fr8pilot

I just received an invite for an Emirates interview in February. Anyone else hear from them? I thought they had quite a pool already.

Also, from current Emirates pilots, how is the current atmosphere? Is the global economic meltdown affecting EK and/or Dubai? How is Dubai now for families?

Any interview gouge?

Thanks in advance gents & ladies...

atpcliff

Hi!

U definitely need to go to pprune.org. It's the best message board for overseas flying.

I have one buddy that went there and quit. Emirates was crap, Dubai was crap, and the whole situation was horrible. He's from the US and single, more or less.

I have another buddy that went there and said it's a fantastic airline (he is European). His American wife thinks that the family situation at Emirates is great, and Dubai is awesome (they don't have kids).

So, two opposite ends of the spectrum. Pretty freaky if you ask me.

I would like Emirates and Dubai, myself. I'd love to move the family there and have the kids go to an American or British school with lots of kids from all over.

cliff
GRB

RemoveB4flght

Pprune definitely has a lot of information.. but like any of the aviation web boards, I take anything I read with a grain of salt. Unfortunately the majority of those weighing in with opinions 1) do not work for the airline and 2) have not visited the area.

There are some other expat forums where you can get answers to lifestyle type questions that you might have.

my advice would be to seek lifestyle questions from an independant source

Kenny

Fr8,

Not at EK but one of the 100-130 poolies currently treading water. I've been told unofficially/officially that all the poolies are to be offered class dates when the training schedule for next year is finalized. It wasn't possible to do that until the Boeing strike was resolved and they'd sorted out the delivery schedule.

The last email we received from HR indicated that poolies would start to be offered courses at the beginning of the year. Unofficially I've been told that due to the A310 guys going through 777 courses in Jan, the first available courses would be in Feb and that it would be around 3-4 months to get all the poolies through courses.

EK was never somewhere I really wanted to go but I figured I had nothing to lose by going to DXB and checking it out, at very least. All I can say is that they looked after me and the rest of my interview group extremely well. Paid for all my flights, hotel, transportation and some meals. No one else does that, not these days anyway.

As far as the interview is concerned, there's a lot to it; Computer testing (arithmetic, spatial awareness, memory and hand-eye coordination) but I'm not sure how much it goes to deciding a yes or no. The 2 things I think are waited the most are the sim and the group exercise. Other than that there's the Psych testing, medical (insane) and the HR interview if you get through to day 3. Really simple, TMAT format.

The biggest question, especially for the married guys is the accommodation. When I asked about it in the HR interview, both the interviewers were more than aware that it was a problem but did say that upper management were not happy about it and were all over the problem.

If you want anymore info, PM me and I'll help as much as I can.

Typhoonpilot

There is an even better one with good ( and recent ) interview gouge and a fair number of Americans flying at EK who participate.

*************.com - The Information Exchange for Professional Pilots

One could also do a search on this forum as there are some very good threads on Emirates from a few years ago. The interview gouge isn't as recent, but the discussion on lifestyle and such is pretty thorough.

The thing about PPrune is the attitudes and posts are from people mostly outside of the USA with different expectations and frames of reference.


Typhoonpilot

motojet

I've been working here at EK for eight months and enjoy it. So far at least I have been treated well, the flying has been good, and the crews have been cool to fly and layover with. I don't have kids however, so I moved into an apartment right away. The guys with kids are still waiting on villas and that is a sore point with them(and their wives).
Dubai is pretty westernized but for me it can be annoying with the construction and the lack of planning by the government. But you can buy booze here so that helps.
PPrune has a lot of info but I think a lot of those posters have some serious issues. While its good to hear the downside of EK so you can make an informed decision, the posters over there will go absolutely rabid if someone makes a positive post about Emirates.
I'm no kool-aid drinker. I've been flying for the airlines too long for that. But I enjoy working here so far and while EK isn't perfect its better than anything I did in the U.S.(I flew for a major). Just my personal view.

Bill Lumberg

All great information. I would think that if you were inclined to get homesick for the US, getting a slot on the 777 fleet would be helpful because you would have a decent chance of hitting NYC, LA, SFO and Houston every now and then. Those LA and SFO flights are super-long back breakers but at least you get a taste of Americana during your layover.

What is the Airbus fleet (I presume you start on the A330 and then add the A340 designation after a set time period with A380 a long time from starting) like in terms of layovers and fun destinations?

I am not trying to be flip, I just know that I would probably want to see the US here and there if I qualified (not yet) and someday made the move to Dubai. Are the Airbus pilots given a pretty good selection of destinations/layovers or are you spending a lot of your time in potentially "hostile" and less enjoyable environs (i.e., Pakistan, India, Iran, Libya, etc.)? No flame here - just curious.

hans

Hi Kenny,
thanks for your posting!
I plan on going for an interview soon. Did they pay for your flights to an Emirates station on other carriers as well. As far as I know they fly you from any Emirates station to dubai.
In regard to the interview questions, math, atp questions, can you elaborate on those a little?
I appreciate your time,
Hans

Kenny

In order:

Yes, they paid for me to go IAD-JFK-DXB and back.

Don't get confused here, Part 1 of the interview process includes about 1.5 hours of computer testing. I seem to remember there being some very basic atp level questions. The arithmetic was basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc. Spatial orientation: If the plane is here, in relation to a VOR, which instrument shows the correct position, etc. Fly an ILS, using a joystick, rudder pedals and the keyboard.

Part 2, if you get through to the last day is when you'll sit down with 2 interviewers. NO tech questions, it's all tell me about a time. Situational and how did you deal with it?

I really don't feel you can study for this interview. Either you can fly and get along with others, or you can't. That's why I think the sim and the group exercise are the 2 most important parts of the whole process. Some guys who were cut after day 2 felt the computer testing let them down but out of the 30 arithmetic questions, I only got 21 done and I know 5 of those were wrong because it's been 20 years since I last did long division.

The best bit of advice I can give, without sounding clichéd about it, is enjoy the experience and be yourself. Oh and if you've been to a CX interview, the two experiences will be night and day.

767200

As far as the schedule goes:
The 330 does not have a lot of overnights, specially compared to the 777. We do not overnight anywhere in Pakistan, Iran and only Kalkotta in India. It does get better once you get to the 340 but it does not ever get as good as the 777. Lots of India turns during the night. Good overnights include Seychelles, Milan, London, Venice, Nice and Hong Kong to name a few.
On the other side if you want to fly a widebody and be home almost every "night" EK's 330 "roster" is the way to go.
Hope it helps.