I have just found out that I can get a 2 year LOA and I am interested in contract flying. I sent out my stuff to a couple of contractors and Rishworth sent me an e-mail saying I was qualified for the KAL 777 non typed contract.

I am current 757 capt, 3100 hrs PIC, 21000 tt. I also have 7200 PIC in the 'bus. Anyone know about Korean? I had heard about all the problems they had a few years ago, I also heard that Delta sent some check airmen over there and they straightened things out, I know they were about to get the boot from their alliance. PPrune has a bunch of negative things as usual, I am tryng to get a feel for whether this is worth the efffort. I do not mind doing the work, I just want to know what the contract is worth.

 

all my friends from Polar that went as street captaind on the 747-400 and are " based " in the US like it .

 

Did Rishworth say you were qual'd but will have to pay of for your own type, and this will NOT guarantee that you will be successful at getting the job?

I applied tried for the A330 FO position as it state no type rating was required, and was told the above.

Check out pprune, pretty extensive thread going on there right know about KAL.

I'm sure that typhoonpilot will jump in here. But you might want to see was CCLaviation and gapaviation are offering for the same job. Their terms may be better. Rishworth doesn't exactly rate high amongst many contract gurus.

 

I have not said anything to Rishworth yet. I understand that those are the conditions, that you pay for the type up front. I also saw in PPrune that the success rate last year was not good, I wanted to find out from other sources what the real deal was. I won't waste my time or money if this is just an exercise in getting guys to pay for sim time. I still have not heard what the T and Cs are, I wanted to find that out before I get a contract agency all wound up.

 

Rishworth said that the type rating must be at one of KAL's approved schools. The lowest rate they have right now is $36K including accomodations. That's a huge gamble, especially considering all of the other problems rumored to be going on there.

 

Mike:


The Korean contract is better through CCL or Parc. There is another U.S. company that some guys go through, but I can't remember the name right now. CCL are a really good agency and have high marks from the guys who are with them. Parc are generally good as well. You'll find that Rishworth have a pretty poor reputation. E-mail [email protected] and ask them all the questions you have. They will reply with a full brief on the contract.

The issues you talked about with KAL were back in the 90s. The new issues are that there seems to be a Korean pilot/Korean management battle going on and the expat pilots are caught in the middle. The practical upshot is that the Korean pilots threaten to strike so Korean management hire foreigners to mitigate any possible strike. The Korean pilots then fail the foreign pilots in training. This seems to be the worst on the B777 fleet.

When you talk to pilots at Korean you must differentiate what they say based on the fleet they are on. The QOL on each fleet is vastly different. The best fleet is probably the A330. The B777 boys work hard with multiple Trans-Pacs every month.

Training for the B777 fleet has been an issue lately with many failures. This after one has gone out and bought a type rating with their own money. Some of the failures may have been justified, but it's likely that a good number were not. The quote from a friend of mine currently in line training is, "if I had known then what I know now, I wouldn't have come". This primarily in relation to the training environment and risk of failure for no good reason.

When flying for Korean be prepared to be alone. As the only foreigner in the crew one often finds themselves alone on overnights. A very good friend of mine has worked there for 9 years and this is his sentiment. He is a very outgoing and fun person, but the Korean crew must follow the lead of the Purser and often do not go out with the foreign captains. This is less true with the Korean F.O.s, but still happens.



Typhoonpilot

 

Hey, thanks, Typhoon, I appreciate the info. What you say pretty much backs up what I read on PPrune. The last thing I want to do is get in the middle of a urination contest between the Korean pilots and management, particularly if I have my own cash on the line. Too bad, LAX basing would be perfect for me. The 777 contract was the only one they mentioned to me, nothing about the 747 or A330. I guess I will have to keep looking. I'd like to save at least one of our guys from getting furloughed and I would like to do some international widebody flying, especially if this place is going to crater. I do not want to be the last man standing at the train wreck that is US Airways.

 

The US contract company is GAPAviation. I know a couple exDelta guys using them and they are very very happy with them, in all respects. www.gapaviation.com

 

True, but using GAP does not solve the issues noted by Typhoon.......also, I sometimes have trouble getting GAP to answer the phone. Having said that I think I would still go with GAP if I were to do a Korean contract but I've lost interest in Korean because of problems with 777 guys washing out.

 

This is a good thread from years ago. Have a read of it to see my thoughts on U.S. based contract companies.


Typhoonpilot