But their "friends" in Africa are not exactly happy with the Chinese these days. For all of the inroads the Chinese are trying to make, they are not doing a great job. Most of the countries the Chinese are trying to make investments in are former British colonies and have a long history of doing business with western nations. Many in these nations are not happy with the Chinese way of doing things, and the Chinese are paying far less than the western nations have in the past which is leading to a lot of resentment towards China.

(My source for this is a friend who works for the U.S. State Department. He was stationed in Africa before being stationed in China and this is his area of expertise).

 

Millions of reasonably priced hookers?

 

Anyone applied to or hear anything about SF Cargo airlines in Shenzhen or 9Air in Guangzhou?

Also if anyone has a study guide or other info on the CAAC ATP written or profiles for the checkride please PM me, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

 

Forget 9Air, it's a scam. SF might be an OK deal (as things go in China), but be careful with ANY job you contract for over there. It is NOT a long term gig, do not quit your job at home.

READ THE BOOK F.U.D. with download links for the .pdf posted on the first page of this thread before you do ANYTHING. Opinions may vary, but there is plenty of useful information therein from company memos etc. that will give you good insight on what you are getting yourself into.

Be safe!
C.S.

edit:
Here's the link...

 

Without further ado, links to videos taken surreptitiously on deck of Check Airmen, a Chief Pilot and other pilots sleeping, smoking and reading below 10,000 on deck. More to come.

Plus, stay tuned for upcoming discussions of checkrides used to fire expat pilots and other issues like the punishments received for miscommunication with ATC.

Sleeping
1. https://youtu.be/EtVCLTbwD4c
2. https://youtu.be/5V74tUjbwSI
3. https://youtu.be/kVF6-TcWDLE
4. https://youtu.be/NosRlAbFzDA
5. https://youtu.be/l0vAUTxA5o4
6. https://youtu.be/a6K6F2DdG2M

Reading and Smoking
1. https://youtu.be/iGd_3ZiZ-uI
2. https://youtu.be/TNitPjR5hcI
3. https://youtu.be/No5b_QPqUzA

Treat it all for what it's worth. Make your own judgements. This is meant to inform expats of the reality of the deal they are getting themselves into in China. The authors of F.U.D. have their own axes to grind, but good portions of the book were written mindful of objectivity... Still, that may or may not be the case.

Fly safely,
C.S.

 

I could tell right away the videos are a complete fake. If they were real, all the windows would be covered by red HNA blankets from the cabin. And some newspapers if there were not enough blankets.

No self respecting Chinese airline pilot would allow himself the browning effects of the sun.

I even had a few FO's try to put newspapers on the side windows while taxiing. No kidding.

 

Ha, yeah, indeed. I saw plenty of great, anti-professional behavior when I was over there and raised a stink about it. Memos went out and the vent stuffing with napkins stopped, newspapers in the windows stopped, reading and smoking on my flight deck stopped. All it takes is a few writeups in the aircraft log regarding clogged vents and... You can see why I was so popular? Many of the expats there during my tenure followed suit.

However, bear in mind that the pilots in these videos are not FO's. These are mostly videos from line checks and checkrides with a chief pilot; one of them is a regular captain. I need to check back with the expat who sent them to find out who is who exactly.

Of course, these may seem 'no big whoopty' to the layman or casual clickbait. When you realize the professional hazard and lengths the person took to make them, they start to make more sense. If you have operated 'in theatre' they really make sense without explanation.

What you are seeing here are snippets of the hand-me-down behaviors from instructors and authorities that lead to stuffing vents with napkins, keeping newspapers in the windows until 500' on approach, claiming the WX radar will make you go sterile, etc. You can see on one video the 3rd man on deck (the 'student')... I think he is sleeping, but when he IS awake, he's taking note of what passes as acceptable behavior on deck.

When you go to China to fly, you WILL have to fight back against this continental drift of behavior. It is not safe, it is not pleasurable, it is not conducive to smooth operating. You end up with resentful little snots who think they own the world because 'this is how the chief pilot does it' and now you have another hazard of broken CRM on your hands.

Chinese flying is NOT like Western flying. 2 wings and 3 landing gear is where the similarities end. And this is why we wrote F.U.D., why we started this thread, and why we caution pilots who are dazzled by the dollar signs. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. We have made the material available to you, take advantage of it.

C.S.

 

It's definitely nothing like western flying....., here in the west when pilots take a nap (and ALL of you have done it at one point or another) it stays where it belongs, amongst pilots backing eachother up....., an ******* doesn't pull up his cellphone and post the recording on YouTube...!

All this says a LOT more about western pilots than it does about the Chinese.

 

You're thinking of the wrong country. It India with the Times of India plastered on every window in the cockpit. And who wrote the Times of India was a worthless rag?

 

Perhaps you have been gone from western flying too long. Yes, we have all needed to catch some shut eye, but in my experience it goes something like this:

Pilot 1 - "Man, I am pretty beat. I need to take a quick nap (or study the overhead panel). Are you okay with that?"

Pilot 2 - "Sure, I will wake you up in a bit."

Pilot 2 - "Thanks a lot. You sure you are okay? Give me about 15 or 20 minutes".

In China its more of pilot 1 passes out and sleeps most of the leg without saying a word to the other pilot.


Also, love the comments about blocking the windows and the vents. It is so common at my airline the flight attendants just bring pillows up to block the side vents in the Airbus. One time I removed it and handed it back to the flight attendant. She promptly put it back in front of the vent. When I removed it again and told her no, she thought I was crazy.