Originally Posted by kguar (Post 11587520)

Hello Friends,

Can you please share some information what to expect on the online assessment for the Academy?
I saw a few people passed and would appreciate any extra details.
Thank you!

Originally Posted by motardos (Post 11533335)

Sounds like for the first six first months you will need to sleep in the car

Originally Posted by Inverted.Panda (Post 11592439)

Yeah salaries haven't followed inflation and are on the low side. Especially for captains who get sent to Zurich ACMI all the time, away from families and for no salary incentive. That's the main driver of the low moral in the company. That and the management always pushing back, saying that if we're not happy we can leave, instead of trying to find some solutions. But colleagues are nice, most people are chill and fun to fly with, at least you have that.

But the salaries are enough to pay rent and utilities. That depends entirely on where you live and your lifestyle.
I pay 580 for a one bedroom apartment in Agenskalns, in a modern residence, and pay around 70 of utilities in summer and 150 in winter, living alone. The lowest FO salary in BTI (2800 net) can afford that. Even if you add the cost of groceries, fuel and some night outs, there should be some money left.
If you want to live in the city center, in a fancy apartment, party every day and already have debts from before, then yes the salary may be tight. But you're still not a homeless.
And what's wrong with taking the bus?

Originally Posted by Inverted.Panda (Post 11592439)

Yeah salaries haven't followed inflation and are on the low side. Especially for captains who get sent to Zurich ACMI all the time, away from families and for no salary incentive. That's the main driver of the low moral in the company. That and the management always pushing back, saying that if we're not happy we can leave, instead of trying to find some solutions. But colleagues are nice, most people are chill and fun to fly with, at least you have that.

But the salaries are enough to pay rent and utilities. That depends entirely on where you live and your lifestyle.
I pay 580 for a one bedroom apartment in Agenskalns, in a modern residence, and pay around 70 of utilities in summer and 150 in winter, living alone. The lowest FO salary in BTI (2800 net) can afford that. Even if you add the cost of groceries, fuel and some night outs, there should be some money left.
If you want to live in the city center, in a fancy apartment, party every day and already have debts from before, then yes the salary may be tight. But you're still not a homeless.
And what's wrong with taking the bus?

Originally Posted by Jabulani (Post 10706675)

@ Pilot 123, you nailed it, working conditions are worst and its only a matter of time when a tired pilot will cause an accident, I left for the same reasons as you did but as long as they find people to accept the conditions they will not change anything.

My favorite answer of this finance guy was " do not complain and be happy to have a job at all"

Originally Posted by Inverted.Panda (Post 11592439)

That and the management always pushing back, saying that if we're not happy we can leave, instead of trying to find some solutions But you're still not a homeless.
And what's wrong with taking the bus?

Originally Posted by ctacik (Post 11603178)

I left them long ago and I see that nothing changes. Only that they can find worse and worse quality of pilots. Just before I leave I met a recently hired ''senior F/O with more 2750 hours'' that supposed to have fast command. Only that the hours were on a Beechcraft 1900 which doesn't fit their entry requirements for CS25, FMS aircrafts
On the other hand, A220 pilots with years in the company are still first officers. No wonder why all these incidents and why some pilots prefer to pay the bond to leave before the 3 years

Originally Posted by ave (Post 11603582)

3000 hours and still first officer in a small prop would raise an eyebrow in any hr department

Originally Posted by ctacik (Post 11603593)

Well, Latvia is a former Soviet Union country and companies follow the respective mentality

Originally Posted by batushka (Post 11546272)

Just saw this incident on avherarld and remembered of you
What a surprise, another incident caused by AB inadequate pilots, at least according to Latvian accident/incident investigation unit which blamed pilot selection for another AB incident.
Again, AB pilots gave a roller coaster experience to the passengers with massive speed changes, pitch oscillations and violent maneuvering.Not conducting a missed approach is clearly a gross negligence. There was no loss of situational awareness. They climbed during the ils approach so they knew very well they weren't where they should be.
Luckily we won't watch it on that popular tv series

Incident: Baltic BCS3 at Palanga on Jul 1st 2023, high rate of descent below minimum safe height, approach continued
By Simon Hradecky, created Friday, Nov 24th 2023 19:00Z, last updated Friday, Nov 24th 2023 19:00Z

An Air Baltic Bombardier C-Series CS-300, registration YL-CSA performing flight BT-375 from Riga (Latvia) to Palanga (Lithuania), was on approach to Palanga's runway 19 about to perform an ILS approach. About 11.5nm before the runway at 2000 feet the crew activated the APP autopilot mode, the descent rate increased to 2950 feet per minute below 1600 feet. The crew disconnected the autopilot at 1465 feet AGL (according to RADALT), the rate of descent decreased to 500 fpm before increasing again below 1200 feet AGL. 9nm before the runway threshold, while extending the landing gear, the aircraft descended below 1000 feet AGL at 133 KIAS, at 860 feet AGL the gear was completely extended. 8nm before the runway threshold, at 216 KIAS, flaps 1 were selected, the descent rate stabilized at 700 fpm for about 25 seconds followed by a climb of about 1500 fpm up to 1300 feet, which the aircraft maintained for about 40 seconds. At 5nm before the runway threshold the aircraft began to descend again still being more than 2 dots below the glidepath. The aircraft descended through 1000 feet AGL again at 900 fpm sink rate and 2.1 dots below the glideslope at 135 KIAS. A TAWS warning sounded, the aircraft levelled off at about 880 feet, the trajectory was corrected at 2.5nm before the runway threshold and the aircraft continued for a safe landing in the runway's touch down zone.

According to information The Aviation Herald received the crew was aware of possibly false localizer signals at Palanga according to NOTAMs, however, did not discuss this possibility during their approach briefing. When the crew activated the APP mode, the aircraft captured a false localizer signal immediately followed by capturing a false glideslope signal sending the aircraft into a steep dive. The crew disconnected the autopilot at about 3000 fpm sinkrate and initiated recovery, the aircraft reached a minimum height of 800 feet and 2nm offset from the extended runway centerline about 9nm before the runway threshold. Due to loss of situational awareness the crew did not initiate a go around but continued the approach. Due to terrain there are constraints to the approach procedure designs.

Originally Posted by Manish013 (Post 11630935)

Hi guys,
I see advertisement for SFO, quick upgrade. How long do they actually take for command training to start if they hire you.

Thank you :)

Originally Posted by lekker92 (Post 11527920)

I don’t know why this poster claims that there is a commuting roster, there isn’t such a thing
It is already snowing in Riga, we will the the grass here on April again

Originally Posted by Manish013 (Post 11630935)

Hi guys,
I see advertisement for SFO, quick upgrade. How long do they actually take for command training to start if they hire you.

Thank you :)