Don’t get suckered in by the promise of transitioning to a larger jet; the likelihood of it happening is pathetically slim and the training really sucks. You aint going to the factory for the course, that’s for sure!
In the unlikely event that you do transition (as I said, a minor miracle in this 3-ring circus) you are first going to be subject to a 3-5 year training bond. Initially the company was trying to extract all the money from you up front. Oh yeah, they be charging you fo this shit. It aint fo free dawg. Since then it seems the convention has been a payment plan of 1/10th of the total each month for 10 months (for the EMB190 it was essentially 2k deducted from your pay each month).
Now, the most likely transitions for foreign captains (which is not saying a whole lot) have been from the EMB145 to the EMB190. Despite years of nagging and asking, there has been no chance of transition to the Airbus. But, it seems this has changed lately with the first round of 2 guys per year going to the 320 in the Fall of 2014. For transition to the EMB190 it makes sense if you do the numbers: Tianjin has been and will be taking mass delivery of factory EMB190s for years to come while (used) 320s are showing up one-zie-two-zie every couple of years. So yeah, if you are an EMB145 jock who wants to move over to the EMB190, this is a possibility for you. You are going to be subject to a $20K training bond.
There was one lucky SOB who, being the first foreigner to do any kind of transition training at Tianjin, did so under the highly professional and competent auspices of Swiss Aviation. The ground school and simulator training were fantastic he told me, informative and quite adequate. The training conducted by the Chinese thereafter to fly the line… not so much.
Swiss Aviation has since been kicked off property for some reason. The Chinese, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that they’ve got enough knowledge, skill, talent etc. to train foreign pilots on their own. This is hubris to say the least; in a country that disdains sharing knowledge and generally treats students as whipping boys, you can imagine the results.
Of the 7 pilots who have transitioned from the 145 to the 190, all have “failed” at some point in a sim check and only 5 made it through. The first guy ended up a loner because the foreigner he was paired with quit at the last minute. The lone captain passed everything on his own up front with the Swiss and then sat at home for 2 months, got thrown back in the sim cold and popped; he insisted they give him more training (which took an enormous amount of arm- twisting) and passed a recheck. The first crew of two foreigners had some hydraulic failure that they received improper training on; when demonstrating the event during the check they did it the way they were taught and popped the ride.
The second crew of two did everything fine and passed according to the CAAC examiner; then their instructor went to bat for them and convinced the examiner they needed more training.
Page | 133 So they officially failed and had to go back again. There was a lot of talk that they would need to pay for the recheck, and I’d rather not think about it, but it’s good medicine to discuss the facts. One guy was eventually allowed to retest, declined and quit.
The other guy was totally fucked in the ass, the particular brand of which consisted of withheld paychecks for the period of time he had been in transition training. The company then decided to offer him the chance to redo his training… the catch? He would have to pay to the tune of $30k out of pocket. Huh?!? Shit, you can get a full EMB190 course in the USA for around $15k. He would similarly have to pay to return to the EMB145 which he was already qualified to fly… I guess he had to do that course all over again? Frankly, I think this was a thinly veiled offer for him to quit.
Ed. note: Keep in mind if you do transition to another jet while abroad, when you come back to the US you’re going to have to do the type course all over again. A CAAC type is useless outside of China and pretty much useless inside China because you can’t go job hunting once you’re hired. Reference FAA circular Ac61- 89e for more information, but you’re essentially looking at a $15-20k bill to add the type to your home license. Hereby notified!
So there I was, on my way into work, characteristically maximizing my time away from the office down to the second. As I swiped in, Shoe noticed I was 3 minutes late. He walked up and said so, whereupon I pointed at several different clocks around the dispatch room: “Yeah, by which accounting? Two of these clocks here show me early by 2 minutes.” Needless to say the next day I came in they were all synchronized, yet still not showing the correct time. Also needless to say that a week or so later they were all off from one another again. Also also needless to say that about a month later they started fining people $300 when they signed in late. What a bunch of knobheads.
Page | 134 The Chinese don’t understand questions. That’s right, they don’t understand the question formation of a sentence, especially when you use a rising tone at the end to indicate you are making an inquiry. You have to preface your sentence with “I have a question” or follow it with “That was a question.” This way, you’ll be sure to be pissed off every time you ask a question and still be unsure that you will get an answer without asking 5 times. Capt. Duke
HHHIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!