Karierku - Aku seorang Pilot!

Karierku memaparkan kerjaya Malaysians yang ada di UAE. Bertujuan untuk memberi gambaran dan “guidance” pada remaja & anak-anak kita dalam memilih kerjaya masa depan mereka. Tetamu karierku kali ini, Sdra Busri Kunni - kapten Emirates Airline

Dah berapa lama jadi pilot?15 tahun

Memang cita-cita ke nak jadi pilot ke? Why not artis atau akitek? When did u decide to become a pilot? Masa kecik2 dulu kalau kena tulis pasal cita2, nombor satu mesti doktor, nombor dua dengan tiga tu slalu alternate between engineer nngan arkitek. Tak pernah terpikir nak jadi pilot pun. Tapi budak2, bila tengok kapal terbang tu mesti la sronok, cuma tak terpikir bole jadi pilot je. Kita budak kampung, pilot tu tak masuk dalam vocab cita-cita. Lepas SPM, ternampak iklan Cadet Pilot MAS. Masa tu baru betul-betul nak jadi pilot
                     
Must be challenging & fun, what is the challenging, fun part? Everything is challenging and everything is fun. Challenging because nobody that I know is a pilot. Therefore it is a journey into the unknown. Every single day at “the office” is different, with new situations to overcome. And the idea is to get the paying passengers a safe flight that they will enjoy.    The fun part is that I have the office with the best view on earth. I work with different people everytime and at the end of the day, I arrive at a very interesting destination, most of the time. 

Dalam pengamatan abang, ada ke sesuatu sifat yang ada pada semua pilot, misalnya semua pilot periang? Pilots are normally people who like a challenge and changing scenarios. They also have to be very adaptive. Our job and lifestyle make us work with different people with different characters, go to different places, work at funny hours and handle a lot of problems which have different solutions at different times. So, in order to do all this, they are normally very flexible and need to use a lot of common sense.

Where Do I start?
Any minimum age if 1 wants to become a pilot? 16 years for a Private Pilots Licence and 17 Years for a Commercial Pilots Licence

I want to be a pilot, where do I start? There are few ways. Firstly you can just enrol in a flying school. There are a lot of schools all over the world. The best choices would be The Malaysian Flying Academy in Melaka or schools in Australia. These are value for money plus the licence obtained from these places are recognized by Malaysia and most countries worldwide. Secondly, and the best method by far is to enroll in a cadet pilot program offerred by companies such as MAS, Singapore Airline and Air Asia. Ads are placed in newspaper right now. Just check out Utusan, Berita Harian, NST and STAR.  The third method is to join the Airforce. The ads are also normally in the papers after The SPM / STPM results come out

What it takes to become a pilot, a good one that is? One needs to be good in his psychomotor skills. Basically, hand eye coordination. The eyes, hands and feet all need to be doing different things at the same time. 2 hours with the PS2 console a day should do the trick. A pilot also needs a very analytic mind. He/she needs to be able to use all the resources available to him/her and come up with a solution pretty fast.

Kena from Science stream ke? Tak perlu. Tapi kalau nak join cadet pilot program, they will require Science Streamed students pasal they are used to complex mathematical solutions and Physics. These are useful in pilot training.

So, after school I can join a flying academy to be a pilot? Yes

Berapa lama “train/belajar” to be a pilot? To obtain a Commercial Pilots Licence with Instruments Rating (CPL/IR) normally takes about 10 months. Once you have that licence, you can fly commercially. But big companies normally employ only experienced pilots, so unless you are a cadet pilot, you will be stuck with small companies flying small aircrafts until you attain about 1000 hours. With small airplanes and small companies, this normally takes between 2-3 years. As an example, Emirates Airline require a minimum flying hours of 4000 with 1000 of those flown in big jets.

Any scholarship offered? The Cadet Pilot Program as I mentioned earlier. Normally, the airline will deduct the cost of training from the pilot’s salary every month interest free. The cost is about Dhs 130,000 for a 10 mth course.

Can I become a pilot by just flying planes on the Net or any of the available flying software? Unfortunately no. But it helps you to understand the workings of the flight control and will be a big bonus if you actually do flight training later. A lot of PC programs these days are pretty realistic and most student pilots use it to practice at home.

Heard one has to be physically fit and “stable” to become a pilot? I guess it is true for most professions. A pilot goes through an annual medical check up till he’s 40 and bi annually after 40. He must not have any heart condition, deadly or contagious disease, full functions of all his faculties except his eyes which have to be not too bad. If he has any health conditions, it will be up to the Department of Civil Aviation whether to allow him to fly with some restrictions or suspend his licence. Pretty tough huh. Periuk nasik ni!

Do u fly all the time? We are restricted to 100 hours a month and 900 hours a year. So, even though you can fly 100 hours, a pilot normally flies about 70-80 hours a month. If not, after 9 months, he cannot fly anymore! That’ll be nice though. On the average, a pilot has 8-10 days off in a month. The annual leave allocation varies with companies. Emirates give out 42 days while MAS 32 days.

What is the job like? Schedule? At times it can be quite tiring. However, our work pattern is well monitored and regulated that pilots always have sufficient rest before each flight. We do not have shifts. Every month we will get a flying roster which is always different. Sometimes you do a turnaround flight and sometimes you do night stops. Sometimes you go to nice places like Paris, Rome and KL, and sometimes you go to Lagos, Dhaka and Entebbe. Sometimes you do a 3 day flight pattern and sometimes you do 14 days! The family also need to be understanding and adaptive.

Is it tiring (all the long hour flights)? Long hours is not normally the major concern because you’ll be well rested before the flight. Plus if the flight is long haul, we normally carry extra crew to relieve the first set of crew. The major problem is flying through different time zones. Jet lag is the worst enemy and every pilot has his/her own way to overcome that.

What do u do if u don’t fly (office?) Try and play football at Etisalat Academy (without any success ) Normally off days we spend with the family. We are not required to be in the office during off days unless you are a management pilot.

Must be paid really well, as a pilot? I wouldn’t say we are the highest paid profession but pilots are generally paid well enough. It varies from company to company. The bigger companies normally pay up to twice as much as the smaller ones.

What are the levels (captain, etc .) With certain companies, a pilot starts as the 2nd Officer. A 2nd officer is the 3rd pilot in the cockpit. He/she either hanndles the Flight Engineer panel or for aircrafts without a FE panel (the modern ones) he becomes the relieve pilot. He only works during the cruise phase. After that he’ll be promoted to 1st Officer. The FO normally sits on the right seat and is the 2nd in command. After accumulating enough experience (which differs between comps) a FO will be promoted to Captain. He sits on the left seat and is the Commander of the aircraft. He is fully responsible for the safety of the aircraft and everything in it.

What is the career path like as a pilot – 3 years as Junior pilot, 5 years as Captain, etc..? 2-3 years as SO, about 5-10 years as FO before becoming Captain. Some companies don’t have SO. So start with FO and then Captain. Certain companies expand much slower so promotion is slower as well. FOs in British Airways sometimes take 20 years before becoming Captain. In comparison, I became a Captain in MAS in 6.5 years.
U get promoted by the flying hours or passing tests? Normally it’s by seniority. If you are the most senior and you possess the minimum hours, and all your periodical proficiency checks are good, you’ll get promoted. Always in that order - seniority , experience, , proficiency

Sekarang dah berpangkat Kapten? Captain with MAS. When I joined Emirates, have to start from FO again for a minimum of 3 years. After that, using the sequence above, I’ll be promoted to Captain (Busri dah bergelar Kapten beberapa bulan lalu - interview ini sebelum beliau bergelar Kapten!)

Any difference between commercial pilots and jet fighter pilots? Both require different skills. Although the basic flying skill is the same, the job scope requires different approach. A fighter pilot works alone and he makes split second decisions all the time. And he’s got to make those decisions while flying at twice the speed of sound!  A commercial pilot on the other hand is more of a systems manager. He manages his flight using all the resources at hand. A team of dispatchers,engineers,cabin crew,airport authorities,security personnel,medical personnel etc. He must make decisions based on all this input to make sure that the flight is safe,legal,comfortable and economical. He normally has more time than the fighter pilot to make a decision.

Take off and landing is the most difficult part, right? Both are difficult. During take off, things can go wrong and you have to make a split second decision whether to stop the aircraft or continue the take off. I the decision to stop is made too late, the aircraft may not stop before it runs out of runway. If the wrong decision to take off is made, the ac may not have the capability to fly at all.  During landing, changing environmental conditions, (strong wind/gusts, crosswind, rain, ice, snow. slippery runway, thunderstorm, fog) can make it a nerve wrecking experience, not just for the passengers.

What about when u r already 10,000 feet? All auto pilot? Above 200 feet, the autopilot can be engaged already. Most pilots tend to fly manually for a few thousand feet before doing that. Commercial flying has become so complex these days, especially in busy airspaces like Europe and US that it is recommended the autopilot is engaged as soon as possible so that both pilots can monitor the progress of the flight better.

Then, u can sleep right, like us – passengers behind u! It’s recommended that pilots take 20-40 minute power naps especially during long flights so that they are alert during the critical approach and landing phase. Of course they only take naps one pilot at a timeLong naps will make the pilot go into deep sleep mode which is not beneficial.

Do u sleep when flying these big jumbos? I do take power naps sometimes especially if the flight departs around midnight. No matter how much pre flight rest you have, the body clock will still make you feel sleepy at that time of the night. We normally take these naps when the aircraft is in cruise and workload is low.

Which airport is the most difficult one to land and take off? The old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong used to be the most challenging for me. However each airport has its own challenges and every pilot will have his own opinion.

Ever faced any “crisis” while on air – (certainly not hijack la, things like strong turbulence, engine not working, etc.) Hit by turbulence once while flying as FO on B737 into Dhaka back in 1994. The whole ac felt like it was going to break into pieces. That was the only time that I felt afraid while flying.

What do u do when facing a strong turbulence? Firstly, try and avoid any areas of strong turbulence. Then if I’m unfortunate enough to enter one, try and get out of it as quickly as possible. While in turbulence, we keep the aircraft attitude and thrust setting constant and maintain the turbulent penetration speed. While all this is going on, the pax are all strapped in their seats of course becoz the seatbelt sign is ON. Yeah right!

Comments

[LUQMANUL HAKIM]

hi......abg...sy nak tny skit...i got 8E for physic but i got 1A in mathematic...adakah sy layak utk memasuki MFA....kalo dpt PPL pun ok....lagi satu...mcm mana nak apply MFA...kn tel diaorang ke?????psl borang plak ada aplikasi dlm online x???tlglah abg... sy terlalu minat sgt nak jd pilot......hehehe..tlg berikan segala maklumat yg mencukupi...TQ

[asnira]

erm....
sayer nk tnyer...
sayer exam thn n...n sy de trpk nk jd pilot nanti..
tp,,,sy x tau sy mesti sambg belajar kat maner...
dakah saya perlu masuk matrikulasi atau pon de univrsiti yg memg untk pilot...
skang n...borang matrik da kuar...n sy blur,xtaw pe nak wat....
sy nk jd pilot n ape lgkh yg saye paptut ambek paz spm tahun n...

[razman]

sekarang saya telah mendapat offer untuk smbg blajar di subic bay flying school...so skrg,bagaimana untuk sy perolehi scholarship??0197417404....plz...

[zani]

assalammualaikum bang...
sy ade masalah pasal scholarship ni...
sy dapat tawaran flying school kt subic bay,philiphines...ade tak mana-mana bank atau airlines yg boleh bagi scholarship kt sy???

[Ewin]

Assalamualaikum,
Saya dah dapat offer untuk study di flying school di luar negara iaitu di cubic bay, philiphine.. Sekarang ni, family saya tak lah mewah mane but untuk tanggung pembiayaan pengajian saya as a pilot student tak mampu.. So, ada tak mane-mane scholarship yang boleh bantu saya.? Plez reply kat emel ni @ call @ sms kat no 0172519506..

[fahmi]

salam..
saya nak tanya mcm mana nak apply MAS scholarship??dan brape byk chance saya nak jd pilot kalau saya pakai spec??

[iwan]

saya telah mendapat offer untuk belajar di sebuah sekolah penerbangan di australia, tp sy rasa risiko belajar di luar negara agak tinggi? ada tak sekolah penerbangan di malaysia yang mempunyai pinjaman untuk pembiayaan.please reply kat emai ari_90@ymail.com @ call 0173943533