With regard to previous experience on the FBW aircraft, even if joining with experience on the A330 ie 1000hrs you will still have to serve your time on the 320/21. The CCQ courses onto the 330, however, have gone down the seniority list to joiners from 2004. Depending on future manning requirements of the fleet you'd probably expect a year to 18months before operating the 330 again. Moving to the left seat on it is a different matter, probably 8-10 years after getting your command, which I believe is running at approx 6 years.

If the current expansion rate continues, command will probably come down to a couple of years subject to hours.

If and that's IF the current expansion rate continues, time to command is about 4-5 years. That's what's been said through the grapevine..........

Hi Everyone.

I have an interview next week and I have a quick question for you:

I would like to be based at LGW, which would be the best fleet to be on if I am sucessful?

In fact, if someone in the know could outline the a/c types for each base that would be perfect.

Many thanks.:ok:

Go for the A300. The other two fleets are worked hard.

Thanks owl!

Do you know if they still operate the 767? The website makes no mention of it, only the 757 and airbus fleets.

Having looked at airliners.net it seems that most of the aircraft can be seen to be going in and out of Gatwick but i'm still no wiser about aircraft / base allocations.:confused:

MAN - A320/321 a little A330, 757 a little 767, A300
BHX - A321
LTN - A320/321, 757
LGW - A320/321/330, A300, 757/767

If you are LTN A320/1/330 based you are likely to travel around all the other bases.

However all this could change in an instant.

I am sure that it has been answered already but how long does ti take to get on longhaul routes after your stint on the A321/B757?

At present the 767 and 330 are being offered to guys n gals with less than 2 years.

Thanks for the info fmgc:ok:

Does anyone know how long one has to wait, if sucessful at the interview, before getting a course?

If your course is for the A320,do you operate on the A321 as well?(common type rating etc).:confused:

Yes (excpet for new CTC guys).

Thanks fmgc. .

Are there many issues arrising from the two having different engines.The CFM as opposed to the IAE?

Not really,

The IAE's take longer to start and need to be nursed a little after start and before shut down.

CFM's use N1 as the primary indicator for power settings where as the IAE's use EPR.

Right.Suppose it's good to have experience of both methods of setting power.

Sorry to keep going on,but is there a lot of difference between the handling characteristics of the A320/321? Thanks.

Just had the phonecall the other day for a DEP interview, is it still an friendly chat? Done enough interviews in a previous life to be confident with company knowledge, setup, SOP's etc, but Im just trying to get a handle on what the formatt is likely to be.


Cheers

757

Violet,

We tend to ignore the EPR gauges on 321`s except during the take off to check that the correct thrust has been achieved. On approach, if using manual thrust, just scan down to the N1 gauges and the numbers are very similar to the 320.
Otherwise there is little difference. The 321 is a bit more slippery when descent planning but feels a bit more stable in all axis.
Other than that there is no problem flying the two types.

Thanks mate. .