I want to fly Boeing 777 or 747
 

Hello Guys;

I am brand new here and looking for some advice. I am currently working for a company and about to log 2000 hours in B737NG, total 3200 hours. The problem is I am not quite happy with the roster and the paycheck. By the end of year, I will be completed 950 hours + 16 hours simulator. This is our average flight ours during a year and compared to my basic 3600 Euro-monthly salary,you can understand my "happiness" and "fatigue". Because, my company is a low cost one, I do not think I would be happy to continue my career with short haul flights. I usually fly Europe, and domestic.

I can hear some of guys are going to say " Commence your job hunt ", but I have a big problem which confuses me very much. My company declared a list about upgrade program. According to that list, I have one more year to upgrade a captain seat.

I want to fly Boeing 777 or 747.

So, I have some questions :
1. Should I wait for one more year to be a captain? ( Base monthly salary 6300 Euros, but this will keep me in this company till 2018)
2. Should I go to Emirates, Ethiad, Qatar?
3. Should I go to Far East? ( I heard they do not like foreign first officers in Korea, Taiwan, Japan and etc. )

Any other suggestion would be highly appreciated.

Thanks for reading this post.

Stay put
 

In my view you should consider the job after the next one first and foremost. Pop off to the middle east for a while on wide body and what are you going to do after that ? If you have seniority with Turkish, stick with it. You will lose it if you go nomad !

Ask Hocam B. Yurt if you can transfer to TK and fly the 777 for them. Thought they were sending most yabancis to TK anyway?

According to an acquaintance who works for Turkish on the 737 as an FO you get offered 777 after about 6 months. The only issue with Turkish is no upgrade if you don't have a 4 year degree. If you are Turkish though that may not be the case. A big word of warning on going to the ME or Far East is how to get back if you are not happy there. It's certainly not for everyone by all accounts. Good luck!

I suspect that you'll probably find something else to complain about on either the triple or the 747.

Rumour has it this has just changed. Not required anymore, but (and it's a big But...pun intended) I believe you need 6500 hours to upgrade.

It's just an aircraft. Go with lifestyle, forget about aircraft type. Draw up a list of things which are important to you and identify the job which ticks most boxes - if that works out being on a triple or a jumbo in the ME or elsewhere then that is great - if not, you should probably re-evaluate.

Nobody on Pprune knows what is important to you (family, hobbies, location, travel?) so nobody can except you can make the call.

He didn't say he was with Turkish- it is not the only Turkey-based airline.

Indeed, he said


"Because, my company is a low cost one, I do not think I would be happy to continue my career with short haul flights. I usually fly Europe, and domestic. "


So, I was guessing Pegasus

I have flown both B744 in the far east and B777 in middle east. The B744 is by far the nicer aeroplane to actually fly but the B777 does offer much more variety of flying.

If you come to EK now as a FO you can expect 5-10 years to command, but you will get a command if you stick around. The middle east is very expensive though and a FO salary doesn't leave much spare $ at the end of each month. If you have a family things will be really tight.

Far East B744 you might consider Korean or SIA Cargo but no guarantee of a command with either.

If I were you I would stay put, get my command and look around for an expat command job in 2018 if still unhappy.

Good luck

Thanks for the answers. I just want to make things clear. I am not complaining about the airplane, I have never. The problem is lifestyle, what I give to the company and what I receive in turn. I am not flying for Pegasus.

What is your nationality? Are you Turkish or non-Turkish? I'm 99% sure you are flying for SunExpress. Maybe you can switch to SXD, or like almost all of your colleagues, switch to the Middle East. A lot of SunEx guys are flying now for Qatar, Emirates and flyDubai.

The most of the guys here would think: 'why not Turkish Airlines?' It is because SW737 can't go to TK. SunEx and TK have a kind of 'gentlemen agreement' that they can not hire their pilots..

I am Turkish Captain.weird and I have no chance to fly for SxSD.I cannot speak German. The main goal of this topic to get your ideas and get to know terms in Middle and Far East.

Skywagon,

A wealth of information available in the Middle East forum- though take SOME of it with a grain of salt.

T&Cs of ME carriers are all there on their respective web sites.

One other thing for you to think about. As you are relatively close to getting a command if you can just stick with it to get some time in the left seat you would always be able to apply for work as a Captain in the future.
If you went to a long haul job as an FO you would have no fall back option if things didn't work out later on.

Thanks Banana,Wizzy and Airbrake, it seems going to left seat overweights the other options.

Enjoy your flights.

Good decision Skywagon. Get your left seat time, and then get out if you want to.

Hocam, things are changing rapidly in your company. Hang in there and get some time in the left seat and many doors will open.

Get 1000 hrs PIC as a 737 Captain. With that on your resume you'll have more job opportunities.

Just know that they will be sending you to ESB as an expat captain, getting a 1000h on the left flying flying only domestic might take longer then you think.

Nevertheless, command time is always a good decision. Where are you based now? Ayt?