If there is no accomodation then I would leave it
istanbull is super but not a place I would work and live in

Dear RTO

This thread is about expat captains not TRTO F/O's. Foreign direct entry captains are only hired since the beginning of this year (never happened before in history). So your quote about firing them when they have enough locals is totally incorrect.

If you are a low hours pilot STAY AWAY FROM ALL TURKISH COMPANY!!!!
you must obtain a paper called VALIDATION in order to work there and if you don't have 500hrs multicrew they will give you it just for 3 months(time for training).
But if you ask them(dgca) they will answer that Turkey is part JAA,so there is not any restriction about hours.....

Dear Rto
Hmm not long enough you say.. Just had a look at the seniority list. There are 142 Captains of which 41 are foreign. 160 F/o's of which 25 are foreign. That makes a total of 302 pilots. So when I look at the date of joining, I am within the first 40 so I think I can safely say that I am here long enough. Again I want to repeat that this thread is about Captains. Fo's.... well that's a whole other story

Sunturk1, Pegasus were hiring and firing foreign Captains as far back as the mid 90's. Despite that it is a great fun country to work in!!

Anyone have any idea how to get in touch with this crowd for experienced FO recruitment e0mails etc would be much appreciated

Pegasus is now planning to get rid of all non-Turkish pilots, including Captains. The need for Captains will be met by upgrading the Turkish FOs and employing new Turkish FOs..

The words "p1ss-up" & "brewery" come to mind.

Turkish did this & binned people 1 day short of 1 year (no holiday pay :mad:) into a multi-year contract, & then, 6mths later, found themselves undercrewed (yet again) & had to run loads of Ads. Problem for them is that most people had by then seen through their "long-term contract" lies & gave them the cold shoulder.

What price a shedload of Pegasus ads again within a year.

Unfortunately this is the mentality of all all Turkish management. "If we have enough of our own people then get rid of the yabanci" It is very short sighted especially with the continued growth of aviation in Turkey and I have no doubt that there will become a time in the not to distant future when they will be under crewed again.

A great place to start your career but certainly not a place to stay longer than a couple of years due to the complete lack of loyalty from management.

Working in Turkey
 

It is not a rumor, it is a fact. The only days off you get are the mandated by DGCA for rest period requirements.This is not a graceful act on your contract
Turkish airliners, named Turkish pilots do not know the meaning of DAYS OFF. The majority are ex-military servants who are mission oriented. They were first thing up for managers to hire but they ran out of supplies. They never raise an issue or request days OFF in fears of being sacked. Foreign pilots hired are brought into this culture to fit in or face disgrace. There is no concern for your family or lifestyle. Turkish culture is about work your ass, and try to work for an outfit that pays your salary. Forget benefits or any other perks you get in a civilized culture. There are no unions here, the management is xenophobic and sadly to say, Pegasus is the backyard of THY. All pilots fired or pissed off from the flag carrier end their career making Sabanci more rich and aggressive for competition. The hiring of expats is to help them practice their English level which is about 90% of them and hardly level 2. You are better off learning Turkish as this people are not educated despite the efforts made from Ataturk over a century ago. So if you are desperate, have no life and dying for manti and kofte welcome here, there is plenty to learn from this proud crowd of monkeys playing European.:yuk:

It is clearly you who is the xenophobic...Get back under your rock and remain in New Zealand if you can notmhandle other cultures:mad::rolleyes:

Icelanta: This has nothing whatsoever to do about xenophobia, what a daft attempt at siderailing the discussion. PGS has treated their expats like sh#t in all their years in existance, If you want to claim that as turkish culture I guess thats fine. And when in comes to roster stability and days off. PGS rosters come out on a weekly basis, usually around the tuesday of the week its valid for, by thursday its unrecognizable. Good luck planning anything around that if they don´t chuck you out the door for not being Turkish first. Noone should take a contract with these guys, and as the word is spreading you have to be extremely desperate to do so. In a lot of western countries you are better off unemployed.