Typical TC respond time to emails

[moocow]

I sent TC Licensing an email 3 weeks ago and have yet to hear back from them. Is it typical for them to take that long? My question was about TC's position on HKCAD's P2X rating. While may people on PPRUNE stated that no airline on the planet would recognize experience under P2X, I'm still interested in what TC have to say.

[ywgflyboy]

Last time I sent them an email I received one back (2 months later) apologizing because no one checks that email anymore. Greeeeeeeat. (Not a Tony Tiger Great)

[Bede]

Depends on the inspector. My maintenance guy gets back to me ASAP. However, if you ask TC for an official position on anything, they won't get back to you, or if they do, it will be with some vague, government/politician type non-answer. They don't want to put anything in writing that may come back to bite them.

[bk53182]

I am so glad this thread has started...I have accepted for awhile now that TC senior will not respond to emails for fear of access to information, but phone calls? It seems an average of 5 calls are needed to get a reply.

[Sulako]

It really depends on the TC inspector I think - I have had dealings with some great TC folks in Ontario who are prompt and courteous in their replies, and some who clearly hit the 'delete all' button on their inboxes.

[kevinsky18]

I've submitted 3 or 4 questions via the generic e-mail and never got a response to any of them.

E-mails sent directly to people in TC if you have their specific e-mail address seem to get a much hirer rate of return responses.

Phone calls seem to work best. I don't leave a phone message for them to call back as that never seems to happen. I usually just keep dialing until I get someone on the phone.

[Randleman]

They are also stupidly slow at getting those RAIC passes out. I applied for mine months ago, and haven't received it. Not having it is severely handicapping me at work, while others I know have received it within a week. Like what the @%@#$@#@$%@#$@# man?!

[Widow]

Try using the CAIRS.

http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/civilaviation/s ... s-menu.htm

The issue will be presented to the Accountable Manager, and a response required within 20 working days.

[moocow]

OK so I'm not the only one in this sort of situation. I read the licensing section and it have nothing to say about cruise relief co-pilots. The only thing about co-pilot written is that TC will only take 50% toward "higher" level license, I'm assuming "higher" is referring to ATPL. The problem is CX cadet graduates are issued a P2X rating that only allows them to touch the controls after the aircraft is above 10,000 ft and no landing or takes offs allow. Given such limitations, I don't know TC will even recognize these hours under P2X. From what I read on PPRUNE, HKCAD will only recognize 50% of P2X hours toward total hours as well.

Anyone know a specific person to talk to in the West Coast region? I know I may get stonewall by TC because it's a very particular issue, even tho HK is an ICAO member.

PS: post made just before Widow's comment, thanks for the link Widow.

[SRV]

here is a tip: ALL inspectors email addy's are: firstname.lastname@tc.gc.ca

[Topspin]

They are also stupidly slow at getting those RAIC passes out. I applied for mine months ago, and haven't received it. Not having it is severely handicapping me at work, while others I know have received it within a week. Like what the @%@#$@#@$%@#$@# man?!

That's CATSA that administers RAIC's.

[Shiny Side Up]

One must remember when communicating with TC people is that they are government employees. This means that they work only Monday to Friday and in addition to many weeks paid vacation that may seem alien to most pilots, they also get a multitude of paid sick days. In addition many being pilots who still long to fly they jump at the chance to get out of the office and put time on the King Air. Did I mention they also get hour long lunch breaks every day?

What all this means is depending on when you attempt to contact them you can expect a very random response time as it really depends on when you catch them. Some helpful hints are:

Never attempt to contact them on the lunch break. Realistically this means from 11:30 to 13:30. IF they happen to see your e-mail/phone message at or during that time period, they are likely to forget about it (yet it will be probably marked as read/recieved) by the time they return to work.

Never attempt to contact them first thing when the office opens or just before it closes. This often will result in the above. I should say that the just before closing should extend to about an hour before closing on Friday afternoons. Most pilots will be unfamiliar with how the typical nine to fiver functions, but be assured that this is a time especially when work halts.

[burninggoats]

Don't forget the "case of the Mondays" that they will be sure to suffer from until after their lunch break, as well as at least one full day after they get back from vacation, even though they are in the office.

[AME 283]

Good Luck in getting a response to a CAIRS, all you get with in 20 days is a statement indicating that they can not respond with in the 20 day time frame.

Also look at the latest level of service document, several of the items have a minimum time to respond i.e. 30 days but no maximum ??

Then there is the issue of formating of documents, they should be to the company advantage not a TC specification which is different from Inspector to Inspector

If we do not do something about it, we become part of the problem instead of the solution. We should all file CAIRs and at least alert them to the issue

[chinglish]

They are also stupidly slow at getting those RAIC passes out. I applied for mine months ago, and haven't received it. Not having it is severely handicapping me at work, while others I know have received it within a week. Like what the @%@#$@#@$%@#$@# man?!

Did you change addresses in the last 5 years? All of the guys that moved around before applying for the pass at my work had to wait longer because the background check takes longer. Some guys had to wait 6+ months for the pass... I got lucky I only had to wait 3 weeks.

As for the long response time from TC don't forget it's a bunch of lawers they need to cover their butts before putting anything in writing.

[ywgflyboy]

They are also stupidly slow at getting those RAIC passes out. I applied for mine months ago, and haven't received it. Not having it is severely handicapping me at work, while others I know have received it within a week. Like what the @%@#$@#@$%@#$@# man?!

Has it not only been a month? lol You sent me a msg saying you saw my name on the parking validation sign sheet the same day I went for mine... That was March 9 Keep waiting. You will have it by November.

[pollyperkins]

Here's and example of slow: Just recieved my 90day temp endorsement; the signature used (with todays date) is the previous DG! Didn't he retire almost a year ago!?!?!?! Wonder if the document is even legal?