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Should you take your pilot career to the Middle East?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ส.ค. 2024
- Guillaume delves into the opportunities and challenges of moving to the Middle East for your aviation career. Many pilots are drawn by the allure of flying long haul for prestigious airlines like Qatar Airways and Emirates, but it's essential to weigh the benefits against the significant lifestyle changes and career implications. We cover everything from the operational excitement of handling larger aircraft to the personal and family impacts of living in a different continent.
🔍 Key Insights Covered:
• The allure and realities of long-haul flying in the Middle East
• Understanding the operational challenges and the fascinating complexity of long-haul aviation
• The personal and professional risks, including delayed career upgrades and family impacts
If you're considering an aviation career move to the Middle East, this video provides crucial insights and realistic perspectives to help you make an informed decision.
👍 Like, Subscribe, and Connect: If you find these insights valuable, don't forget to like, subscribe, and join our community for more engaging discussions and updates.
📺 Quick Peek Inside the Video:
00:00 - Introduction: Why Pilots Consider the Middle East
01:17 - The Allure of Long-Haul Flying
02:40 - Career Risks and Long-Term Considerations
07:50 - The Reality of Lifestyle Changes and Family Impacts
33:40 - Summary and Final Advice
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thank you for putting so much detail and honesty in your video ! I was seeing the middle east as a kind of "cheat code" place with no taxes and quick upgrades but this puts a lot of light on the risk and that it"s not all great. Thanks !
I'm glad this helps. Wished I'd seen my own video 10 years ago haha. I think if you go there for 3 years at some point, when your career is not fragile (you're fragile when you need to upgrade) and stay there 3 years, you'll probably get a lot out of it. The ideal path in my mind (Apart from entering a legacy carrier right away) : Low Cost in Europe 4y copilot 4y captain, then... 3 y middle east to have a look and do longhaul. Then decide: do I prefer to be a shorthaul captain back home or do my LH upgrade. Many will go back home, become TRIs TREs, and have a really good time coming back with all they learned in the middle east.
Nice video and interesting subject !
Isn’t waiting for the upgrade in a low cost airline in Europe, then 3-4 years as captain to get some PIC hours then going to the middle east more challenging/harder? Because assessment is more demanding towards DEC and not always open towards narrow body captains OR because lets say you accept to apply for FO position; you will have to accept the downgrade (CPT back to FO) and accept a decrease in salary compared to previous position as cpt and be at the bottom of the seniority list.
And also because while you may not have a big family when starting your carrier, as time goes by you start to build up a family which makes it even harder to move to ME..
In my opinion in terms of carrier progression and financial management it is wiser and easier to move there early than to wait until the family gets bigger or more difficult to move because you are well established into your home country.
In terms of risk management, specially when already having a family or well established into a country it is probably better to secure a Captain position and experience in Europe for 3-4yr then « try » as FO for 2-3 years the middle east as you mentioned. But going FO and waiting until the upgrade in ME again will make you loose those 3-4 years spent as cpt in a lowcost that you could have spent in long haul.. but these years they could also save you if you want to come back to Europe as cpt.. again back to risk management but it depends with which mindset you go with.
On top of what you mentioned, going to the ME seems to depend a lot on the individual profile and mindset (single? girlfriend? engaged? married? how many kids? how old? Just wanna try the long haul xp or want to build a long term carrier?) if the person commutes or not ( commuting imo is not ideal for many reasons..) Is the wife/husband willing to work in ME or not, and the personality because some personalities don’t match with the local arab-islamic culture. And the climate is not for everyone too (hot and humid, dusty sometimes)
Going there should be a commitment from both in the couple otherwise it is hard to spend more than couple of years with out damaging our personal life and finance.
In all cases, someone willing to go to ME should ask him/her self:
What to do if I don’t like it as soon as I arrive? In 1 year? In 3 years? (Plan B)
What to do after 10 years? 20 years? 30 years? (Retirement plan, side hustle, where to live..)
Thank you for your honest feedback
thank you for explaining the major middle east airlines in such detail, but I have on question in particular and that is how can a Go Around go so wrong that the Pilot decides to leave the Airline. I was under the impression that there is a now Blame Culture when it comes to Go Arounds.
Still in his case management actually offered either a return to the RHS or a mutually agreed exit. The reality is that he had an average sim a few months prior which can happen to anyone. And there they put the pressure on him, probably in an excessive way, such that he felt his job was on the line every time he went to work. That’s not ok. This sort of pressure can have the effect of a loss of confidence and sadly that’s what I think happened. Nothing is worse for a pilot than to lose your confidence. BA would have retrained this person with the goal of rebuilding his confidence. I’m sure AF would have too. After that indeed and sadly the Go Around was really not well flown.
Very nice video! Which countries in Europe and Asia would you recommend going to if you don’t want to be scared of losing your job because of a small mistake you made on your flight?
Any coutries where unions exist and labor laws are consistent
J’imagine que c’est donc la même chose pour les Compagnies asiatiques comme SingapourAirline
In Asia, in general, things are far worse for expats, particularly in China where some airlines have very high packages. Then... if you do a hard landing you'll be banned from flying for xxx weeks. Without pay. Things like that. There are many more issues in these countries and I would not recommend going there as a copilot ever. Of course, each case needs to be examined on its own merits and every country is different. Korea and Japan, when taking in expats, treat them well and fairly. There are pilot unions in these countries. In Singapore, expats report good conditions, but living expenses being astronomical plus local preference means a full career isn't possible there. In Indonesia things get worse. You'll never upgrade as an expat and will be left with the captain speaking the local language with the engineer and crew, and you having no idea of what's going on. Not a way to start your career. Going to Asia would be fine I'd say, as a longhaul TRE because then, they need you so desperately that the scales are reversed and in any case, as a TRE, you can very easily switch to another airline. Again, protect your career from the beginning and really, if you've got an EASA licence, try and get that first job in Europe. The no1 thing that matters for that first job is the quality of the training you'll receive, and which will shape you as a pilot.
Thank you very much Captain for this wonderful video. I’m an ex-QR pilot, everything you mentioned is on point. Just to get your opinion, I was let go at 1000 hours. Will it be okay to join Emirates at 2000 hours as FO, single, with lots of flying school training debts to pay, and I have a plan B which is to return to my home country (in case things don’t go as planned). I will prepare the license of my country in case I need to return n I’m willing to return as a FO (worst case scenario). At 2000 hours, I will anyway have to wait 3-4 years for upgrade. Maybe if join Emirates at low hours, I could anticipate an upgrade in 6 years, an extra of 2 years. If everything goes well, in that 6 years I would have saved enough money n be marketable due to my experience. It a gamble n if I don’t make it to 6 years, I’m willing to return home on the right seat. What is your opinion on this plan?
Hi there. That’s a long question and I’m missing a key point. What license and passport do you hold ? Come and talk about it on Discord discord.gg/KrCCUFThq5
can i run away with my america ATP and not pay my flight school loans back in america lol ?