Quote:
Originally Posted by Typhoonpilot
Direct quote from a pilot in recruiting at Etihad, "I'm assuming you hold an FAA licence too which is not one of our preferred licences." 
We'll forget the basic grammar mistake for a second.
This attitude demonstrates that what Wolf has said does have some truth to it. Since this particular individual and I hold the exact same ratings in the UAE I thought about challenging him to a contest to see who the more knowledgable pilot is, but figured it would be like tilting at windmills. Guys with prejudices like this can't be swayed. Instead I wrote the FAA with a copy of his entire letter asking them to ramp check all Etihad flights arriving at JFK  Also thought about writing the DOT to ask them to very carefully review all route requests into the USA by such an obviously prejudiced outfit until such time as they start to hire more Americans with FAA certificates. 
Typhoonpilot |
That sends chills down my spine...don't even get me started on Rishworth's contact for Atlas Blue Morocco's 737 FO contract. They basically told me even if I were to convert to Canadian or another ICAO license that they still wouldn't consider me, since they would still know that my original licenses were FAA. It even says "no FAA" on the postings for Atlas Blue on Rishworth's site. Sure, I guess they're mostly into JARs and Euro pilots (esp French-speaking ones) but it's pretty blatant to single out one specific country...why not just say "JAA license required?"
While I'm certainly not a xenophobe or a paranoid national security guy, when I saw their response about "no FAA, no conversion from FAA, no way" it really struck a nerve.
I think there should be a FAA policy that says if a foreign carrier discriminates against FAA licenses (assuming they're hiring non-locals anyways), that carrier should be charged a premium user fee to operate flights into the US. They should also be barred from having any of their pilots trained in the US, which shouldn't be a problem since they look down on our training anyways? Right?
I guess Atlas doesn't operate into the US anyways, but their parent company Royal Air Maroc does. Either way, I guess we're not hiring any Moroccans.