these jobs usually don't offer prospect for transfer to Captain. So would that mean that I wouldn't get any chance at getting a job as a Captain in China in the future? Because I'm assuming you can't accumulate PIC time doing First Officer job?
What is the best path to accumulate PIC time and eventually get a captain job in China/South Korea/Japan/Middle East?
PS: I like adventure and a 4 weeks on 4 weeks off job would be my TOTAL dream because I would spend a lot of that time off traveling. I'm pretty sure I would have a blast flying too. I have an uncle with a PPL and used to go on flight with him for fun.
Family is not an issue as I'm not planning to have children in this life. Relationship is not planned until I get my life together and I find somebody that love adventures equally.
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To be fair, I'd say your best bet is to stay in Canada and get your experience there. The minimum amount of time you'll need to accumulate the necessary experience to work in China is probably around 5/6 years.
Get a career going in Canada, then try to make the move to a medium size jet as quickly as possible (here lies the biggest variable in this entire project), get a command and collect the hours. Once reaching the hours, go for it.
Other way would be to collect a number of hours enough to apply to different Asian carriers as an FO to gain experience there, possibly upgrade to PIC (there's the issue here, as you mentionned).
Although I can't personally testify, from everything I've read on here, DO NOT GO TO CHINA AS AN FO (some would even argue to not go as a captain either, but what do I know)
Good luck, it's a rather long term project you have there
Get a career going in Canada, then try to make the move to a medium size jet as quickly as possible (here lies the biggest variable in this entire project), get a command and collect the hours. Once reaching the hours, go for it.
Other way would be to collect a number of hours enough to apply to different Asian carriers as an FO to gain experience there, possibly upgrade to PIC (there's the issue here, as you mentionned).
Although I can't personally testify, from everything I've read on here, DO NOT GO TO CHINA AS AN FO (some would even argue to not go as a captain either, but what do I know)
Good luck, it's a rather long term project you have there
Do a LOT of research. Then get a medical. Realistically allow a year for training, then another year or two as a flight instructor building experience for low wages. Then you might have a shot at an airline job. Depending on where you go, it could take 3 - 20 years to get a command, then as long as it takes to build the command time required in China. One thing I can GUARANTEE: In aviation whatever you think is going to happen, won't!
