'Pilot shortage' at Brussels Airlines
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Belgium
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Hello,
And don't forget to have as friend ... " l'homme à la pipe " 
Regards.
In Belgium, as usual, I would suspect that being a friend of a Flemish or Walloon minister for 3 years is one of the standards, and most important, demonstrate your ability to receive money under the table.
Regards.
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Belgium
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Hello,
I am a Belgian citizen who dreamed of his 6 to become a pilot. Now I decided to do it and I made my decission. But since I completely do not trust Belgium and aviation, I decided to start with my pilot training in the Netherlands and my intention will be to work as a pilot outside Belgium, even outside Europe.
There is no atmosphere in Belgium to talk about aviation. There is too little enthousiasme in Belgium to push for aviation. If you look at the 'great airlines' in Belgium... And don't tell me Belgium is not the right place to build up a great and money-making airline. If you look at the economy of our country, than there HAS to be much room for bussiness travellers. I you look at the port of Antwerp, there is at every corner of every street a building of a great company with customers worldwide, those guys need air travel to do their business! The port of Antwerp itself counts to the top 5 worldwide!
The fact that pilots are leaving the company Brussels Airlines reflects the current situation regarding aviation in Belgium. I you don't give the means to create a good atmosphere to develop and to run a great airline, the whole thing will finally end in a fiasco.
We Belgians have to stop to know things better all time. Look around to other countries, just to the Netherlands for example, and you will see that aviation can play an important role for your economy.
Set some goals, make the plans, do the investements and run to company like an airline should be runned. For that, sign the best available people of the industry and pay them to stay with you. THEN you will have a airline that is a big PLUS for your economy!
Cheers
I am a Belgian citizen who dreamed of his 6 to become a pilot. Now I decided to do it and I made my decission. But since I completely do not trust Belgium and aviation, I decided to start with my pilot training in the Netherlands and my intention will be to work as a pilot outside Belgium, even outside Europe.
There is no atmosphere in Belgium to talk about aviation. There is too little enthousiasme in Belgium to push for aviation. If you look at the 'great airlines' in Belgium... And don't tell me Belgium is not the right place to build up a great and money-making airline. If you look at the economy of our country, than there HAS to be much room for bussiness travellers. I you look at the port of Antwerp, there is at every corner of every street a building of a great company with customers worldwide, those guys need air travel to do their business! The port of Antwerp itself counts to the top 5 worldwide!
The fact that pilots are leaving the company Brussels Airlines reflects the current situation regarding aviation in Belgium. I you don't give the means to create a good atmosphere to develop and to run a great airline, the whole thing will finally end in a fiasco.
We Belgians have to stop to know things better all time. Look around to other countries, just to the Netherlands for example, and you will see that aviation can play an important role for your economy.
Set some goals, make the plans, do the investements and run to company like an airline should be runned. For that, sign the best available people of the industry and pay them to stay with you. THEN you will have a airline that is a big PLUS for your economy!
Cheers
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Bear Island
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Contractors conditions@ snba
The foregoing made interesting reading.
I joined as a contractor earlier this year : the working pattern I have is 7 on 4 off, travelling to and from BRU at the end of every working rotation on the first and last duty day to my chosen point on the codeshare network.. wherever I ask to go !
Standard leave is 2.5 days per calander month, which is scheduled between your 4 day off blocks .. equating to 2 weeks off every 3 months.
Pay is ok, the setup is well organised, and the social fund contributions which are paid by the agency, are refunded in a lump sum at the end of a 12 month period, whether you renew the contract or not.
I have seen far worse .. but thats a contractors view.
The agency for those interested and suitably qualified is contractair.
I joined as a contractor earlier this year : the working pattern I have is 7 on 4 off, travelling to and from BRU at the end of every working rotation on the first and last duty day to my chosen point on the codeshare network.. wherever I ask to go !
Standard leave is 2.5 days per calander month, which is scheduled between your 4 day off blocks .. equating to 2 weeks off every 3 months.
Pay is ok, the setup is well organised, and the social fund contributions which are paid by the agency, are refunded in a lump sum at the end of a 12 month period, whether you renew the contract or not.
I have seen far worse .. but thats a contractors view.
The agency for those interested and suitably qualified is contractair.
if possible
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Essex, UK
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Re: Shortage
Well I applied to them with a current B737 NG rating with only the base check on type, total time 310 hours and this is the response I got:
Hello xxxxxxx,
indeed we are in search of Type Rated Pilots(B737).Although we currently give priority to Belgian candidates for obvious reasons.
I cannot be quite sure about this, but it looks like we will be looking for foreign candidates too in the near future.
Anyway, if and when applicable, you will hear from us as your candidature has been held aside.
I would like to ask you to update your resume on our database (cvwarehouse) on a regular basis.
Thanks for your interest
'Belgian candidates for obvious reasons' whats obvious that they discriminate..And I don't want to here its due to tax reasons that we will leave as theres people like myself paying for line training and working for free! If only the UK Airlines operated like this maybe I would have a job over here.
Hello xxxxxxx,
indeed we are in search of Type Rated Pilots(B737).Although we currently give priority to Belgian candidates for obvious reasons.
I cannot be quite sure about this, but it looks like we will be looking for foreign candidates too in the near future.
Anyway, if and when applicable, you will hear from us as your candidature has been held aside.
I would like to ask you to update your resume on our database (cvwarehouse) on a regular basis.
Thanks for your interest
'Belgian candidates for obvious reasons' whats obvious that they discriminate..And I don't want to here its due to tax reasons that we will leave as theres people like myself paying for line training and working for free! If only the UK Airlines operated like this maybe I would have a job over here.
Join Date: Sep 2004
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dimdelu
Yes I did that first (CV Warehouse) and I heard nothing, then sort of an insider gave me the mailing address so I sent a written letter and CV once again I heard nothing, then finally the same person gave me the email address which went directly to the main recruitment person. He sent that reply fairly rapidly maybe a few days...
Join Date: Jan 2008
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maybe is it possible of for u to give this email adress pls (the one of the main recrutment person) ? (by private message...)
It could be very nice from u!
thank you a lot !
It could be very nice from u!
thank you a lot !
Join Date: Dec 2004
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Turkish777
If not i wouldn't want you sitting in any seat on a 73 that you hadn't been offered in exchange for a boarding pass.
Join Date: Sep 2004
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MungoP
310 Total time with only 1hr on type..
Well if you don't like the sound of me flying a 737 with that little experience then best you don't fly Ryan Air, Easy Jet, BA (i.e.Oxford Grauates), Flybe, Titan, Excel, Air Slovakia, Air Baltic, Virgin Nigeria, Monarch, Royal Air Morocco, FLY Lal etc etc.. the list continues, in fact I think you better get a bus as all these companies employ low houred pilots, have a look on their web sites and get with the 21st Century..
Well if you don't like the sound of me flying a 737 with that little experience then best you don't fly Ryan Air, Easy Jet, BA (i.e.Oxford Grauates), Flybe, Titan, Excel, Air Slovakia, Air Baltic, Virgin Nigeria, Monarch, Royal Air Morocco, FLY Lal etc etc.. the list continues, in fact I think you better get a bus as all these companies employ low houred pilots, have a look on their web sites and get with the 21st Century..
Join Date: Jun 2005
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21st Century
Yeah, MungoP...
xxx
If you go from USA to Europe, with these green horns...
You better book your trip on a South American airline,
Miami to South America, enjoy a night there, then fly to Europe...
That is for your safety...
xxx
Here our new hires have an ATPL (not stored in a "freezer") -
And 500 hours of JET time (JET does not include prop-jets) - Jet means REAL JET...
Oh - granted, our boys dont even know how to spell "MCC Licence"...
What is that, anyway, another piece of worthless paper...?
Guys with a "deluxe CPL" of 309.5 hrs and "frozen-whatever-you-call-it" are C-152 captains.
In Argentina, they are authorized to scare their overweight mother-in-laws only.
So they are in command of a Cessna one-fifty-TOO HEAVY.
xxx
Get with the 21st Century, MungoP, as el Señor Turkish777 tells you.
Me, in Europe, it is TGV-Thalys, Deutsches Bundesbahn, or SNCF...
I dont like to wait for ticketing and bags anyway.
And still be at 35 km of the city I go to...
xxx
With the TGV from Brussels to Paris, 1 H 20 minutes.
From heart of the city, to heart of the city.
No need to show 90 minutes in advance at 7:00AM at an airport.
And still wait for your bags to arrive at 12:30PM... and be late for lunch.
The TGV "pilot" does not read his book "how to drive a train in 10 lessons"...
xxx
Happy contrails
And "Teshe", Turkish, enjoy a glass of Raki for me...
xxx
If you go from USA to Europe, with these green horns...
You better book your trip on a South American airline,
Miami to South America, enjoy a night there, then fly to Europe...
That is for your safety...
xxx
Here our new hires have an ATPL (not stored in a "freezer") -
And 500 hours of JET time (JET does not include prop-jets) - Jet means REAL JET...
Oh - granted, our boys dont even know how to spell "MCC Licence"...
What is that, anyway, another piece of worthless paper...?
Guys with a "deluxe CPL" of 309.5 hrs and "frozen-whatever-you-call-it" are C-152 captains.
In Argentina, they are authorized to scare their overweight mother-in-laws only.
So they are in command of a Cessna one-fifty-TOO HEAVY.
xxx
Get with the 21st Century, MungoP, as el Señor Turkish777 tells you.
Me, in Europe, it is TGV-Thalys, Deutsches Bundesbahn, or SNCF...
I dont like to wait for ticketing and bags anyway.
And still be at 35 km of the city I go to...
xxx
With the TGV from Brussels to Paris, 1 H 20 minutes.
From heart of the city, to heart of the city.
No need to show 90 minutes in advance at 7:00AM at an airport.
And still wait for your bags to arrive at 12:30PM... and be late for lunch.
The TGV "pilot" does not read his book "how to drive a train in 10 lessons"...
xxx
Happy contrails
And "Teshe", Turkish, enjoy a glass of Raki for me...
With over 3000 hours as pax can I be an F/O?
That's the problem with pilot shortages, the minimum qualifications keep going down and you get babies with a couple of hours who think they're God's gift to flying. Scares the pooh out of me I can tell you. And if you don't like what I say Turkish 777, tough! I'm the customer and I pay your wages, that entitles me to an opinion
That's the problem with pilot shortages, the minimum qualifications keep going down and you get babies with a couple of hours who think they're God's gift to flying. Scares the pooh out of me I can tell you. And if you don't like what I say Turkish 777, tough! I'm the customer and I pay your wages, that entitles me to an opinion
Join Date: Mar 2001
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It is nothing new in Europe, in fact the big guys like Lufthansa, BA etc. put pilots with between 200 and 400 hours total time in their shiny big jets (some of them heavies) for a long time. It is the norm here, not the exception.
It is called abinitio training and absolutely nothing new. It just gets taken a step further with the new MPL, and that thing certainly scares me a bit too. Not those that do it for the big airlines like Lufty etc, but those that will do it at small mostly unregulated flight schools. So in the future pilots will start with as little as 60 hours total on a jet...
It is called abinitio training and absolutely nothing new. It just gets taken a step further with the new MPL, and that thing certainly scares me a bit too. Not those that do it for the big airlines like Lufty etc, but those that will do it at small mostly unregulated flight schools. So in the future pilots will start with as little as 60 hours total on a jet...
Join Date: Dec 2004
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The BIG difference with the majors is that they're aware that they need a training program and THAT is why they have very low hour pilots on their staff.. but not pretending to be qualified F/Os.. they are there for training and sit quietly watching qualified people do the job before they start doing it themselves while being monitored.. an apprentiship if you like.. very different to the LCC scenario where hopelessly underqualified wannabees are moving the CofG fwd an 1/8th of an inch and trying to stay in the loop on a bad night.
Pax would be horrified to know how miserably low the experience level is fwd of that cockpit door.. some of this policy is coming home to roost over here in the US among the regionals.
Pax would be horrified to know how miserably low the experience level is fwd of that cockpit door.. some of this policy is coming home to roost over here in the US among the regionals.
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But don't worry because on the left of this low time pilot there is a Captain which is born with 10.000 hrs heavy jet.
Mmmmh because you know in America to be in a major you need 500 hrs Jet but no turboprop (so where do you get those 500???)...
Allez bonne journée MDRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
Mmmmh because you know in America to be in a major you need 500 hrs Jet but no turboprop (so where do you get those 500???)...
Allez bonne journée MDRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
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in America to be in a major you need 500 hrs Jet but no turboprop (so where do you get those 500???)...
If he can make a bad decision about trying an approach better avoided, what chance is there that he'll debate it with a newbee on the right who barely knows which way up he's flying ?
As far as I know Boeing are still producing a/c requiring 2 crew... not one and a bag-carrier. A chimp can be taught to push a few buttons.. decision making skills come with experience and if CRM is to be anything other than lip-service there has to be real interaction between two pilots of reasonable experience.