RogerCheckCopy wrote:As much as I disagree with the very imbalanced reciprocity scheme some airlines are engaged in, the safety approach is weak at best. My understanding is that all foreign pilots flying for CJ or Sunwing are current and experienced on the NG, and from what I hear, some have 20,000-30,000 hours on 737's. Crewing seasonally with returning pilots that may not have flown for 6 plus months, or hiring new pilots off the streets every year, many without jet experience is safer how exactly?
Your understanding is some what correct... I personally fly with European contract pilots and some do have great experience but many also do not. I've personally flown with some where I actually question their previous experience. One in particular had no business at all being in the flight deck, and I haven't even mentioned his English. Many pilots haven't flown since their last Canadian contract.. Many are trying immigrate because of having zero work available back in Europe.
I have no idea how their time and experience is verified/certified but I doubt any of it is. Most if not all said experience is from companies that no longer exist (so is most of mine by the way) but all of my references include previous chief pilots. From the looks of it, the contract company puts an ad out asking for type rated pilots with a minimum of 3000 hours. Pilots apply with "said experience". Contracting company supplies said companies with the pilots. Are references, previous experience, back grounds even checked? I would say no. If anything is done, it's done by the contracting company and they certainly do not have our best interest. I believe we call this a conflict of interest....
I spend my days listening to how inefficient North America is, how more experienced the european pilot is, how our scheduling is BS, how we should be flying the NG, how our SOP's are incorrect, blah, blah, blah...... This is if I can understand their english. Most interesting and frightening is listening to the term oil their european aviation market is in. After listening to this for 5 hours, landing in a tropical destination and hearing our fellow Canadian airline arrive with both pilots having strong thick accents from Europe. Some of these pilots at both airlines are contracting for 8 months...
Both airlines had an ad out for Canadian seasonal type rated pilots, the wage was less then what they pay our european contract pilots- and they get a beautiful condo (with maid service) downtown Toronto and a brand new rental car.
How I see it- I'll eventually be flushed out of my seat by these practices. My wife and I have a new born. Like everyone we have mortgages and bills to pay, food to put on the table- we're not able to think about retirement savings. If my company survives I'll most certainly get laid off, like my friends at Air Transat. Like them, I will have minimal options available other then maybe getting a disgraceful wage at Sky Regional or Encore and being looked down upon by my fellow Canadian pilots. The race to the bottom is nearly complete.
Have a great day folks!