BMI Regional
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 13
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From: Europe
BMI Regional
Hi there,
I was wondering if anyone could let me know what the company is like to work for? Take home and time off? Has the company a stable roster and is Aberdeen in particular a happy base?
Also what's the Embrear like to fly day in, day out? I heard it was a bit of a bitch with speed stability? Nice to fly?
Regards
I was wondering if anyone could let me know what the company is like to work for? Take home and time off? Has the company a stable roster and is Aberdeen in particular a happy base?
Also what's the Embrear like to fly day in, day out? I heard it was a bit of a bitch with speed stability? Nice to fly?
Regards
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 356
Likes: 0
From: UK
I'd have to agree with suitcaseman - I don't see the speed as being unstable. It is a low drag aircraft which means the speed can fluctuate wildy in gusty bumpy conditions, but fluctuate it does, and that is not the same as unstable. I have watched guys go from idle to full thrust in bumpy conditions on approach wildy chasing the speed trends while others sit there with stable thrust and allow the speed to rise and drop but with no large long term trends hence I would tend to disagree about the 145 being unstable. As for being a handful in high winds, yes, but it is swept wing. I can't think of any aircraft that are not a handful when it gets really windy, but you just have to show the 145 whos boss!
As for the cruise noise, get a bose-x or or a DC headset with ANR like mine and its dead quiet in flight.
As for the cruise noise, get a bose-x or or a DC headset with ANR like mine and its dead quiet in flight.
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
From: UK
Just my 2 cents;
Worst thing I've ever flown in turbulance, when it's heavy the flap limit speed and the approach speed are very close together, beware.
It is noisy for sure but BMI use 'big' headsets so that makes it quiet
The controls are not very well harmonised, but then I guess it was never designed to be hand flown, (very heavy in roll fairly light in pitch).
Seats are uncomfy (but then it was suppose to be a short hop aircraft).
Nice cockpit, if you like that kind of thing. FMS is a bit limited (no vnav couple to autopilot).
I think possibly one of the best looking aircraft out there
Great set of boys and girls working for them.
Worst thing I've ever flown in turbulance, when it's heavy the flap limit speed and the approach speed are very close together, beware.
It is noisy for sure but BMI use 'big' headsets so that makes it quiet
The controls are not very well harmonised, but then I guess it was never designed to be hand flown, (very heavy in roll fairly light in pitch).
Seats are uncomfy (but then it was suppose to be a short hop aircraft).
Nice cockpit, if you like that kind of thing. FMS is a bit limited (no vnav couple to autopilot).
I think possibly one of the best looking aircraft out there
Great set of boys and girls working for them.
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 356
Likes: 0
From: UK
FMS does VNAV just fine, but with no autothrottle you have to make the aircraft do what the FMS says via the autopilot yourself. Ie, it will tell you when to descend but it can't initiate it.
Agree with all the other comments though.
Agree with all the other comments though.
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 21
Likes: 0
From: UK
great aircraft
great people to work with
some very short sectors (25min) some long (2hours)
you arent going to be a millionaire working there
but usually you will be back in your burrow by 9.30pm
and not reporting before 6am
i enjoyed every minute of that company and the people...
it would seem you could do a lot worse reading all the threads here
personally i would recommend the job and the company
see the big picture ...
great people to work with
some very short sectors (25min) some long (2hours)
you arent going to be a millionaire working there
but usually you will be back in your burrow by 9.30pm
and not reporting before 6am
i enjoyed every minute of that company and the people...
it would seem you could do a lot worse reading all the threads here
personally i would recommend the job and the company
see the big picture ...
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 117
Likes: 0
From: UK
FMS does VNAV just fine, but with no autothrottle you have to make the aircraft do what the FMS says via the autopilot yourself. Ie, it will tell you when to descend but it can't initiate it.
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 45
Likes: 0
From: around about
Take home pay for FO is about £2,000 a month after tax (give or take a bit depending if your having a good month on the flight pay or not).
Roster wise I suppose isn't as bad as some airlines, but it aint fantastic either. I seem to get a random mix of really busy weeks, then loads of 2 sector days and standbys rather than a nice stable roster. Rosters only get released 4 weeks ahead and although days off are then fixed, the actual duties that you have been given can get changed and only get confirmed the week before. One good thing as already mentioned is that you are home pretty much every night as there are only a few nightstops here and there.
Aberdeen is what you make it, when I was there there were a lot of guys who were local ish and happy to be there, and then on the other extreeme there were some new FOs who were sent there who hated it and were waiting to get down to their base of choice.
The Embraer can be quite a fun aircraft to fly and there is defintely a lot worse out there technology wise! The only thing I really wish for in bumpy, unstable conditions is an autothrottle. You quickly get used to only reading a couple of lines of the newspaper or having one mouthfull of your scoff at a time then looking up quickly at the IAS then back down again to make sure you don't overspeed!
Roster wise I suppose isn't as bad as some airlines, but it aint fantastic either. I seem to get a random mix of really busy weeks, then loads of 2 sector days and standbys rather than a nice stable roster. Rosters only get released 4 weeks ahead and although days off are then fixed, the actual duties that you have been given can get changed and only get confirmed the week before. One good thing as already mentioned is that you are home pretty much every night as there are only a few nightstops here and there.
Aberdeen is what you make it, when I was there there were a lot of guys who were local ish and happy to be there, and then on the other extreeme there were some new FOs who were sent there who hated it and were waiting to get down to their base of choice.
The Embraer can be quite a fun aircraft to fly and there is defintely a lot worse out there technology wise! The only thing I really wish for in bumpy, unstable conditions is an autothrottle. You quickly get used to only reading a couple of lines of the newspaper or having one mouthfull of your scoff at a time then looking up quickly at the IAS then back down again to make sure you don't overspeed!
