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[repulsewarrior]

...where lots of layers, as you get warmer, you can unzipp one or two and still be covered. Do not work up a sweat, it is good to wear wool if you are going to, like skiing, not cotton (that can kill, will not wick away the water). It's a fashion statement, finding the right hat and gloves for the occasion...

[Kikapu]

Paphitis, it’s a bit of an irony you wanting to move to the states where there are over 300 million people living all over. Recently when I stated that Australia needs another 100 million people to make the country function better economically, you were adamant that the present 26 million was just fine as you all needed your space.

To think that the New York area has half of Australia’s population alone!

Word of advice. Never get into an argument with someone on a Road Rage fix. Don’t get out of your car at the next light to give them a piece of your mind! Many have guns in their cars. Americans are very friendly people, but it is also a violent society. Just swallow your pride and let the idiot go with your blessing.

Kikapu,

there is no doubt in my mind that as a country, Australia has better standard of living and a better quality of life than the USA. Australia is easier, has better health availability to all its citizens and education is better as well (although standards in America can be high too). So for the citizen, Australia's 25 million trumps USA on pretty much every Human Index possible.

Where America excels which others don't, is opportunity, career prospects and of course, as far as I am concerned the American way of doing things.

Out of every nationality I have been exposed to, Americans are very humble, and their corporate system is very gun ho. They are results driven. Not driven by personalities, race or politics. They are such a massive melting pot. They celebrate diversity and they will mentor everyone onto the road of success. Doesn't matter if you are Italian, Irish, German, Greek, Jewish, Black or whatever. If you bring the goods to the table, they will nurture you and help you.

Whilst the USA has some shortcomings, they can be overcome with Health Insurance and selecting your children's schooling.

It's a big country. So plenty that is good and plenty that can be also bad such as crime.

If you were to ask me about coming to USA or Australia, in my personal view I think Australia is a better country to go to especially for families and quality of life. If you are a pilot, then USA is a better place.

I’m just messing with you. You and your family are going to love the USA. I did for 25+ years in California and have been returning back 2-3 times a year since living in Switzerland for the last 16 years. I am just far more relaxed living in Switzerland at my “old age” as it is far more “civilized” here.

[Paphitis]

Paphitis, it’s a bit of an irony you wanting to move to the states where there are over 300 million people living all over. Recently when I stated that Australia needs another 100 million people to make the country function better economically, you were adamant that the present 26 million was just fine as you all needed your space.

To think that the New York area has half of Australia’s population alone!

Word of advice. Never get into an argument with someone on a Road Rage fix. Don’t get out of your car at the next light to give them a piece of your mind! Many have guns in their cars. Americans are very friendly people, but it is also a violent society. Just swallow your pride and let the idiot go with your blessing.

Kikapu,

there is no doubt in my mind that as a country, Australia has better standard of living and a better quality of life than the USA. Australia is easier, has better health availability to all its citizens and education is better as well (although standards in America can be high too). So for the citizen, Australia's 25 million trumps USA on pretty much every Human Index possible.

Where America excels which others don't, is opportunity, career prospects and of course, as far as I am concerned the American way of doing things.

Out of every nationality I have been exposed to, Americans are very humble, and their corporate system is very gun ho. They are results driven. Not driven by personalities, race or politics. They are such a massive melting pot. They celebrate diversity and they will mentor everyone onto the road of success. Doesn't matter if you are Italian, Irish, German, Greek, Jewish, Black or whatever. If you bring the goods to the table, they will nurture you and help you.

Whilst the USA has some shortcomings, they can be overcome with Health Insurance and selecting your children's schooling.

It's a big country. So plenty that is good and plenty that can be also bad such as crime.

If you were to ask me about coming to USA or Australia, in my personal view I think Australia is a better country to go to especially for families and quality of life. If you are a pilot, then USA is a better place.

I’m just messing with you. You and your family are going to love the USA. I did for 25+ years in California and have been returning back 2-3 times a year since living in Switzerland for the last 16 years. I am just far more relaxed living in Switzerland at my “old age” as it is far more “civilized” here.

I can understand that. When you get older you look for different things. No point living in fast paced NYC with another 20 million people. NYC, Chicago, LA are massive, and they are not relaxed but it depends what you are looking for I guess and what you make of it. They are also very exciting places, but in old age probably only good to visit.

I'm starting to fill out all my documentation today with the FAA and for radio certification through the FCC licensing. Also FAA qualification verification with Australia's regulator.

Need to get my fingerprints taken in Brisbane soon as well.

The Airline are lodging all the immigration stuff with my employment contract and so I will be contacted by the US embassy to make an appointment apparently. That's probably going to occur in Melbourne.

There is another go that is 2 weeks ahead of me and he has his in early March.

Then apply for TSA card. They also going to enroll us into a 1 week course for the FAA ATP. It's a conversion course.

Whoever I have spoken to has said that I would be insane not to go. Once you start flying around their airspace, they say I won't want to fly anywhere else. Best ATC in the world and utter pros.

Oh and there is no guarantees I will be in NYC. It's either Newark/NYC or Chicago O'Hare. Washington and LA isn't an option because of seniority rules at this stage. They only asked for my preference so they can try and accommodate the request. But as my graduating seniority improves over time, other locations open up to me in an internal bidding process.

[Maximus]

are you going to be flying chicken patties and making deliveries for McDonald’s interstate or..?

[Paphitis]

are you going to be flying chicken patties and making deliveries for McDonald’s interstate or..?

Isn't McDonald's a massive chain with their own trucks and so on?

Yes some of the cargo would be things like US Post, DHL, primary agriculture, fish, lobsters, and other stuff which we don't know about unless its a certified dangerous good which means the Flight Crew must sign off and be issued with an emergency response.

This may include batteries, flammable liquids, oils, dry ice, radioactive isotopes, animals, biochemicals, alcohol, combustion engines, gas cylinders, spray cans, tyres and so on. That;s where the profits are.

[Maximus]

yes it is, and they need drivers and so on.

Wasn't sure whether you were going to be flying commercial passenger planes or cargo interstate.

[Paphitis]

yes it is, and they need drivers and so on.

Wasn't sure whether you were going to be flying commercial passenger planes or cargo interstate.

Passenger services - short and medium haul.

B737 NG - B737-800, B737-900 NG up to 180 passengers.

All these aircraft carry some freight too but most is done via FEDEX, DHL, and some other carriers.

I've always had a thing for Boeing from a very young age. And B737 is the pinnacle as far as I am concerned. It is a very enjoyable aircraft

Always preferred Boeing over Airbus, because of the cockpit layout. Americans always over engineer their aircraft and let the pilots have more input rather the Flight Management Computer but the flight deck is also busier and a much more interesting environment. Having said that, it's still ILS to ILS flights in very congested airspace and the B737 still takes you down to 50 feet above the runway.

The aviation infrastructure in the US is absolutely top notch with Cat 3b ILS right down to a hair raising 50 to 100feet above ground level because of all the winter snow, fog, and zero visibility. Air Traffic Control Centres are extremely well structured, and carefully managed. It's amazing how they keep everything nice and safe and separate literally thousands of flights and control the flow in and out of some of the busiest airports in the world.

One thing I have noticed is that a lot of people bag the Yanks, especially the Brits. They call them loud and obnoxious. Yanks are just very direct and like to simplify things. They don't like re-inventing the wheel or want rocket scientists. If they can simplify, they will. It took me a while to figure it out, but it's the brits who are obnoxious as you don't know where you stand but you always know where you stand with the Yanks because they will tell you and they don't mind the loudness of Italians and Greeks as well. I know they love Aussies. that's very clear to me. Why, well they are themselves made up of a lot of Italian and Irish stock,plus Hispanic, Black and German. It's a different mentality and I dig it. With the Greeks, you can tell there is some hatred towards Greeks and Cypriots for some reason, but NOT the case with the Yanks which is why I feel they get some undeserved press from us.

The Brits pretend they are high and mighty but the Yanks invented Aviation and know what they are doing.

It all comes down to personal preference.If you ask one of the ex Cyprus Airways pilots they would probably prefer Airbus.

[Paphitis]

Having said that they are a very different people to Europeans and Australians but in a very good way.

Britain and America for instance are close, but the people are just on different wavelengths. It's hard to explain.

You hear Cypriots for instance say the Brits have better systems and so on. I asked my friend for instance up in Brisbane who works for Emirates if he enrolled his children in the American College in Dubai. He answered by saying I'm not going to enroll my kids in an American College. I asked him why. As far as I know, they are very good I told him.

And he said, no way, they are going to the British School.

I just laughed.

I did say to him that the Yanks got the peculiarities but as far as I am concerned they are not narrow minded people. He disagreed.

Oh well. When I hit the ground in the USA, the Yanks told me I will be receiving the best training available in the world. Training will be at Flight Safety and yes, it's considered to be the best in the world or at least up with the best.

What I like about the US is that they make things easy, not hard. For instance, let's say my son wants to work for United, I will just pay the 100,000USD and put him through the Academy. He will have a job for life if he wants it and his training will be done through Flight safety as well. He would be a Second Officer by the age of 22. That's the way things should be done.

Also, flying around Australia, you hear often the US military flying around. I always enjoy their radio manner. It's professional. Although about 4 months ago, a United aircraft declared a fuel emergency to get priority because they were stuck in a holding pattern because no one could get into Sydney as all the traffic was backed up. Wasn't their fault though as they already had taken off from LA before getting the NOTAM for extra holding fuel.

[Kikapu]

You will find many US airlines now have Airbus in their fleet. A friend who is a captain with AA trained mostly on Boeing, but when he started flying Airbus, he would prefer Airbus over Boeing. It may well be because Captain J is very much into gadgets and finds the gadgets on the Airbus’s flight deck to his liking. He also enjoys the Joy Stick to fly the plane with.

For Americans whom loved to use the phrase, “if it ain’t Boeing we ain’t going” no longer holds true, especially after the “Miracle on the Hudson” incident where everyone survived their water landing experience, that the Airbus 320 not only did not break up upon landing, but kept afloat in one peace until ALL the passengers were rescued, mostly many standing on it’s wings slightly submerged in freezing water in January. Since the B-737 MAX’s problems, many more Airbus planes have been ordered by US airlines.

I will confess that the overall beauty of Boeing planes are far better looking than Airbus planes, but for the airlines the cost and savings has been the driving factor than looks in choosing their planes. We the passengers do not get a vote.

[Paphitis]

You will find many US airlines now have Airbus in their fleet. A friend who is a captain with AA trained mostly on Boeing, but when he started flying Airbus, he would prefer Airbus over Boeing. It may well be because Captain J is very much into gadgets and finds the gadgets on the Airbus’s flight deck to his liking. He also enjoys the Joy Stick to fly the plane with.

For Americans whom loved to use the phrase, “if it ain’t Boeing we ain’t going” no longer holds true, especially after the “Miracle on the Hudson” incident where everyone survived their water landing experience, that the Airbus 320 not only did not break up upon landing, but kept afloat in one peace until ALL the passengers were rescued, mostly many standing on it’s wings slightly submerged in freezing water in January. Since the B-737 MAX’s problems, many more Airbus planes have been ordered by US airlines.

I will confess that the overall beauty of Boeing planes are far better looking than Airbus planes, but for the airlines the cost and savings has been the driving factor than looks in choosing their planes. We the passengers do not get a vote.

One of my recruiters is an AA Captain who also works as a consultant. He is the one that introduced me to United and will be getting 10,000 USD just for finding me once my feet are on property. Another guy also about to get a 10000 USD windfall. It's become an industry now. If anyone starts a pilot recruitment business, you will become very rich.

These guys are bringing in dozens of guys through the door, so they are probably making a decent quid from it.

The Airbus Vs Boeing debate is 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. No doubt, the A320 is an icon, much like the B737. Few aircraft have that status. But overall I think the B737 will take its rightful place as the number 1 because the airline market has decided to purchase more B737s than any other aircraft in history.

If you ask a QANTAS Pilot, they will say Boeing. If you ask Air Canada, they will say Boeing. If you ask an airline or pilot who flies an Airbus, then they will say A320.

From my perspective, and the general perspective of most pilots in Australia, is that Boeing is a lot more pilot friendly and a more robust machine. There will be those who disagree. But the sales figures are the numbers that really matter.

In Australia, only Tiger Airlines operate Airbus.

QANTAS and Virgin are all Boeing. The QANTAS LCC (JetStar operate A320) but then also operate the B787 in great numbers along with the QANTAS Parent company.

AA seem to operate both. US airlines will operate A320. There are many A320s in the US as there are many European Airlines who operate B737. The parochialism is a little far fetched. United for instance are Boeing but the irony is that they use LIDO as their charting company which is owned by Lufthansa. The alternative and most popular choice is Jeppessen which is a company owned by Boeing. So in the end, airlines will do what is cost effective. The big thing with B737 is that it has a better resale price than the A320. Airlines will take that into consideration. The big thing about LIDO is that United can have its charts taylor made to suit their operation and method of briefing. Whereas Jeppessen won't do that. having said that, when I was told they were going to test me on LIDO, I had to do some study because I never seen a LIDO chart before. Jeppessen however do seem to have the biggest market share by a mile but i thought LIDO was OK when you got your head around the layout.

I think the phrase "if it aint Boeing we aint going" is a bit rich. I doubt the Americans have that attitude unless they are joking of course because they would be slightly biased. I am biased towards Boeing too.

Put it this way. If I was a Richard Branson or some Billionaire and was an airline operator, then its pretty hard to go past the B737. I personally don't think I could give the B737 a miss. But at the same time, I don't think an A320 operator is making a mistake either. Both great planes. I just think B737 is the aircraft I would prefer to fly if I had a choice between B737 and A320.

If you do a few hours in a B737 and A320 sim, you would choose Boeing as well.

I remember a QANTAS Pilot (B737, B747) tell me once, the B737 is a man's plane. It's a very heavy aircraft and highly stable and you can actually fly it.