Originally Posted by
TiredSoul
Ok time to take the pink shades off.
How do you expect an airline in a China to count as 121?
Part 91, 135, 121 are all US (FAA) regs.
So 1000 SIC in China does NOT count towards the 121 requirements for upgrade to PIC.
China is brutal.
From 3 guys that I know that tried for PIC 737 none made it.
Two didn’t make it through the astronaut medical and the last one washed out in the sim.
Crew members are expected (required) to report any deviations from SOP/FOM etc etc etc.
There’s no such thing as calling in “fatigued” and calling in sick requires a doctor.
No union, no rights, you’re a hired minion.
Now on the bright side, as PIC life’s significantly better but you’re still only there because they need you not because they want you.
Now I do have a buddy that has lived and flown in China for the last 10-12 years, mostly as PIC.
Absolutely loves it but even before had a thing for Asia and travelled there extensively so very familiar with culture etc etc etc.
Why don’t you jumpseat on an ACMI flight to China and spend a week traveling around?
I could live there but it’s not for everyone.
Actually it is Part 121 time...CCAR Part 121 time
Seriously though, from my three years in China it seemed to me the vast majority of expats tolerated it at best. It is seen as a necessary evil, with the perks of a lot of pay and/or a lot of time off, but not really an enjoyable life. I would say 60-70% of the pilots I knew in China fell into this category.
There were probably 10-15% who really loved it. They got themselves a Chinese girlfriend(s), bought a house, maybe even started a family. There were a handful of guys I could see never leaving China.
The rest absolutely hated it. I had one friend who was working on a month on/month off contract and he actually ended up having a nervous breakdown over having to go back to China. I remember one Swedish guy I met when he was just starting his line training. He seemed to be all excited about starting his new Chinese job. I saw him three months later and he was looking for a way to get out. There are actually a lot of guys who started out in the "I can tolerate this for the money" camp, but after a few years moved to the "I absolutely hate this" camp. I think I was part of this group. The initial adjustment was tough, I was then able to tolerate it, but the last six months I was clamoring to get out.
One thing I would recommend to help with China is actually make an effort to learn Chinese. My agency actually discouraged us from doing so, and claimed that most Chinese could understand English, and that most people we would interact with could speak it quite well. In hindsight, I think if I had been encouraged to learn the language from the start, it could have made the experience a bit more enjoyable. There a lot of times I had a very hard time communicating with people, and that led to a sense of isolation.
Bad internet and ability to communicate with the world outside of China (that is apparently getting much worse in the two and a half years since I have been gone), questionable food safety, apocalyptic levels of pollution, and a limited ability to communicate with people, does not make for a happy existence IMHO.