I'm in the pool as well - current A330 with 3000 hours Airbus time.

Still waiting to be pulled from the water :D - interview was around the start of October. Roughly when was your mate interviewed AFA? Just curious as to what sort of timescale may be involved.

Cheers :)

There seems to be a problem with PM as my frontpage tells me I have three unread messages but when I go to my inbox it says there are no messages!

Apparantly Janine is off sick at the moment. I also heard confirmation of CCQ's being run alongside full courses.

Giving up with PMs...

I have been in the pool since last spring! Waiting and hoping.

He was interviewed early last year. Jan or Feb i think. Don`t use this as an indicator as to how long you`ll have to wait though. He has been delayed because of the fall out from SARs and the Iraq war whereas the new wave of interviews are to cover both an existing shortfall and the new Oz route.
I don`t think its standard practice to have people waiting in the pool for over a year!

Thanks for that, AFA :D

Phew! ;)

Seems to be getting close to a year for me!

I was told by a couple of sources that interviewing has temporarily halted so that the pool does not get too large. The idea is that no one from now on should spend more than 4-6 months in the pool. Supposedly interviewing will kick off again when the pool numbers have significantly reduced.

That sounds hopeful, but would be nice if there was official confirmation! Does anybody have an idea of how many are in the pool?

A340 or 747?

Long haul flying on glass is deadly dull. It doesn't matter which you fly - they are just a boring as each other. However, if I was to re-join Virgin having taken voluntary redundancy after 9/11, I would want to go to the A340 depite having flown the 744 before.

Why? Better destinations (the 744 spends a lot of it's time flogging across the Atlantic on East Coast trips with only one night off at destination) and you don't have the control column taking up a lot of your available eating/stretching/newspaper space. I can fully appreciate the Airbus philosophy of the sidestick when it's only used for 2% of the flight!

Mind you, with the 340 going to Oz, I don't think new recruits will have a choice!

Yes, I believe that all the new recruits at the moment will go to the A340. It seems to be looking quite likely that any new aircraft order will also be (at least in part) A340s as well, so if you don't fancy glass, fly-by-wire and a sidestick, this probably ain't the place to go! ;)

Warpdrive - I was told that the pool was not supposed to exceed about 40.

I'm really not to worried what type it is (had originally hoped for the 340 but now not bothered either way). It's purely a question of lifestyle now. I think you ultimately reach a point where an aircraft is an aircraft so long as it gives you the lifestyle you want in the place that you want it and some pocket money in the bank.

Hi Dan,
does that mean long haul on anologue isn't dull. Smells of a classic diehard just a little, Rgds.

VP...same thoughts. It is the Company that attracted me...anything else is a bonus. Glass is fine by me!

As I thought most (if not necessarily all) new recruits will be going on the A340, and there will be a mix of full courses and CCQ's. I can't comment on the size of the pool, or the length of the delay until you are notified of a course.

Chockdee, long haul on Classics is dull too - just a little less so as there is more to do!

I'm not really a Classic diehard - I flew 744s before I flew 74Cs. I now fly both short and long haul on the 74Cs and it it a much more interesting job. I do a lot more landings now.

However, my employer will be fitting our Classics with glass soon. I'll let you know how it goes!

Apologise in advance if this is thread creep, but interested to know other people's opinions on this...

Say you had a firm offer of contract with both Virgin and BA, which would you take?

I only ask because I've just been reading a disturbing description of the situation for new joiners into BA, in another posting called "Attention all BA wannabes!"

Starting money is OK, but pension, lifestyle and time to command sound horrendous.

I know it's a bit "pie in the sky" but would it be best to join BA now or Virgin, if the opportunities both came up (you never know, eh?).

There are many, many variables which may affect your deliberations on which way to go, and they may influence different pilots different ways.

Firstly, the relative size of the two airlines. BA is ten times the size of Virgin. It has a long history, the financial markets hold it in high esteem, and it is a proven survivor. Job security at BA is about as good as it gets in aviation. Virgin is a relative newcomer at 20 years of age, and is privately owned. While quite sizeable in its own right, it's not so big that the banks couldn't pull the plug. So it's arguably less secure than BA.

Virgin is longhaul only. There is nothing smaller than the A340-300 in Virgin Atlantic's fleet, and it's unlikely there ever will be. The experiment with Virgin Sun will not be repeated. You have to be absolutely certain that the longhaul lifestyle will suit you, 'cos there ain't no other way! BA offers longhaul, shorthaul and everything in between, and you do get some influence over what kind of lifestyle you want to lead.

There is now not a lot to choose between BA and Virgin on pay (given that Virgin's contracted flying hours are 20% lower than BA's) and, if nothing changes from the post you mention, Virgin's pension is better than the proposed BA one. There are other areas where BA's Ts & Cs are better than Virgin's, but there isn't a lot in it these days.

Retirement at BA is still officially 55. It will change with the new EU legislation, but there are no official statements on that yet as far as I know. Virgin's retirement is nominally 60, with the option to work to 65 in the RHS. That may be significant if you were a late starter on the family front!

So, it may be pie in the sky for you, but it's worth keeping an eye on these issues - your time to make these decisions will come sooner than you think!

Scroggs

There's more to the pension than how much the company puts in compared to your contribution. The performance of the pension provider and their plan is an important consideration. I was far from impressed to find out how much my Virgin plan from Scotish Equitable was worth. Who is the provider of the BA plan and how have they be doing recently is a good question to ask.

Also, bear in mind that post 9/11 Virgin ditched over a quarter of their pilots without hesitation. BA made no one redundant.

Can someone tell me how many pay-points on the Virgin pay-scale?

Cheers.

Interview details
 

Hi guys, and sorry Scroggs but I ve been searching these forums as much as I could and I still can't find recent details on the Virgin interview.

Anybody that has been through it recently? How is it like? (Tech questions?, psycho?, interview?,micropat?, group exercise?,sim?) Any information or link would be much appreciated.

I've been updating my online CV regularly for more than two years now, and still nothing!!!
29y old, UK ATPL, 4800 h total (of which 3900 B737 and now 500 A319), Airbus rated. What else do I need to have a go at the interview??? Sponsorship from somebody inside??

I keep receiving the same automatic answer from Ms Taylor, " thank you for updating....."

I will never stop updating as VS is witout any doubt the company I want to join, hope to see you soon ;-))

Thanks for help

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiings