John Smith,

From the other thread on this subject

Some interesting posts but I just thought I’d try and temper the pessimism which seems to be hanging over this thread.

Getting a direct entry position onto the 777 is a fantastic opportunity, which doesn’t come around very often. With regard to working weekends and limited choice of trips… All I can say is that there is enough variety to keep anyone’s interest up, at least for the time it will take you to move up the seniority list and bid for the ‘better’ destinations. Remember also that a weekend trip might actually be a report on Sunday afternoon or clearing early on Saturday morning.

Yes it takes a while to get senior, but figure on this: There are roughly 330 F/O’s on the 777. My spies tell me that groundschool are expecting 80 DEP’s from September this year. Moral of the story is if you get in early, you won’t be at the bottom for long.

As far as the money goes - £2600 would be take home for a year 1 F/O with zero flying in that month. As soon as you get any sort of normal roster, you can add at least £1000 to that. The senior F/O’s (10 years to really be up there) will take home a lot more.

Getting in won’t be easy though. The application process has many pitfalls and one easy way to slip up is poor spelling or punctuation on the application form. I’m only mentioning that because here on PPrune you often see mistakes. I know that for many, English might not be a first language, but take time to check the difference between “to and too” as well as your and you’re.

For more tips on the application process you can always try www.futureairlinepilot.com

Best of Luck,

L F W

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about the pension. BA haven't approached the union about the pension for DEP's. They can't change the pension scheme without union approval. BALPA have said in black and white that the moment any new entrant is put on a non-FSS scheme they will immediatly offer a strike ballot. So expect a FSS scheme but with an accural rate of 56ths not the current 52nds. Whether you ever to get to pick it up 30 years down the line is another thing...

Fingers crossed if BALPA get its act together, I would like to think that some of those slots will go to BACX pilots.

It would be nice for mainline to return the favour.

Who are you kidding? That's what I take home and I'm year 7.

I'm a DEP PP3 75/76 and last month , which was a busy month, I took home just over £3,450. For that I flew 71 block hours and was about 1 1/2 hours over CAP. Flew no long haul last month and had 14 days off. Leave at BA is around 6 weeks so if you take your leave in 1 week blocks you can end up with a week off every other month. This would reduce take home to about £3100-£3200.

Hope this helps.

Super Stall, great post just what were after.

Just one question, what is PP3?

Pay Point.

There I was, 10000ft ... (sorry, had to make the post long enough to be accepted!) :D

Just a warning for those tempted:

Whilst these jobs may seem ideal, do be warned that you're in for a life of very high working hours, being grossly mismanaged, in a company where you are treated with disdain by most other departments, and even if it survives you won't get a command for decades.
Those who take the jobs may reflect on this warning in a few years time.
Sorry to be a killjoy, but I wish someone had given me this warning several years ago.

Sounds like any other airline !

G'day Gents

Hate to barge into what seems a BA gathering coming from Air France, but you've really triggered my interest here.
I hope that my spelling and punctuation cut the chop though.

How come that recruting less pilots than you guys expect to, we only have to wait 8 to 10 years til command while retiring at 60 ?

Am I missing something ?

If that's the case I'd be thinking too ? to ? tou ? tout ?