Originally Posted by
EXPAT1
It can definitely be hard work but the reward can also be high, its all what you're willing to accomplish. If you can gut out 1 or 2 contracts here you can pay off the mortgage, save for the kids college, build up a nest egg and be well established towards retirement. Many commuting contracts offer contracts which are actually quite efficient flying. You can do 900-950 hours and still get 2 weeks off consecutively every 6 weeks.
Regarding the medical and ATP, I doubt much will change in the near future. The ATP written is actually not too difficult if you prepare well. Remember the European ATP requires 14 tests and 15 months to accomplish. The medical is driven by the CAAC docs being tied to the military standards. When you accomplish a medical in China think of what a new pilot recruit will undergo during a military flight physical and you are on target.
The two biggest problems with the Chinese medicals are the different standards with different CAAC regions, and the fact the Chinese doctors tend to find things that don't exist.
I failed the CAAC medical in Beijing, but passed it in Chengdu. I failed in Beijing because I had PRK eye surgery and I was supposedly just outside their pre-surgical limits for allowing the surgery. In the Southwest CAAC region I was just fine. I had another friend who failed in Beijing for heart issues, but passed it in Chengdu as well. I know of one guy who failed it in Chengdu but passed it three weeks later in Shanghai. It is a crap shoot.
They also find things that you do not have. I know one guy failed his recurrent medical because they claimed he had a stroke. He went back to the States and was given a clean bill of health, finding no evidence whatsoever of a stroke. Another friend failed his medical due to "heart problems". His doctors is Sweden gave him a clean bill of health just a few weeks later, finding absolutely no issues with his heart.
My advice when considering China is to have a back-up plan in place and get a good loss of license insurance to cover you in case you fail a medical here.