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Old 08-17-2012 | 12:36 AM
  #14  
Probe
Don't say Guppy
 
Joined: Dec 2010
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From: Guppy driver
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By doing a "pre-screening" in MCO, you are not saving yourself a single day in China, trust me.

Wasinc has a lot more experience. VOR has such a bad rep they run their business through several websites and names. I do believe they have some pilots on contract in China, but I have not met one. Zero. Wasinc probably has the most.

I worked for a sister airline to Tianjin, BCA. Tianjin is a decent place to work. Once you come to China, pass all the screening in China(very low pass rate for all Chinese airlines), and then come to China to start your job, you still have less than a 50% chance of making it on-line. There are many reasons to not make it, and the Chinese continue to make up new reasons to fail.

Here is a good summary of contract job offers:

If it is a commuting contract, it is because few people want to live there.

If the pay is high, it is because of reason number one, plus no one wants to work there.

There are a very few exceptions to this. ANA is about the only one I can think of.

China? It is an extremely difficult place to get a job. The chance of you passing the screening is extremely low. Talent is not normally the discrimator. Way under 50%, maybe less than 10%. Once you accept the job and come to work, you have less than a 50% chance of making it through a line check, for many different reasons. if you make it on line, your chance of making it through your first contract are maybe 75%. If you want to stay a long time, you will probably have a minor "event" that ends your job, you will fail a medical (you will have probably failed 1/3 of your medicals before this). Very very few pilots last more than 3 years.

I just finished a 2 year contract at BCA. These are the numbers I saw at BCA, Tianjin, and Hainan Air. The process of passing the screening is identical at all airlines in China, as you are meeting the requirements of a CAAC ATPL, and are dealing with the government.

The Chinese contracts pay a lot, for a reason, and they cannot recruit and retain enough pilots. Out of 8 pilots at BCA that have finished their contracts (EVER!), only 3 have renewed. I did not renew. The monthly pay for the new contract would have been 18.6K USD per month, including bonuses, plus overtime. For me, the money was not worth the stress.

FWIW BCA is as good as it gets. The flying was the best I will ever do. On a daily basis I was treated better than I will ever be treated again. And the pay was the highest I will probably ever make.

And I left. And am happy with my decision.

The only pilots that I could recommend a job in China, ANY job in China, is if you have a job to go back to, on short notice, if China does not work out for you. it is probably best for a pilot on a LOA or furlough from a legacy carrier. I am one of these.
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