BA Direct Entry Pilot.

[flyer101]

Initial assessment - D1

Hi. Can anyone who has recently done the day one give their experience of how long it took to hear back from BA on their assesment outcome?

[P0tt3r]

Originally Posted by flyer101

Hi. Can anyone who has recently done the day one give their experience of how long it took to hear back from BA on their assesment outcome?

2 days after (October). I think it varies though, and you can't read too much into it.

[spyce]

Could someone share good books and/or website for the numerical test on day one?


thanks

[giggitygiggity]

Does anyone know what the logbook requirements for stage one are? I kept a paper logbook until November last year and have now moved to a digital one (MCC). I was planning to bring in the paper one and just print out the MCC one. Does anyone know if that is acceptable? It would be silly to get it professionally bound when there is only going to be 10 pages in it.

Thanks

[Dupre]

BA Rosters by fleet?

Hi, would anyone be so kind as to post (PM also welcome!) typical roster patterns for their fleet? I know it can be highly variable (and changing witn EASA FTL), but I am just trying to get a feel for how many nights downroute, how many turnaround flights, and how many trips to the airport can be expected, and how this varies across each of the fleets.

Thanks!

[Fursty Ferret]

No one looked at mine...

[giggitygiggity]

Ferret, I assume you were replying to my logbook thing. Thanks for that, anyone else?

[Jwscud]

I think they photocopied the last page of mine, but don't remember if it was day 1 or 2.

[wiggy]

Dupre:

Hi, would anyone be so kind as to post (PM also welcome!) typical roster patterns for their fleet? I know it can be highly variable (and changing witn EASA FTL)

I'm in a rush this AM but if you get no other replies I'll try PM something Longhaul'ish later today....however TBH at the moment even us insiders have no idea how scheduling is going to work and roster shapes in the not too distant future. It all depends on the misleading entitled pay ballot, the result of which will amongst other things will determine which rostering system we will end up using (and also of course whether a large chunk of pay goes back to being a variable...just thought I'd mention that..again ).

Regardless of whether we end up on the aforementioned JSS or "son of Bidline" I suspect for Long Haul you'll be looking at EASA compliant minimum required turnaround at base, which, depending on who you believe, may or may not include "back to backs" at base.....

[Juan Tugoh]

Also worth mentioning that EASA FTLs have massively reduced the likelihood of swapping trips now. So achieved rosters are much more like published rosters which is a huge change.

[RexBanner]

I am guessing we will still be subject to EASA once Britain pulls out of the EU?

[Stocious]

Also worth mentioning that EASA FTLs have massively reduced the likelihood of swapping trips now. So achieved rosters are much more like published rosters which is a huge change.

Short haul probably not affected as much as long haul though.

[wiggy]

Dupre, others...

Ah well, I was hoping for an IT wizz to do a cut and paste but failing that here's my effort: a couple of example 777 (P1) EASA compliant lines for March, as published. They are both pretty "full on" as they are just above CAP. FYI Not sure how "junior" they went in the Stage 1 bid process but BKK'/HKGs tend to be somewhat popular, and the long SYDs can also attract some more senior bidders. They should at least give a flavour of the roster pattern. Please forgive formatting.

Decode:

XXX = destination at end of FDP
- = GMT day off at base.
* = GMT day down route/en-route, so may contain a duty or part thereof...

Line 1

--EWRLHR*----BOM*LHR--JFKLHR*---BLR**LHR--HKG**LHR*

Line 2

-BAHBAHLHR*---SIN**SYD*SIN*LHR*-----BKK**LHR---DXB*LHR

notes for line 2

First trip is: LHR-BAH day one, BAH-DOH-BAH shuttle day two, BAH-LHR day 3/4

The final DXB*LHR is a "carry out", arriving LHR 1 Apr.

There are a handful of lines with 6 trips on them...(the low credit/flying hours, 3 day trips), but I thought publishing one of those would be bad for moral, unless you really like EWR, LOS, RUH etc......just think 3 day trip (e.g day flight out, nightstop, overnight flight home), 2 days off, 3 day trip, etc, you'll get the idea......

[Dupre]

wiggy

Wow thanks for that, really much appreciated! It took me a couple of minutes to understand it, but got there in the end ☺

Anyone else with any different fleets?

[Calmcavok]

Less days off than I would have imagined. Are 15 or more days off possible or simply non-existant?

[wiggy]

Less days off than I would have imagined. Are 15 or more days off possible or simply non-existant?

Yikes........even at BA, even in Longhaul we're expected to come to work every now and then . To be fair some of this depends on whether you regard a late departure from LHR (e.g. to SIN,) as a day off, and also if you'd regard an oh dark thirty arrival at LHR as an effective day off (e.g. arrivals from LOS, NBO, SIN). If you are prepared to think that way you'll get 15 days "off" on a lot of lines. OTOH as a full timer it's very hard if not impossible to get 15 entire days off unless you've got leave or a Duty Free Week already embedded in the month (Now no doubt somebody will look at rosters and prove me wrong but I'm betting 15 complete non leave days clear of duty on a final final roster is rare).....

History lesson: Once upon a time, a time that ended a couple of years back, you could build up a "bank" of hours by working over the CAP for several months and then trade in those hours by bidding for a below CAP line ( the lower limit used to be CAP minus 15 hours)... so if you worked at it you could occasionally bid to get a "light" line with perhaps 15 days off in a month, and sit back safe in the knowledge the roster was safe ('ish). Nowadays the company are still happy for you to build a bank ( no..sh...sherlock), but if you try to discharge it and as a result get a big juicy gap on your line the company will probably find a trip to drop into it (it's called Final Assign/Roster Assign). EASA rules have made that a tad more difficult but BA have ways of making it work,

FWIW this is the exactly the sort of reason to beware of some of the ex-BA guys who go around saying how great
Bidline is:

" Wonderful system dear chap..bid high in winter my boy, bid low in summer...lots of fixed days off... now must go, need a new sail for the yacht ...."

It's not bad, but it has changed radically - and who knows what's around the corner????

[Calmcavok]

Good info, thanks. It's not too difficult to achieve 12-13 DO at my current establishment, in days past 14-16 was possible. And in the distant mists of time big strings of days off were possible according to the old sages that speak fondly of the "good old days".

What would the more junior, 6 trip, lines look like wrt days off? 10 or less?

[wiggy]

OK, mea culpa, not many 6 trippers I suspect due to EASA and the fact I'm looking at Feb..however just so I can say they do exist ( I've not checked how they survived the full process- i.e. did someone end up with these as advertised or were people able to clash trips out due to sims/leave, etc):

Line 1.

DME------EWRLHR*--YYZLHR*--JFKLHR*--SAN**LHR--PEK* ( carry out)

^
yep, you're not mistaken, that's a Moscow, it's an out and back day trip.

Much more typical for the month:

---ATL*LHR--JFK*LHR--IAH**LHR--PUJ**LGW----PHL*( carry out)

Edit to add: I'll emphasise these are probably close to worse case lines in terms of days worked/trips flown, there are many better. You may be able do better than these and Blindlines might have TASS days (potential days off) instead of trip(s), but think of them as possible worse case.

Anther thought on days off - how do you regard a local day free of duty down route? A day wasted or a day off - I know a lot depends on family...and where it is..e.g. caribbean vs..???....

Must go, wearing keyboard out.......

[Calmcavok]

Anther thought on days off - how do you regard a local day free of duty down route? A day wasted or a day off - I know a lot depends on family...and where it is..e.g. caribbean vs..???....

An age old question. It suits the company more and I'm still somewhere at the behest of someone else. However it can be useful if there is a plan to meet family or have other plans downroute. Still not a proper day off in my book though.

[Cheshireflyer1973]

Paypoints

Please could someone give me the current annual pay points (pay increments, if that's the correct name for them) for a new joining 777 FO? Either on here or privately is fine, whichever you prefer. I am starting in April and my wife has been offered a new job, but it needs careful checking on our finances, so a 5 year progression of pay would be brilliant. Many thanks