Yes but that's the point, you need a ticket as you are technically a passenger. You cannot just go on the jumpseat as supernumerary crew to position anywhere you like free of charge, which is what was being asked I think. If you have a standby ticket and the plane is full then you should be allowed the jumpseat. The DfT ruling on that is quite specific.

Thanks again Deano777 for your detailed insights!

Best of luck to everyone who applies!

Is Southampton a popular base and if I live 20 mins down the road, what's the likelihood of getting it?

Thanks

Where you live is irrelevant. You'll be based where we need pilots, this is normally North of Manchester or across the water to Belfast. The further South you go the harder it is to get based (generally speaking), however I'm hearing there is a small requirement for Exeter and Southampton in the latest recruitment drive due to attrition at Southampton. If you end up North then there is a bid system every 6 months where you can bid to change base, seat or fleet. I'd hazard a guess that it will take about a year to 18 months to get back to a base you want but some pilots are lucky and get it within their first bid.

Good luck with your application.

Do flybe anticipate employing DECs ? Now veteran status and think I would enjoy regional flying. No rose tinted glasses though.

Cheers / rgds

olster

No chance I'm afraid. With fewer bases now there won't be a need for DEC for the foreseeable future. There's a never ending supply of first officers with the required experience to upgrade as and when they are needed.

Really ?
On their website and on ,' latest pilot jobs ' they do mention uptake of DECs.

It won't happen, regardless of what the website says.

There are plenty of SFO's with lots of hours and ready for command due to the stagnation of recent years. The only possible chance of DEC recruitment would be if the flight ops team had no internal bids for the positions they need to fill. i.e. no one wanted to be a captain in GLA but they had some vacancies. Its a long shot though!

That's right, there was a shortfall in the number of bids to fill the Belfast commands this bid period but I'm under the impression that has been resolved. I would imagine the only reason they have opened the application for DEC is due to expansion and incase they don't get the required bids to fill. The reality is they will get the bids. I and most others would be very surprised if we saw DECs arrive here in the short to medium future. Nobody else are really recruiting in numbers so attrition isn't that high right now. I'll stand by my original comment; it won't happen.

Fade to grey

The website does say they recruit DEC, it also says they have a policy of promoting from within! Historically they have taken a few DEC's on and I suspect that is why that it still there. At the top of the recruitment page (in red writing) it clearly states they are accepting applications for First officers, not DEC.
Like Deano777 says, I would be amazed if this happened. They are running a holding pool of about 50 (ish) SFO's who could slip into the left seat ASAP if required.

Is your normal roster pattern 5 on, 2 off? Or a more easyesque (!) 5-4, 5-3? Or something completely different in practice like ours ( where we are resisting the new corporate purple livery ).

It's supposed to be 5/2/5/2/6/3 but the reality is it can be whatever rostering want it to be within the confines of the scheduling agreement.

Basically a random roster with 1-3 days off at a time between blocks of 1-6. (Based on being 100%. 85% can get 4 day off blocks and 70% are 5 on 5 off.) You have the facility to request days off and 4 'trump days off' per year for weddings/barmitzvahs/trips to the fetish club. Expect use of CDOs which don't count towards your DO allocation but allow the company to circumvent the lates to earlies protection in the scheduling agreement. This will probably change as we get more bodies on line though.

18 months ago I was pleased with my roster and the rest I was getting, now it's nightstops galore and lots of min rest. This can be a nice airline, great crew etc but you won't be at home much if you get one of the bigger bases on the Q400 fleet.

Come with eyes wide open. This is NOT a lifestyle airline anymore as I'm sure many will attest to. That's not to say it's not worth joining though. Horses for courses and all that...:ok:

Lord Spandex Masher Just to clarify - the command process most certainly IS pass/fail. Individuals do fail from time to time. LSM I suspect your information is out of date. Do you work for FlyBe? If not or if you left any amount of time ago I believe you will find that the company has changed a lot - your insight may not be relevant to people seeking up to date information about the company.

I left a while a go, that much is true, but I keep in touch with many people still there and I am aware of the command process at Flybe which changed before I left, it seems to garner many book worms and SOP monkeys who have no imagination or flexibility but do have a sense of entitlement after they pass the process but before they get the seat (do you still have to pass the whole thing before you get to be an SFO these days?).

Suffice to say there are some captains who I flew with as FOs who should still be FOs (even the recently demoted captain who apparently wanted to override the automatic G/A process on the 195 because he became visual after he'd pressed TOGA has been promoted, again).

Facts rather than opinion are of more use to people seeking to join the company- so lets recap the facts

1) Command suitability is determined in accordance with candidates' ability as judged by CAA/EASA accredited TRI/TREs acting as employees of a CAA/EASA accredited TRTO.

2) This assessment IS pass/fail

3) This process overseen by and deemed suitable by the regulatory authority

4) This process currently provides a pool of suitably qualified and experienced individuals who will meet the company's needs for most if not all command vacancies for the next few seasons at least

The Command Development Programme was very very unevenly applied, depending on which base you were in.

Some walked straight into a PCLA. Some spent up to a year doing it, only to get told to come back in 6 months.

As Camel said: Don't expect to be at home much if you're in one of the bigger bases. It's not the lifestyle that it was when I first joined. It isn't a bad place though by any stretch of the imagination. As with everywhere, there's always going to be things that get under your skin. The CDO to avoid the Scheduling Agreement is a big one, especially if you're nightstopping all the time, in which case 2 days at home is a flattener before going back to another really early start.

But it is good fun, the crew are superb, the routes are varied and the direction that the company is moving in is both very refreshing to see, and also something that we have wanted for a long time. When the new joiners get online, I'm sure roster disruption and the regular phone calls on days off will slow down a bit too. But on balance, it isn't what I joined, but there are many worse places out there.

Thanks for the replies, folks.

cheers

Yet you still have people wanting to change their minds during a go around, fact, making up their own speed profiles and generally operating in a non standard fashion, fact, FOs thinking that they are the captain just because they're PF and they've passed the command assessments, fact. If these FOs can pass the command process why don't they continue to operate that way?

Not sure about you SR but I don't believe the command process at any airline, least of all Flybe, is infallible and your facts certainly don't refute that.

Anyway the point is that Flybe promote some people who shouldn't be and, therefore, decent FOs will find it harder and more time consuming before they get a look in.