Tandemrotor

For me personally, I think you have nicely hit the nail on the head there! ;)

Katanapilot et al,

My source is the BA Recruitment team plus a number of close friends "on the inside".

I can only assume the Cranebank team are telling the truth - and yes I did push them for a direct answer which they eventually gave.

Katanapilot's info regarding internal moves is certainly spot on - i don't know the latest on planned hull dispositions to confirm accuracy.

Whatever happens - crews will be required to fill the A320 hull orders (not all of which can be filled internally).

Keep treading water!!!

BS

Bugspeed,

thank you for your info, my sources all agree with yours and previous posts.

I just hope they approach the hold pool time limit with some common sense. I like many others put alot of time, effort and money into passing the selection. I would like to think providing you havent rejected a offer of employment they would stretch the time limit. I wouldnt want to have to do it all over.

Cheers

B. :ugh:

BugSpeed,

I'm not going to get drawn into a petty squabble; I only want to provide accurate information for those people out in the hold pool. I was there once and know how it feels! My original post stands as true still. By all means send me a PM, I would be most interested to hear who your source 'on the inside' is because they seem to know more than the person who allocates all the courses!

Sorry but I am with Katanapilot.

The current training is for those being re-trained from redundant hulls and the trickle feed of new A320's to LHR are easily enough being crewed from 757/767/737/747 ejectees.

The A320's replace the A319's that are going to LGW for which the training has been taking place over the last year.

Vacancy's? Nope.

Those currently in the company don't know whats going on at the moment so I don't hold out much hope for those in the pool.

Galley FM has, obviously, struck again.

My "source" (BA is a large company full of departments that do not talk to each other, so you'll get lots of different info), who deals with the pilot jobs / business strategy, reckons we are not out of the woods for redundancies :{ and chance of people being offered firm contracts right now is somewhat less than zero.

NoD

Err the 3rd Floor - I know people who do, please PM me.

Splashing (still!!)
 

Does anybody have any 100%, certain information (regarding hold-pool?) Would really appreciate it.

Cheers

No such thing exists, my friend.

Buter

Meet for some coffee and shake and be friends:ok:

Anyone else got a sim soon? Please PM me, thanks.

Splash!
 

Just jumped into the hold pool, lets hope the economy picks up!

Splash!!!! 2
 

Hi all

I have also just received that magic call from Ms AC and am now in the hold pool. I would like to say a big thanks to those who have posted usefull hints and tips on the selection procedure, particularly Pilotess(#944), Dick Deadeye (#950) and Evian (1030).

My sim day started with about 30 minutes of admin with the HR people going over reference details before being picked up by the training captain. He then gave us a very comprehensive brief on the aircraft using a cardboard cockpit and powerpoint presentation. He gave us the choice of who went first, we couldn't decide so tossed a coin. There didn't seem to be any master scheme as the original routing we were given was changed when the correct TAPs were not in the folder.

You get a quick practice before the main event which involves a T/O and climb and then the sim is reset to 12 miles for an ILS. My flying leg included a SID from EDN into the cruise for a NDB - ILS at NEW. I can't stress how important CRM is. My flying was shocking, although I did get better towards the end, and I felt my capacity was really reduced by my unfamilliarity with the switchery. My sim partner flys 75s/76s and his help was invaluable. We arrived at NEW hot and high and although we were given the option of going immediately outbound for the procedure I took the decision to join the hold, get an intermediate descent and complete the checks in good order before starting the Alt Procedure.

My partner flew a NEW SID to a BIR STAR for another ILS. We got some questions based on ATC requests for ETAs at POL etc which involved some mental maths using the groundspeed readout and DTG. We had the opportunity to debrief and honesty is definitely the best policy. I doubt that there is much that the assessor misses. Pick a couple of mistakes and say how you would avoid them next time. CRM is key 'it is not about being nice but effective' but I gave a huge thanks to my partner who was vital to my success and I tried to be similarly helpful to him. His knowledge of the switchery was a god send.

More generally the pilot recruiter stated categorically that there were no courses planned for anyone in the hold pool but that the 12 month limit was to be reviewed in Jan with a possible extension to 18 months.

Thanks again for all the good posts on a great thread

Regards

still sleepen

Congrats, are you in the holding pool for 12 months from today or 12 months from when you passed day 1?

Non mil is from Day 1, military is from passing the sim.

This is only due to the fact that military pilots can apply for the interview without a license.

I'm military so my 12 months start from the day of the sim. I have also just found out that my sim buddy got into the pool today as well so congrats to Vrille and anyone else who got good news today.

all the best

lets keep swimming

Got the call yesterday, thanks to everyone who posted the helpful stuff! For what its worth my sim prep was limited to learning the stuff ba sent out. It was a very busy session and I was lucky to have a good deal of support from the other chap. Good luck to all.

New Routes
 

An article in the business section of the times yesterday reports that BA will start new routes to Riyadh and Jedda in March next year flying to both locations 5 times a week. Jedda will be serviced with 767's and Riyadh with 777's. Not the greatest destinations for a good night out but any new routes have to be positive.

Regards

Fingers crossed for a positive start to the new year! :ok:

I am sure a handful of your peers at bmi will give you some tips for enjoying oneself in Saudi which will probably involve a jacuzzi! :}