WTF -
 

I'm struggling to understand the recruitment policies 'as advertised' for experienced B737NG FOs? I've got 5000hrs total and 2400 on B733/8 yet am deemed too old at 55 for an FO job for the majority of 'hungry' employers at the moment.

I could, at a push, see the old Training Risk argument being rolled out for non-type-rated positions ... but when you've got time in the seat and life experience???

As I said WTF!


Where is taking over 50s?

Even Ryanair don't seem interested...and if you check beyond the initial veneer of the job adverts one will find age limits for a lot of the current employers.

Have you tried Jet2?

Thanks Tonker

Just left Jet2 ( a mistake in hindsight)!

"Fresh meat" is much more likely to do as its told, & is far more impressionable and compliant. As people get older they become much more difficult to scare and intimidate. Mainstream employers don't like that. Yes, "ageism" is illegal in the workplace but the workplace is riddled with all kinds of prejudices, some of which are against the law too! Good luck making a case against any of them. Have you really not worked it all out at age 55?

Have you thought about the Executive jet market? Not up to date myself but they used not to mind an older person, often they don't use an FO as such but fly two captains. Have a look in the forum here on PPRuNe, Biz Jets etc., ask a question or two perhaps? Just a thought.

I feel your pain aces low. If you were in Australia, I'd suggest heading to one of the aeromedical operators, who still seem to value flying, and life, experience.


Mach E Avellie summed things up pretty well in the Jetgo Blacklist thread.



http://www.pprune.org/pacific-genera...blacklist.html

Can travel
 

[QUOTE=pithblot;9125812]I feel your pain aces low. If you were in Australia, I'd suggest heading to one of the aeromedical operators, who still seem to value flying, and life, experience.


Mach E Avellie summed things up pretty well in the Jetgo Blacklist thread.

Ideally I'd like to use the type rating and experience I've got. No one wants to pay for a new type rating -especially for a limited career run.

I do wonder if CRM is one of the hidden Factors....might be difficult having an older guy in the right seat in some cultures. But in Europe?

Thanks for your comments

Aces low,

I hope that you are not restricting your options based on assumptions.
Your life experience should remind you that assumption, especially in our line of work,is the first mistake.

Good luck.

Jet2
 

I wouldn't be surprised if you weren't able to ask to return, that is unless you burned your bridge.

You should be able to apply for Qatar Airways 787

Too many negatives, Johnny. (Not like you...!)
But I can see what you mean.
Worth a try. No risk at all for the company.

I've applied (where possible) without favour or discrimination but the compliment has not been returned. I'm clutching at straws with the CRM 'assumption/theory' as I can't see why experience wouldn't be an asset!

No...but I think your analysis is spot on

Thanks. I've tried Air Contractors. I'd ideally like to use my experience on the B737 but maybe I'm running out of options?

I'd give this one a try - they've been asking a few of us to come back!!!

PMd you 👍👍👍👍

Good luck with finding a position that suits, but if you can't get one then consider contracting.
You'll have twice the fun and make twice the money.
You will stop paying money to HMRC, which is very easy to get used to.

I'd ring Parc aviation, or Rishworth for starters.

In a nutshell - this is where I came in. Most of the contracting jobs for FOs are age limited...typically between 45-50. Only Qatar goes to 55 openly. So as far as the 'usual suspects' in China, Korea, Indonesia, Turkey etc are concerned I'm too old.
Maybe a genuine pilot shortage might change this but at the moment supply exceeds demand .

In hindsight, don't move without Command where the age ranges are more flexible

I am a former employee of Jet 2 (when they were Channel Express) and know the situation there quirte well. At the risk of being a party-pooper here, allow me to present an alternative perspective. The question that any recruitment team is going to ask when presented with a 55 year-old FO, is why is he/she not a captain? Many people at that stage in their careers are senior TREs and therefore to be still an FO is going to raise alarm bells in any recruiter's mind. i accept that we have unwisely ceased to look at experience when it comes to recruitment, and no one laments that more than me. However, hours alone are not a guarantee of quality. The inate personal skills of the individual are extremely important and no one wants to soak up someone else's problems. The other question to be asked in this case is why did a current FO walk out of Jet 2 with no job to go to. Once again, any recruiter will take one look at that and in most cases steer well clear. In a nutshell, if I were recruiting and decided to look at someone in the stuation described, I would want a long, hard look at the individual's training and employment record as there are, at first glance, some oddities here. It is possible that the individual involved here is a 'late entrant' into flying, but sadly again statistics do not favour such candidates in terms of future success. I am sorry to be so stark and negative here, but I am only saying what is almost certainly being said behind closed doors. Therefore, to have any chance of further employment as a pilot, aces low needs to have a very good and well-presented case that explains those issues very clearly to an employer, as I can promise him that is what they are thinking. If there are credible answers to the questions of experience not really matching up to age, walking out of a perfectly good employer with no job to go to and no command time at age 55 , then the way forward is to find someone in a target airline who will present the details of your case to the Chief Pilot personally. Without that personal intervention I unfortunately see signficant diffficulties ahead in terms of your future employability as a pilot.

Plenty of extremely good, many ex-military, 55 yr old FO's at my company, many of whom are also TRE's/TRI's.

Sometimes lifestyle and personal choice has a bearing.