anyone going to the assessment for NAS in Orlando?


anyone that is going know anything about the paperwork they are asking for,

Confirmation letter form there issuing Authority for there License, also

Letter for no Accidents no Incidents history

just curious how to obtain those.

 

You can obtain a record of your history from the FAA web site.

 

Are you talking about of NAS of Saudi Arabia? (Netjets Middle East)

 

no i am talking about the e-190 and airbus operator out of saudi arabia

 

thanks i will look into it.

don't happen to have a link do ya?

 

NAS is in bed with Netjets Middle East. I know two guys there (at Netjets ME), both on the G-IV.... their Gulfstreams and Falcons go to Europe a lot.

As far as the airline goes the E190/A320 pilots are very well compensated, most of them are foreigners (obviosuly). That's all I know. sorry

good luck

7 Airbus A320 Airliners (Low Cost Airline),
4 Embraer E190's (Low Cost Airline),

BBJ - B737NG Boeing Business Jets,
ACJ - Airbus A319/320 Corporate Jets,
5 DA2000 Falcon 2000 ExecJets,
3 G450 Gulfstream Corporate Jets,
3 G300 Gulfstream Corporate Jets,
3 GIV Gulfstream Corporate Jets,
1 GIV-SP Gulfstream Corporate Jets,
8 HS125 Hawker 800XP Corporate Jets

 

You can contact the FAA in Oklahoma City directly, or your FSDO too. They can provide you with a PRIA report via email. The last time I did mine was in 2009. It took a couple of hours to get the PRIAs for my airman certificate and CFI.

 

Yes, the pay is decent, but....

This IS Saudi Arabia. For those who haven't been outside of the US, pay close attention. Yes, the job advertises high pay ($16.5k for full time and 14.3k for rotation), but fine print is one big gotcha... This is not Republic or Shuttle America where you'll be scheduled 90+ hours a month for starters. 65 hours (basis of their calculations) can be a rather enthusiastic look at the possibilities. Take it with a bit of grain of salt.

Another aspect to consider is that it's Saudi Arabia, again. Might as well be another planet. Imagine waiting to get served and right about when it's your turn - prayer time - sorry, can't help you now. Now mind you, that's not during Ramadan (Muslim Holy Month when they are fasting) when nothing is open during daylight hours, and you are not allowed to eat or drink in public, restaurants are not open - the whole place is shut down until after sunset. Now imagine that, for a month straight. No big deal? Wait till your first one...

OK, so you know how it's nice to get together with some friends and enjoy a cold one after a long day at work? Or maybe after you've done something fun... well, that "cold one" will be an ice tea or a soda because any sort of alcohol is strictly prohibited in the Kingdom. You may find some people manage to make their own, but if you get caught.... well... just don't.

Now, let's get to the business practices in the Middle East. Pay running late? By late, I don't mean a couple of hours, I mean from days to weeks to even months. Their answer? "Inshallah habibi, salaries will be paid next week." You can call ALP.... oh wait, no you can't. But wait, you can call the Department of Lab... well, inshallah habibi. "But I have a contract.... you can't change my contract just like that!" "Habibi... note the little statement in your offer saying that management reserves the right modify this contract? It was just modified..." Hell, that goes on at even the best Middle East airlines. Just ask any Emirates pilot about their overtime.

Speaking of business practices, all your banking instruments or loans are backed up with a blank check you signed when you opened your account (credit card, auto loan, etc.) If your check bounces, it's not $25 returned check fee. It's prison time, literally. There is no such thing as bankruptcy there. They'll take your passport at the airport, throw you in prison and leave you there until your family pays off your debt.

Management changes in Saudi and in the region for that matter fairly quickly. The cycle goes something like this... a local wants to start an airline so they bring in all expats to do things for them, set it all up and get it up and running. Then they see how expats have it running smoothly, so they say that in the interest of nationalization or cost-saving, we'll fire the expat managers and put our own or cheaper ones (Indians, Pakis, Sudanese) to run the show... except the locals can never do wrong and they'll blame the remaining expats for any shortfalls. Well, things get really screwed up, so now what? Let's bring those westerners back to fix this. So expats come to fix things up, and then the locals see how it runs and go, we need to nationalize this or get cheaper help because John Q. American or Harry G. Brit are too expensive... rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

Expat life is not for everyone. You have to accept the fact that you're a guest in their country wherever you end up going. Their ways of doing any sort of business may radically be different than anything you may be accustomed to. Saudi is a tough cookie even for those of us who are expats in other GCC countries in the Middle East. For those of you with seniority numbers at places like Republic or Compass or any other 121 place here in the US, I would seriously think twice about resigning that number for ANY expat gig with the exception of Emirates or maybe Etihad. On LOA or furlough? Different story. Resign for anything based in Saudi? Your friends need to turn you in for a drug test under reasonable suspicion. You're leaving a huge security blanket behind and really rolling the dice. Is it worth the gamble (because that's really what it is)? Time will tell. My intent here is to open your eyes to realities of this gig, or any expat gig for that matter. It's way too easy to see the dollar signs, and disregard everything else...

 

I am going to the assessment.

 

From my Friend that is a current NAS Capt. He has been in the Overseas market for 7 years (3 in India and 3 @ NAS.

", I have lots of photo albums about life here in the Kingdom. It's really not as bad as you might think, and can be downright fun actually ( I spent my day off yesterday snorkeling on the Red Sea with some flight attendants from Lufthansa sporting some skimpy bikinis who were on a layover at the compound where I stay, the Sheraton Red Sea resort). I never would have imagined Saudi Arabia could be a fun place but it actually is (behind the walls of the expatriate housing compounds) and that's coming from a guy who is from New York City. Americans have been living and working here since Texaco working on a contract with the Saudi government first struck oil in the 1930's and the Americans moved in to help set up the oil industry. Since then the government has had this kind of parallel system of housing compounds where Americans, Europeans and other westerners can live like they want behind the walls of the compound with bikini beach parties, homemade hooch (think the US during prohibition) and backyard barbecues while outside the Saudis are praying five times a day and the women have to wear abayas (the full length black gown that covers everything they wear, head covering optional for foreign women). As far as the company and flight operations and schedules and all that I guess the best way is for you to ask me any specific questions you might have and I will answer based on my experience here. I have been here since February of 2009 and there are around 10 other ex RAH guys here with me, most of us are on the 6 and 3 schedule and a couple of guys who live within 6 hours flight time over in Europe took the full time (3 and 1) schedule. In my 2 1/2 years here pay has never been late and all of my roundtrip tickets back to NYC have been paid for by the company without any problems and vacation has always come on time, every 6 weeks! As far as pay, you can't make this much flying a 190 (or a 777 for that matter!) anywhere else. We just got a big raise in June and the first paycheck (actually wire, since I have the company wire transfer all my pay directly to my Chase account back home in NYC) under the new scale was on July 31st for $18,900 net! It's insane and money is no issue for them! Last year under the old pay scale which was around 30% less I netted $130,000 and paid $15,000 in taxes to the IRS. And that was with almost 5 months of vacation time at home in the States since I had to wait around a lot to have my work Visa renewed (last year I had 3 regular, three-week vacations to the States totaling 9 weeks as well as one vacation that lasted a little over 2 months while I awaited my work Visa, all paid!). This year without any Visa issues I have so far had 4, 3-week vacations (we call them off-rotations) since my first one which was in mid-January and I have two more to go, one starting on September 17th and the last one, off-rotation number 6 will come a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving so I will be home for Turkey Day this year. Overall it's not a bad place to work. You make a boatload of money and as long as you respect their culture (just think of it as having to adhere to the house rules when you visit someone's home!) you will adjust with no problem. It's not like flying in the States in that most of the flight attendants like 80 percent are hot chicks under the age of 25! And you get a hot crew meal and if you have an early flight that stretches into the afternoon you get a hot breakfast AND a hot lunch, all served onboard by the aforementioned hot chicks! The majority of the trips are out and backs and you get to fly to cool places like Dubai, Istanbul, and Egypt. I've been averaging around 95 hours on the full months that I'm here which again nets you around 18G's. Some of the Airbus guys (same pay scale as us on the 190) end up making around 20G's a month because they have internations layovers with international per diem (around $115 bucks per night) in places like India and Pakistan. I'd take the India but pass on the Pakistan! LOL. Either way both fleets are making some really good bank! There are 9 Airbusses (8 A320's and 1 A319) and 6 Embraer-190's and there are rumors about 5 more Embraers coming so the future looks bright."