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Old Jun 21, 2018, 11:15 am
  #3181  
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For us, the first year in role (Terminal or Area) could be seen as unproductive. Otherwise it shouldn’t take more than 2 or 4 months for a new arrival to be fully productive on the new Unit. So, yes, some ‘wastage’ but equally essential for the Mil requirement ... and of course career development leading to promotion to higher ranks (automatic on time to flight lieutenant, competitive thereafter).
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Old Jun 21, 2018, 12:07 pm
  #3182  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: LHR Air Traffic Control
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Originally Posted by Scott Pilgrim


Check my comments about restructuring training 👍
Yes, sorry, I wrote in response to your first post and never got to read your second post until now!
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Old Jun 21, 2018, 12:10 pm
  #3183  
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
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I believe the French state ANSP (DGAC) still puts trainees through a four year course that covers all ratings, and unit based training can continue for another three years. This includes a dissertation to be written at the end of their rating training.

God knows what that costs the French taxpayer.
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Old Jun 22, 2018, 12:50 am
  #3184  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
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Leading edge slats deployed while on stand?

Hello - a bit of a nerdy question if I may.

Yesterday while waiting for the BA665 at Larnaca I noticed the aircraft (an A320) was parked on its stand with its lead-edge slats (if that is the term) in the 'out' position (i.e. the position they are put in during take off and landing). I thought it was normal practice for these to be retracted after landing, and then deployed again before take off.

At least one of the other aircraft parked on stand was also in this configuration.

Might there be a reason for this?
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Old Jun 22, 2018, 1:22 am
  #3185  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 5,585
Originally Posted by ScruttonStreet
Hello - a bit of a nerdy question if I may.

Yesterday while waiting for the BA665 at Larnaca I noticed the aircraft (an A320) was parked on its stand with its lead-edge slats (if that is the term) in the 'out' position (i.e. the position they are put in during take off and landing). I thought it was normal practice for these to be retracted after landing, and then deployed again before take off.

At least one of the other aircraft parked on stand was also in this configuration.

Might there be a reason for this?
Engineers carrying out maintenance perhaps?
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Old Jun 22, 2018, 1:35 am
  #3186  
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Location: Manchester, UK
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Originally Posted by ScruttonStreet
Hello - a bit of a nerdy question if I may.

Yesterday while waiting for the BA665 at Larnaca I noticed the aircraft (an A320) was parked on its stand with its lead-edge slats (if that is the term) in the 'out' position (i.e. the position they are put in during take off and landing). I thought it was normal practice for these to be retracted after landing, and then deployed again before take off.

At least one of the other aircraft parked on stand was also in this configuration.

Might there be a reason for this?
I think I can answer this one...

It's to do with the heat. I was at DXB last summer, and all the EK A380s had their droops (as they are known on the A380) dropped. I asked on the EK forum, and it was stated that Airbus recommend (or instruct?) leaving them out in very high temperatures.

I guess it's the same for the A320 range.

Flaps...
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Old Jun 22, 2018, 2:39 am
  #3187  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Originally Posted by ScruttonStreet
Hello - a bit of a nerdy question if I may.

Yesterday while waiting for the BA665 at Larnaca I noticed the aircraft (an A320) was parked on its stand with its lead-edge slats (if that is the term) in the 'out' position (i.e. the position they are put in during take off and landing). I thought it was normal practice for these to be retracted after landing, and then deployed again before take off.

At least one of the other aircraft parked on stand was also in this configuration.

Might there be a reason for this?
As above, if its above 30 degrees you leave the flaps at stage 1 to avoid a false air leak warning.
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Old Jun 22, 2018, 4:13 am
  #3188  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
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Thanks you all - yes it was 30 degrees so that would be it.
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Old Jul 6, 2018, 2:24 am
  #3189  
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A very technical question about operational information loaded onto the GDS, please.

When a flight is cancelled, a time is given for the cancellation, like this for example:-
Code:
DOBA1307/05JUL
* OPERATIONAL FLIGHT INFO *            BA1307   -1 TH 05JUL18   
CITY INFO                                       HOUR (LOCAL)  
  
ABZ  NEXT INFO WILL BE AT                       1200            
     ESTIMATED TIME OF DEPARTURE                0930            
     LEFT THE GATE                              1054            
     AIRCRAFT RETURNING TO RAMP                 1130            
     FLIGHT CANCELLED                           0013            
     TECY                                                       
     ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL                  1252     LHR
Does anyone know which time zone is involved here? I had a recent cancellation of a LCY-AMS which took place just before 2.30 pm BST, and was listed as 0818 - suggesting that the time zone involved was either 6 hours behind London or UTC-5.

However the cancellation in the example above may have taken place at about 1913L or 1813Z (see here). So far as time zones are concerned, that would be inconsistent with what I experienced a few weeks back.

Does anyone know? It's not just out of academic interest, because sometimes the reasonableness of what the passenger does or could do might depend on how much notice they'd had of the cancellation and therefore when it took place.
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Old Jul 9, 2018, 2:17 pm
  #3190  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Hoping the pick the brains of current crew members please!

My 18 year old daughter applied to join MF Crew online last night, following a chance encounter with a BA recruitment manager at her workplace over the weekend. She was pleasantly surprised to receive an email invitation today to attend an Assessment Day at Waterside later in the month.

The potential difficulty lies in the fact that we live in Glasgow, and whilst she wouldn't mind commuting, we have no idea what that might entail in terms of cost. I can't see any Avios reward availability for the Assessment Day, and the cheapest return fare is currently 211. I'm happy to help her get to London for the interview stage, I'd just like some idea of what the ongoing cost is likely to be (and if there's any assistance to be had from the company). With the MF starting salary at less than 14k, commuting seems as if it might be marginally more financially viable than trying to find a safe place for her to stay near to Heathrow.

I don't want to rain on her parade, but I wonder if commuting from Glasgow is do-able?! Opinions please?
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Old Jul 9, 2018, 4:04 pm
  #3191  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
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Hi zafiragirl, I have commuted from BHD since starting on MF over 4 years ago and never had a problem and there are plenty of crew that do commute from "up the road" in GLA and EDI. We also have commuters from BCN, AMS and some from SOF, BUD and there is one lady that commutes from JFK. You get access to staff travel - standby tickets after 6 months however, you have access to hotlines which are discounted tickets from DOJ. To give you an idea I can normally get a return flight between BHD and LHR for around 96, this ticket is changeable on the day free of charge (great if you are delayed coming back to LHR) and you collect Avois and more than likely she would get her silver card; purely from commuting (the 50 sectors) so can use the lounge, fast track security etc. Using Avois I can also get reward flights from as little as 17.50 and 4500 Avois, if I am travelling mid-week.

The main problem with commuting is getting loads of there and back day trips or early starts/late finishes which require hotel stays around LHR. Most hotels offer crew rates (some as low as 25 per night) and there are crew houses. When commuting you need to be organised, especially if using staff travel and need to have back-up’s in place as it’s your responsibility to be in work on time and Rested for the duty. We do bid for work on MF so you can request certain trips or trip patterns/start times etc.

Regarding salary it starts at 14,000 for a new entrant, however that is your basic, paid before you take a flight. You can earn up to another 700-1000 per month on top of your basic via flight pay. This is a per hour rate paid from when we check in at LHR until we swipe back out on landing. Longer trips on the most part = better pay, however sometimes you can earn more money doing a 3 day short haul “Euro Tour” (eg day 1 LHR-CPH stay in CPH overnight day 2 CPH-LHR-OSL stay overnight in OSL day 3 OSL-LHR) than a 3 day East Coast USA trip. Furthermore the basic salary will increase after probation, and further increases if your daughter where to become Qualified or World Class crew.

Commuting suits me, for other people they find the commute too much and end up living around LHR with other crew which doesn’t appeal to me at all. I could write pages on commuting, however I hope the above is useful at this stage.

Best of luck to your daughter.

Last edited by bhdcommuter; Jul 10, 2018 at 2:41 am
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Old Jul 9, 2018, 4:45 pm
  #3192  
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Thanks SO much for your comprehensive and encouraging reply, @bhdcommuter - much appreciated!
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Old Jul 10, 2018, 1:34 am
  #3193  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Originally Posted by bhdcommuter
Qualified or World Class crew
Thanks for the interesting insight into the life of commuting crews. Would you mind explaining what these extra levels of qualification are?
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Old Jul 10, 2018, 2:02 am
  #3194  
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Posts: 585
Originally Posted by flatlander
Thanks for the interesting insight into the life of commuting crews. Would you mind explaining what these extra levels of qualification are?
Qualified crew members are those who have shown they are experienced and competent enough to perform their job well without the need for coaching and support. It comes approximately 6 months after your initial probationary period ends, provided you can show you meet the standard.
World Class Crew is the next level up, and these are crew members who are trained to operate as the CSM when required by the operation during disruption. There is one on each longhaul flight (2 on a 380) and theyre the acting SCCM in case the original CSM cannot operate.
Each level comes with an increase to the basic pay level. Qualified is a fairly nominal uplift, WCC is more significant.
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Old Jul 10, 2018, 5:42 am
  #3195  
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
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Originally Posted by MFCC
...
Thanks for the explanation!
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