Cathay Pacific Second Officers
 

I noticed that Cathay Pacific are looking for SO pilots and minimum requirement is 1000 hours, ICAO, plus a few other minor criteria

I have a few questions:
What would be the average pay?
How long would they sit in the jump seat before landing?
Would it be an advantage to go down this route for a few years and then try and get a job as a FO for another company?

I intend to start my comm. next month so I have a long way off but I have been advised to look at all opportunities from as soon as possible

Any other information or suggestions around the SO route would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
15SQN

Spend a few minutes reading the Fragrant Harbor section on this very forum and you'll see what you're up against. You won't get anywhere near a Cathay S/O job until you have several thousand hours on turboprop / small jet and even then you'll have to be very very very good. Despite what it says on the website as minima, when I did the interview a couple of years ago I was the only person in the room with less than 4000 TT. 8 out of the 10 guys in my group had time on smaller jets, quite a few as captains. And after all that, only three of us got the job :hmm:

Good luck with your training ...

Thanks LSToddler - interesting everyone's thoughts, guess I can only try at a later stage

CX
 

I just interviewed for an SO position with CX yesterday. Tough interview so start studying!

I have 4,000TT 2900 Turboprop.

Good luck.

seatrumpeter:

how did your interview go? what was you main study aid? i am going on july 19th for my initial SO interview in london. 3000TT flying Captain B1900 for commuter, 1500ME, 700 turboprop, 2300 PIC total. good luck!!

You know I thought I was well prepared but felt like I fluffed the explanations to some of the questions. I also blanked when asked about the drawbacks to spanwise flow ... I got there in the end but had to be prodded.
So it went OK but I also wouldn't be surprised if I didn't get the 2nd interview.
As for study - Handling the Big Jets is a must. Also look at the gouge on jetthrust.com. Probably the one thing I would have done differently would have been to practice my answers outloud in a pretend interview setting in advance.
Ray

hey thanks for the tip about jetthrust.com, I was not familiar with that site. Those zip files are freaking amazing. Anyway, so many things to do...so little time!! good luck again.

cheers

morenof

Not always
 

There was a guy who had about 2000TT in SE light a/c and he was instrutor and never flown turbo prob . He studied everyday for the interview for a year and aced the interview in 1 hr and 30 mins and got SO in 744

NOT usual case but it does happen

HTBJ
 

Can someone tell me are there any specific chapters to home in on with Handling The Big Jets.

I find everyone says it's a must read, granted, there are some excellent kernels of info in it. However, I find it's not the sort of 'book' that one can pic up and read, like 'The Da Vinci Code'. I am not expecting it to be that, I just find it more of a reference book.

IR

I just got invited for a second interview so I am pretty excited...

As for HTBJ, unfortunately you should not be reading this book - you should be studying it. You need to know it through and through. If all yo uwant to do is pick a choice morsel here or there, you don't have a chance...

Why would one want to leave a captaincy flying job for a position as a SO watching others fly around? I'm aware of the potential upgrades and being with a decent airline but... are you not just wasting your time??