Canadian North Hiring

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mags
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Canadian North Hiring

Post by mags »

Any Info out there on Canadian North Hiring Plans (First Officer employment add is up).

Schedule/pairing lengths for new 737 vs Dash Fo's?

Work environment etc?
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lowlevel
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by lowlevel »

Also if possible the pay structure for the 37 and the smash 8
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mags
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by mags »

Payscale for the 737 here.

http://..com/?page_id=560
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lowlevel
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by lowlevel »

Awesome thanks Mags!!
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tbaylx
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by tbaylx »

mags wrote:Any Info out there on Canadian North Hiring Plans (First Officer employment add is up).

Schedule/pairing lengths for new 737 vs Dash Fo's?

Work environment etc?
The work environment is good for the most part, good group at 5T. Expect YEG base. They need a lot of Dash guys at the moment, including direct entry captains. Might be a few Boeing F/O's too, but most (not all, still some external hiring directly onto the right seat of the Boeing) of those positions are filled internally by guys coming over from the Dash to the Boeing.

For schedules expect a min of 12 days off a month, maybe a few a few more on the D8. The Dash typically does a couple of 8 day pairings based out of YFB.

The Boeing fleet has a decent mix of multi day (up to 6 days away) pairings and single day trips. The multi day pairings vary between day trips out of YOW to YFB and return to night trips across the country to the east coast for the oil sands companies. The day pairings are sometimes long (6 legs from YEG up to YEV and back over 12 hours) or easy (an afternoon flight from YEG to the oil sands and back). It's a good mix and you can be home most nights if that is what you are looking for. If you're looking for glamorous big city layovers in exotic locations then this isn't the place for you. (unless you count the local talent in YFB or YZF as exotic)

The equipment is decent considering its age and use, and more -300's arriving all the time to replace the -200's. The pay as an F/O is lower than the other major airlines in Canada, however once you get to a left seat on the Boeing the pay/lifestyle is hard to beat. Because of that very few captains leave the company and the average age of a captain on the 737 is probably in the 40's somewhere, so there aren't alot of retirements coming up. Movement is therefore limited to fleet expansion, which can end at any time. Unfortunately 5T isn't really interested in long term f/o's in my opinion, they expect them to leave to other companies or upgrade and the pay reflects that. Right now people are still upgrading in 4-5 years on the Boeing, but I would expect that to slow down once the -200's start retiring over the next few years. It's a straight seniority system with equipment bids, so if you start on the Dash you can bid over to the Boeing or from the Boeing to the Dash as seniority allows when new positions are posted.

Been some rumours about a merger with 7F which could result in potential layoffs..but for the moment that is quiet and the hiring continues.

Interviews are a relaxed professional format, with usually an HR type and a pilot. Expect the typical currently in fashion behavioral type interview questions (ie tell us about a time you...) with the Situation, Action, Result answer type desired. A few questions about your flying career and a look over your logbook. Nothing technical at all. The sim eval is conducted in a -200 sim in YVR at the Air Canada building. It's all steam driven, so if you're used to glass it's an flash back to your earlier days in your career. Typical straightforward sim, you pick the seat, NDB hold, engine failure and raw data single engine ILS. If you haven't had much sim time you are going to struggle if you have never flown a jet before. If you're coming from a bigger 704/705 operator and have spent a few years doing simulator rides with good SOP's and can fly a sim pretty well, you'll manage to get through okay. They don't expect you to be perfect, but a reasonable attempt at maintaining altitudes and the ILS is expected if you want to get the job.
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jgppilot
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by jgppilot »

tbaylx wrote:
mags wrote:Any Info out there on Canadian North Hiring Plans (First Officer employment add is up).

Schedule/pairing lengths for new 737 vs Dash Fo's?

Work environment etc?
The work environment is good for the most part, good group at 5T. Expect YEG base. They need a lot of Dash guys at the moment, including direct entry captains. Might be a few Boeing F/O's too, but most (not all, still some external hiring directly onto the right seat of the Boeing) of those positions are filled internally by guys coming over from the Dash to the Boeing.

For schedules expect a min of 12 days off a month, maybe a few a few more on the D8. The Dash typically does a couple of 8 day pairings based out of YFB.

The Boeing fleet has a decent mix of multi day (up to 6 days away) pairings and single day trips. The multi day pairings vary between day trips out of YOW to YFB and return to night trips across the country to the east coast for the oil sands companies. The day pairings are sometimes long (6 legs from YEG up to YEV and back over 12 hours) or easy (an afternoon flight from YEG to the oil sands and back). It's a good mix and you can be home most nights if that is what you are looking for. If you're looking for glamorous big city layovers in exotic locations then this isn't the place for you. (unless you count the local talent in YFB or YZF as exotic)

The equipment is decent considering its age and use, and more -300's arriving all the time to replace the -200's. The pay as an F/O is lower than the other major airlines in Canada, however once you get to a left seat on the Boeing the pay/lifestyle is hard to beat. Because of that very few captains leave the company and the average age of a captain on the 737 is probably in the 40's somewhere, so there aren't alot of retirements coming up. Movement is therefore limited to fleet expansion, which can end at any time. Unfortunately 5T isn't really interested in long term f/o's in my opinion, they expect them to leave to other companies or upgrade and the pay reflects that. Right now people are still upgrading in 4-5 years on the Boeing, but I would expect that to slow down once the -200's start retiring over the next few years. It's a straight seniority system with equipment bids, so if you start on the Dash you can bid over to the Boeing or from the Boeing to the Dash as seniority allows when new positions are posted.

Been some rumours about a merger with 7F which could result in potential layoffs..but for the moment that is quiet and the hiring continues.

Interviews are a relaxed professional format, with usually an HR type and a pilot. Expect the typical currently in fashion behavioral type interview questions (ie tell us about a time you...) with the Situation, Action, Result answer type desired. A few questions about your flying career and a look over your logbook. Nothing technical at all. The sim eval is conducted in a -200 sim in YVR at the Air Canada building. It's all steam driven, so if you're used to glass it's an flash back to your earlier days in your career. Typical straightforward sim, you pick the seat, NDB hold, engine failure and raw data single engine ILS. If you haven't had much sim time you are going to struggle if you have never flown a jet before. If you're coming from a bigger 704/705 operator and have spent a few years doing simulator rides with good SOP's and can fly a sim pretty well, you'll manage to get through okay. They don't expect you to be perfect, but a reasonable attempt at maintaining altitudes and the ILS is expected if you want to get the job.

Great Post!


cheers
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fish4life
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by fish4life »

good to see a company still hiring partially based on a pilots ability to fly the plane still
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tbaylx
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by tbaylx »

fish4life wrote:good to see a company still hiring partially based on a pilots ability to fly the plane still
With the type of flying we do and the limited functions of the SP77 autopilot in the Boeings it's really important to have guys with reasonably good hands and feet.
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Doc
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by Doc »

fish4life wrote:good to see a company still hiring partially based on a pilots ability to fly the plane still
A policy Air France should consider?
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fish4life
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by fish4life »

tbaylx wrote:
fish4life wrote:good to see a company still hiring partially based on a pilots ability to fly the plane still
With the type of flying we do and the limited functions of the SP77 autopilot in the Boeings it's really important to have guys with reasonably good hands and feet.
Makes sense, even if you don't have old equipment I don't understand why every airline doesn't adopt this strategy, recent accidents suggest that we should be re enforcing hands and feet/ raw data flying.
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Brantford Beech Boy
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by Brantford Beech Boy »

no YOW base...pity.
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NHC
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by NHC »

Thanks for the info
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by tbaylx »

Brantford Beech Boy wrote:no YOW base...pity.

The rumors persist of a YOW base opening, even a expression of interest memo has gone out to gauge who would be interested, but so far it remains just a rumor. It may happen eventually, however I would not count on it.
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Changes in Latitudes
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by Changes in Latitudes »

tbaylx wrote:
Brantford Beech Boy wrote:no YOW base...pity.

The rumors persist of a YOW base opening, even a expression of interest memo has gone out to gauge who would be interested, but so far it remains just a rumor. It may happen eventually, however I would not count on it.
If this merger talk keeps up, you'll have a CYOW base before you know it.
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by tbaylx »

Changes in Latitudes wrote:
tbaylx wrote:
Brantford Beech Boy wrote:no YOW base...pity.

The rumors persist of a YOW base opening, even a expression of interest memo has gone out to gauge who would be interested, but so far it remains just a rumor. It may happen eventually, however I would not count on it.
If this merger talk keeps up, you'll have a CYOW base before you know it.
And if we merge and get a YOW base you'll only need 20 years seniority to be able to hold it.
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by Darkhorse »

interesting
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Last edited by Darkhorse on Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
penismightier
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by penismightier »

I'm curious about the schedule at Canadain North. Is it resonable for someone to commute?? Also, are standby and jumpseat available with other carriers?
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by tbaylx »

penismightier wrote:I'm curious about the schedule at Canadain North. Is it resonable for someone to commute?? Also, are standby and jumpseat available with other carriers?
The answer to that is it depends...where are you commuting from and what fleet.

If you're on the Dash it's typically 8 day pairings twice a month in YFB, so a commute is quite easily doable. On the Boeing there are many more 1 day pairings and some reserve days (mixed blocks) so a commute from any distance away from YEG is tough. There are a few guys doing it from the West coast, and Saskatoon but much further away i think your lifestyle would suffer. There is no computerized bidding system in place at the moment, everything is still done by hand so your ability to pick specific pairings and build a commuting schedule is limited to how much time a person can spend on your schedule. The result is usually a less than ideal commuting schedule. It can be done, but you are going to spend some time away from home doing it.

Zed fares are available with several other airlines in canada and abroad. Reciprocal jumpseat agreements with AC and WJ, so getting around isn't that hard.
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penismightier
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by penismightier »

tbaylx wrote:
penismightier wrote:I'm curious about the schedule at Canadain North. Is it resonable for someone to commute?? Also, are standby and jumpseat available with other carriers?
The answer to that is it depends...where are you commuting from and what fleet.

If you're on the Dash it's typically 8 day pairings twice a month in YFB, so a commute is quite easily doable. On the Boeing there are many more 1 day pairings and some reserve days (mixed blocks) so a commute from any distance away from YEG is tough. There are a few guys doing it from the West coast, and Saskatoon but much further away i think your lifestyle would suffer. There is no computerized bidding system in place at the moment, everything is still done by hand so your ability to pick specific pairings and build a commuting schedule is limited to how much time a person can spend on your schedule. The result is usually a less than ideal commuting schedule. It can be done, but you are going to spend some time away from home doing it.

Zed fares are available with several other airlines in canada and abroad. Reciprocal jumpseat agreements with AC and WJ, so getting around isn't that hard.
Thanks, I appreciate it. Fingers crossed for an interview.
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Re: Canadian North Hiring

Post by KenoraPilot »

Just wondering what life is like as a newbie 737 F/O. I currently live in YYC and would love to get YYC basing, but is it possible to commute to YEG on a low seniority number? I really don't have any intention of moving to YEG. How about the pay ($3700/mth gross), what do you take home every 2 weeks after taxes before per diem? Average hours of flying a year? Is it over all a good place to work? People happy? Just wanting to get a pulse on the place, because doesn't seem like there is much conversation about it. Does anyone think layoffs will happen at Canadian North with this First Air take over?

I really appreciate the information, thank you!

Cheers
KP
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