Quote:
Originally Posted by eraualex
This airline loses an average of 1.75 pilots a day due to the work conditions. I have 5 friends working there with a lot of TT and qualifications. Having come back very recently from the Middle East, allow me to inform you that you HAVE NO RIGHTS WHATSOEVER. You will be fired on the spot and you will be asked to leave with the clothes on your back.
I work there.
This is simply not true!
It is like any other job. You go to work and fly your trips and go home and enjoy life, and no one says a word to you.
We do lose pilots, and in my experience that is mostly due to family issues, or people just get tired of being an expat. The expat life isn't for everyone, and it is a good thing for some people for a few years, and then time to move on. As far at 1.75 a day, that number sounds a bit high to me. That would be 638 per year, and I can't imagine it is that high (we have about 2,700 pilots on the property). Half that sounds more realistic. But it is not typically an airline where you get a job and stay for 30 years like AA / UA / DL (some do stay long term).
People do get fired for mistakes. You have no union to protect you, and if you screw up you will be out. The company strongly emphasizes stabilized approaches, and if you go around for being unstabilized at 1000 feet that is fine. But if you are unstable at 1000 and continue, you will be fired. Period. Dating flight attendants is fine, but admitting to having sex with flight attendants will get you fired. I heard of an A330 captain who got fired for extending the landing gear 20 knots over the max gear extension speed. We recently had a B777 incident (actually classified as an accident by the FAA) in MIA. You can look it up and read about it online. I don't know any details other than what is on the internet, but my gut feelings is that all four pilots in the cockpit at that time will be fired for that one.
For me, it has been a great job and I'm happy there. My career will be over in 7 years, and so far I've never needed a union to protect me. I've worked for US airlines and felt some people should have been fired who weren't. Most pilots at QR that I know are happy and do not feel threatened in any way by the company. It is not an adversarial relationship with management, but they do expect us to operate their airplanes by the book.
Got2Fly