captjns

Don't know your airline or seat position, but being a captain is a bit more palatable than being a first officer. I have friends who left EVA and Dragonaire do to QOL, treatment, and lack of respect.

No matter where you are much better off if you treat being an expat as such. Show up for your trip, fly your trip, return to base, go to where you are staying. Keep you head below the radar. Treat your job as such.. don't get caught up or involved with the politics of the national employees.

Pay is much better than the US no mattter wher you go. As far as QOL goes, Mid East sucks. Asia much better. Europe even better. If all else fails you can walk away from your current position and come home.

Typhoonpilot

Pretty good info, but I beg to differ on QOL areas. I've done both Asia and the Middle East and can say that my present gig in the Middle East has a far higher QOL than the time in Asia. Here I have a home with a garden. I have a car. I can go play golf just about every day of the year. Everybody speaks English. Dozens of school choices for my child verus only one ( very expensive ) choice in Taipei.

Here I fly with other expats most of the time which makes the work environment much more fun. That said, even the locals here are generally good guys to fly with, not necessarily so in Asia. A good friend of mine who has been at Korean for 8 years was thinking about leaving just because he is so bored at work due to lack of social interaction.

To each his own, of course, but for me the Middle East has been a pretty good lifestyle.


Typhoonpilot

phil squares

I'm with SQ Cargo and for me and my family the QOL is great. Not flying too hard, plenty of days off (13-15/mo), the locale is great, great location to travel around. Cost of living is moderately cheaper than Europe or the US.

A few years ago I spent some time in ICN working with KAL. Never in a million years would I go there.

Again, i't personal preferences. I have some friends at EK and they love it (don't know about their families since they're back in the UK), but that wouldn't b for me. I had a choice of DEC at EK or DEC at SQC. Have never regretted my choice.

greenDOG

Thanks for the replies. captjns, your words are very true.

I'm in the right seat. I'm sure things would be better on the left but still unpleasant. Most of the guys leaving, and there are many of them, are FOs. Back in the US everyone talked about CX and the Jalways/ANC contract companies hiring FOs but I have hardly heard them mentioned now that I'm in Asia. Pilots are fleeing Taiwan to many places, but more than anywhere else EK seems to be the most popular place to go. This leads me to believe that QOL, treatment of pilots, financial benefits, or other things there are far superior. I know I haven't met or heard of any pilots who left EK/SQ/CX to come to Taiwan. However, I've been spending a lot of time in Dubai on layovers and despite some very nice places/things/people, overall I find Dubai really creepy and don't want to live there. I would have jumped at CX and SQ but with my experience working for an Asian airline, I don't think I can convince myself to make that move now. A good job in Europe sounds ideal, but do you know any EU carriers looking to hire pilots with FAA certs? Otherwise, I'll likely go back home to start over somewhere at a sweet 2k/mo. Anyway, I'll have time to think about it when I finish this 40 day work block and get my 9 days off!

captjns

Hey GreenDOG

First and foremost it's a lot easier to move around if you are single. The worst bottom feeding operation in Asia has to be Eva. I had dealings with them 10 years ago... and even then they were a bunch of lying possom breaths.

I have heard very good reviews about CX and SQ. I have heard a number of mixed reivews about EK... with the majority being good. I have met three pilots who left EK for CX and SQ because of upgrade issues. But of course its their side of the story.

There is a gentlement "Typhoonpilot" who posts regularly on this form and who flies for EK. He appears to be a straight on person and can give you much better insight than most who post on this forum about EK.

You may be able to get a contact position for a carrier in Europe. However, you would be required to aquire a JAA certificate under a validation program. You would have a better chance if you have either a B-737 or Airbus type rating. Brookfield Aviation, Betts, PARC, Storm are just a few contracting agencies that can provide you with information. You can find their phone numbers on their web sites. Its worth a shot.

There are still adventures, and good ones at that to be had in aviation outside of the US. Give it a shot.

FlyingChipmunk

Has anyone heard anything about the FO program at Cathay Pacific?

dojetdriver

pprune.com

Scoll down to the Fragant Harbour section. Way more information there then you can digest.

Petergowzinya

been overseas 15 yrs...quite happy at my present post...never heard any good from f.o. positions in Taipei, or Korea...Great as Capt here in the M.E. loads of guys from AA and others here as f.o. and capt all seem to be content...not too sure far east as an f.o. is a happy life..

roobyroo

A quick question......have there been/ could there be any issues with TSA/US govt and background or security checks if you come back to fly for a US carrier? ie you are living/ flying in or for a country that might be considered a potential problem? Has anybody heard of any issues regarding this?

Thanks,
Rooby

greenDOG

captjns,
As for bottom feeding operations in Asia, I guess things haven't changed at all here in the last 10 years.

Thanks for the ideas on looking for work in Europe. I'm going to contact the contract companies and inquire just to see what the possibilities are.

Rooby,
I've wondered about that too. I believe Fedex (or maybe it was UPS) even states on their application that you must have been a US resident for several years prior to being hired because of a USPS security requirement. I have nothing to prove it, but I've been told that returning to the US is not a problem and that recently pilots from foreign carriers have been hired in the US.