Airlines turn their noses up at Thai pilots
Despite a high worldwide demand for pilots, Thai pilots do not find a job after passing their training. That says the head of the Civil Aviation Training Center, the training center for civil aviation. That head is Rear-Admiral (NL equivalent Rear Admiral) Piya Atmunkun. By the way, don't ask me why a senior naval officer is the head of a civil aviation agency, because I don't have that answer either...
Some 600-700 successful Thais are looking for work, while the international airlines jostle each other to recruit new pilots.
According to the Rear Admiral (an old joke by Wim Kan: what does that man do during the day?), the number of flight schools has grown sharply, but many do not meet international standards. Many of those schools are not certified. For example, there is an oversupply of pilots who do not in fact meet international requirements and who, despite the shortages, are not welcome by the major international companies.
Although there is also a shortage of pilots in the Thai aviation sector, the demand that is there is for experienced pilots, according to the Rear Admiral.
He sees as a possible solution the establishment of an 'Aviation Center of Excellence' in the planned EEC-Eastern Economic Corridor; a suggestion apparently made by the ICAO – International Civil Aviation Organization. A high-quality pilot training could then be given there.
The above is based on an article in the Bangkok Post. As an aviation enthusiast, I wonder when reading how the Thai aviation authorities could allow those who have unqualified flight training and apparently just let them do their thing. If they would take their responsibility, knowing that pilot licenses are being issued while the 'graduates' do not actually meet the requirements, they would still close those 'schools' today. But they apparently do not take their responsibility and that sends a bad signal to the airlines and the international aviation authorities. And how can we guarantee that the intended new program does have sufficient quality, while apparently there has been no control over it until now?
The comments on the relevant article in the Bangkok Post therefore do not lie. People are often not even surprised, comparisons are made with Thai education in general, in which it often doesn't matter whether you study seriously or not – because everyone just passes. Otherwise loss of face, you understand? The lack of proper English - the working language in aviation after all - is also cited in the comments as a reason for international airlines not to hire Thai pilots.
In short: the rear admiral has brought to light a considerable and apparently long-festering wrongdoing! It is a pity that he is apparently incapable of doing anything about it…
Source: Bangkok Post
I sometimes wonder if doctors can also get their diploma here in an easy way?
I sometimes wonder that too, Fred……..
WF Hermans once wrote a story entitled 'Hello doctor!' In it he tells about a true event: somewhere in a Frisian hospital, a man pretended to be a doctor and was only exposed years later. It is different with carpenters, he wrote, who lose out at the first repair.
On average, Thai doctors are no less good than real Dutch doctors. The quacks are usually in smaller private clinics, for example for breast and penis enlargement.
Well, those are generalizations in the last paragraph.
I would like to quote yourself: Do you have evidence for that?
Unfortunately, Alex, I don't have any real proof, more a lot of personal experience. So I may be mistaken. Do you have other experiences?
In recent years, a number of private clinics have been raided because untrained people were doing treatments for which they did not have permission.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/439416/owner-of-bangkok-cosmetic-clinic-charged-after-british-woman-patient-dies
I was referring to the first sentence. On average, Thai etc. It is a very strong general statement that sounds nice, but is difficult to prove.
Many doctors work in private hospitals who have received (additional) training or gained experience in Europe and often also in the USA.
And here Alex,
https://www.asiaone.com/asia/woman-thailand-files-complaint-over-breast-implant-gone-badly-wrong
That is indeed a very interesting question and rightly so.
Still, I have the impression (after many experiences here in Thai private hospitals) that this is not too bad.
I even know very good doctors here who can very well withstand the comparison with Western doctors.
Many of them have also studied or received additional training abroad.
I am talking from my personal experience about doctors at Bangkok Hospital and Samitivej Hospital in Bangkok.
As far as government hospitals are concerned, I have virtually no experience.
Yes, same as pilots, I have a Thai cousin who just graduated as a doctor, her entire education cost 4.000.000 baht, pity her any later patients
A number of Thai hospitals are JCI accredited https://www.jointcommissioninternational.org/jci-accreditation-standards-for-hospitals-6th-edition/ but yes, you don't think that will mean anything.
Other hospitals also meet high Western requirements, but everything is better in the West, of course.
Would you like to give names of very clumsy Dutch doctors and other Western doctors if you are interested in that.
I assume, but don't know, that the requirements for civil aviation are higher than for other forms of flying.
So you can have a license for pleasure flights, possibly with a small number of passengers, but that does not mean that you can also fly with the large passenger aircraft.
By the way, what do you think someone does during the day if he's been a scout all night?
Sleep of course!
Op https://dutchaviationpartner.nl/vliegles/soorten-vliegbrevetten/ you can see what the different patents entail. These are international rules, so they do not only apply in the Netherlands, but also in Thailand.
It's sad to say but… many university degrees are bought in Thailand.
In Thailand, you don't get a degree by studying hard. I suspect this is no different in aviation schools either.
Thai diplomas and certificates therefore have little or no international value.
Pilot training in Thailand does not meet international standards, so that is why.
The second problem, of course, is the language. The level of English language skills among the Thai is also not particularly high.
Also experienced myself on domestic and foreign flights of Thai Airways; when the pilot or co-pilot points from the cockpit to the passengers you can be lucky that you understand half of ThaiGlish.
I have also often noticed that when one has to deliver the message in English, the microphone suddenly starts to crackle.
So if you didn't understand the message, it's not the pilot's fault 😉
If an unlicensed Thai pilot were to fly around internationally, at Schiphol Airport for example, there would be sanctions in the form of landing bans for the company.
This also applies to (overdue) aircraft maintenance.
In the past, an aircraft has been chained until all maintenance papers were in order. (other company)
Each pilot's license is specific to the type of aircraft he is allowed to fly.
Regarding your last sentence: the licenses are the same (CPL/ATPL), but the so-called Type ratings a pilot has determine for which aircraft type he/she is authorized.
That's right, I put it in a simpler way.
It is more correct to talk about the type ratings, but presumably most will
readers don't know what it's about.
Not every pilot is a "top gun" pilot, but that also applies to non-Thai pilots.
I only take seriously Thais who have studied abroad. Universities in Australia, Singapore, Japan, Western Europe or America.
Thai academic titles are handed out after payment of serious exams is out of the question.
YES
In the article I read a very interesting sentence "But they apparently do not take their responsibility and that sends a bad signal to the airlines and the international aviation authorities."
A sore spot in Thai society indeed, “Thai + sense of responsibility” is not a good match, anyone who has hung out here for a while knows that.
Thais are mainly shy of responsibility and that of course does not go together with a job in aviation where discipline is of paramount importance.
And that eternal fear of losing face is also a Thai ailment. Thais don't seem to understand that their loss of face is usually the result of a failure of their own making, so do your very best and you won't be blamed and loss of face will be superfluous.
So the conclusion in the article does not surprise me at all.
Ha, now I have a Thai dentist and I don't have to take to the air with that lady.
But one thing is certain: I have never felt so happy with my 73 years old than when she had to tinker with my teeth again. Everything is firmly in place.
I'm sure she also completed a university degree in dentistry. And I think with praise.
All I know is she's rock solid but not sure if she was trained in Thailand
I fly regularly with Air Asia, Nok Air and Thai Airways (to Europe). So I'm taking a big risk, right?
Maybe a little correction,
Rear Admiral is just a rank in the army.
This man may have been a very experienced aviator.
I didn't write that the man isn't/wasn't an aviator, did I? I just wondered why there's a senior naval officer running a civilian organization.
When I'm on a Thai plane I sometimes think; i hope the pilot can fly better than most thai can drive. I don't have a high hat about that. I do know that flying is a different skill than driving a car. But the difference in getting a driver's license in Thailand or in the Netherlands is huge. Perhaps that also applies to a pilot's license? It must be a bias on my part…. Yet I never felt unsafe. I always think; if we go, then we all go together….
Incidentally, my experiences with the Thai "boutique" airline are completely laughable. Overheads that fall open on takeoff and I have taped finishing strips. Never understood what the "boutique" is.
Hear Chinese pilots speaking English on You Tube! it's really outrageous. https://youtu.be/1NDqZy4deDI The Turkish Airline that crashed in front of the runway at Schiphol? The captain had not manually landed an aircraft in 3 years. All ILS on the autopilot! If something goes wrong, they don't know what to do. There are very few real kites left!
I am a ppl pilot in Belgium and when I go on leave to Thailand I regularly did a flight with a Cessna from the small Bang Pra airport. This was always allowed with my international certificate. However, since this year this is no longer possible due to non-recognition by the Thai government. The world upside down??
VAT: the prices for an hour flight are double what I pay in Belgium. What's going on in Thailand?
The funny thing is that the comments are all from people from the West, probably all right but all stay in Thailand and a lot of them are even married to Thai ladies? Why actually?
It is not so crazy that TB contains comments from people from the West…..
And apparently airlines do turn their noses up at Thai pilots.
The question you then ask us is why many of us are married to Thai ladies….
Well. I can only say that I also married a Thai lady, but Thai pilots were not mentioned then…. Forgotten maybe? 😉
When that training for flying is like this ,
such as the training for a driving license for car / motorcycle,
then I can understand that no one wants the Thai pilots .