Beware of Flightcrew "Solutions" and NAS Airlines

BeechBoy

New Member
How's this for a horror story, folks. I was furloughed from Spirit Airlines at the end of July. Not wanting to rely on them calling me back I immediately started looking for other employment. As luck would have it National Air Service (NAS) Airlines in Saudi was looking for A320 pilots. This job was offered through Flightcrew Solutions.

I applied for the job and on September 11 I was informed by Flightcrew Solutions that NAS had offered me a job with an Oct 19 class date. By the end of September I was getting kind of curious why nobody from NAS or Flightcrew solutions was contacting me about travel arrangements, visas, etc. I sent innumerable e-mails to Flightcrew Solutions with no response. I finally discovered that if you want to communicate with them you have to call their office in the UK (well, at least they answer their phones). I expressed my concern and they told me that NAS was having difficulties getting visas and things were running about 10 days behind. A week or so later I called again for an update (they still couldn't be bothered to respond to a simple e-mail). Once again I'm told that everything is A-OK and things just move a little slower in the Arab world. A week later (on the advice of a friend) I contacted a different person at Flightcrew Solutions for an update. I got an e-mail from them two days later informing me that NAS said I didn't meet their minimums! (Their mins are 3,000 TT + 500 hours in jets; I have 3,012 TT and almost 1,000 in jets :confused:).

So there I was, just sitting on my butt for 7 weeks thinking I had a job. I have no idea when NAS decided that 3,012 was less than 3,000 and stopped processing my application but apparently they didn't think it was important enough to tell me. The clowns at Flightcrew Solutions obviously didn't do any serious checking into the situation despite my repeated e-mails to them. ("Just tell him everything's OK so I can get back to my Guiness!).

As soon as I learned about my supposed lack of qualifications I tried to contact NAS directly to work things out (I had two contacts in their HR department). I e-mailed them, sent them copies of my application and pointed out to them that I did, in fact, meet the minimums listed on their website. Do you think they had the courtesy to reply and let me know what was going on? Of course not.

It amazes me that airlines all over the world treat pilots like such crap and then scratch their head and wonder why pilots distrust management.
 
How's this for a horror story, folks. I was furloughed from Spirit Airlines at the end of July. Not wanting to rely on them calling me back I immediately started looking for other employment. As luck would have it National Air Service (NAS) Airlines in Saudi was looking for A320 pilots. This job was offered through Flightcrew Solutions.

I applied for the job and on September 11 I was informed by Flightcrew Solutions that NAS had offered me a job with an Oct 19 class date. By the end of September I was getting kind of curious why nobody from NAS or Flightcrew solutions was contacting me about travel arrangements, visas, etc. I sent innumerable e-mails to Flightcrew Solutions with no response. I finally discovered that if you want to communicate with them you have to call their office in the UK (well, at least they answer their phones). I expressed my concern and they told me that NAS was having difficulties getting visas and things were running about 10 days behind. A week or so later I called again for an update (they still couldn't be bothered to respond to a simple e-mail). Once again I'm told that everything is A-OK and things just move a little slower in the Arab world. A week later (on the advice of a friend) I contacted a different person at Flightcrew Solutions for an update. I got an e-mail from them two days later informing me that NAS said I didn't meet their minimums! (Their mins are 3,000 TT + 500 hours in jets; I have 3,012 TT and almost 1,000 in jets :confused:).

So there I was, just sitting on my butt for 7 weeks thinking I had a job. I have no idea when NAS decided that 3,012 was less than 3,000 and stopped processing my application but apparently they didn't think it was important enough to tell me. The clowns at Flightcrew Solutions obviously didn't do any serious checking into the situation despite my repeated e-mails to them. ("Just tell him everything's OK so I can get back to my Guiness!).

As soon as I learned about my supposed lack of qualifications I tried to contact NAS directly to work things out (I had two contacts in their HR department). I e-mailed them, sent them copies of my application and pointed out to them that I did, in fact, meet the minimums listed on their website. Do you think they had the courtesy to reply and let me know what was going on? Of course not.

It amazes me that airlines all over the world treat pilots like such crap and then scratch their head and wonder why pilots distrust management.


Sorry to hear about your experience. It brings two things to light for people looking at overseas jobs. One is to use an established contract agency. PARC, IASCO, HACS, WASINC, CCL, and a few others fall into that category. Any agency that isn't known ( and I've never heard of Flightcrew Solutions before ) should be avoided. The other thing this brings to light is that NAS is a crap company.

If you're rated in the A320 there are tons of A320 operators in the Middle East. Air Arabia, Jazeera, Wataniya, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Kuwait Airways. Go direct to them with applications.


Typhoonpilot
 
I agree with Typhoonpilot. I meet guys from NAS all the time (from their business aviation side) and they do not have very good things to say. Seems like attrition is a big problem over there. Good luck with your search.
 
Hey Typhoonpilot thanks for the info. Several of them had openings. Hopefully they'll be duly impressed with my 85 FO hours on the bus :sarcasm:. (I wish I could at least have made it to the triple digits before being furloughed :().
 
beechboy,

sorry to tell you this, but most of the companies overseas require 500 hours on type. I belive why you got rejected. They don't care about 5000 total time or whatever you have flown, they need time on type and the golden number is 500 hours.

good luck
 
beechboy,

sorry to tell you this, but most of the companies overseas require 500 hours on type. I belive why you got rejected. They don't care about 5000 total time or whatever you have flown, they need time on type and the golden number is 500 hours.

good luck


You're absolutely right but NAS appears to be an exception. On their website the requirements for an A320 FO are 1,000 TT and 500 hours on "business jets".
 
That sucks man, I hate to hear of a bad story. I suggest trying India. Here it seems that 100 hours on type is usually good enough and you're pretty damn close to it that I bet they'd do it. Just a suggestion.

=Jason-
 
no more expats First officers in India. It is government rules. It looks dark around this planet when it comes to jobs for now.
 
no more expats First officers in India. It is government rules. It looks dark around this planet when it comes to jobs for now.

That is very true, if it has an Indian tail # (rather tail letters) no expat FO's. Now there are ways around this though. If they need you, they'll hire you with a PIC type, have you sit right seat for 6 months as a Co-PIC, then upgrade. On the business flying side, basically its just you can't have two expats in the cockpit, one has to be a native.

=Jason-
 
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