Is Brazil taking Flight..??

I've been reading Contato Radar, which is like a Brazilian Jetcareers.com, and many people there seem to imply that the pilot shortage in Brazil is fabricated and the only reason it's being published so constantly in the Brazilian media is so that the law opening aviation to foreigners in Brazil goes through. What do you guys think? I'm not sure what the actual hiring figures in Brazil currently are.

BCTAv8r: I'm currently in Brazil and that is exactly the mindset here. GOL just let go 30 pilots last week and they arre due to let go 150 more. In American Terms this doesn't sound like much but remember GOL is the 2nd biggest airline here and I believe they have 850 pilots.

There is no Pilot shortage just as there never has been in the US but the phrase gets thrown around to reduce wages and in this case here, to open the door to foreigners.

I literally just did the FAA > ANAC Conversion so if anyone has any questions including you HFalco (You know me, I just don't exactly want to put my name on the internet) let me know.

As of right now Citizenship is MANDATORY to fly both Brazilian registered aircraft, and domestic flights (taking off from brazil landing in Brazil)

Thanks for the reply, elmetal.

I've been doing some research on what companies are currently hiring and although Gol appears to be letting people go, TAM just lowered their minimums to 500 hours and Azul is still hiring with just a CMEL (might have to do some sort of jet transition course too).

Of course internal recommendations are necessary, but you could say the same for many of the major airlines here.

I'm interested in the FAA to ANAC conversion though. I've had to deal with the Brazilian government for simple things like my CPF and my draft card, and the level of red tape is amazing. I can only imagine the hoops they make you jump through to make this transition.

Yes they all require a "jet trainer" and Azul has no mins in terms of hours atm.

The conversion process is a huge hassle. seriously...

TAM does not hire everyone with 500 hours, they start at 1200 hours, if you have a degree reduce by 500 hours, jet time 100, ICAO 6 150.....

their next class starts in 2 1/2 month, they need pilots but it`s not crazy how some think it is.

It is really important to have a contact inside the company. Azul seems the easiest place to get a job, but their new upgrade system makes no sense and so do the peanuts they pay you.

All the cargo companies are going bad, VARIG LOG is down, AIR BRASIL is down, TOTAL is on it`s way, so the whole country only has two cargo operators now: RIO (727, 767, this last one is grounded) and ABSA (767)

Biz aviation is doing bad, Colt is trying to move in the cago market to fly the mail contract....

Aviation did grew a lot in the past 5 years, just go to any airport and you will see that there is not enough room, on the ramp, at the check-in at security.....The number of flights also increased, until few years ago there was no flights in the middle of the night, now all the main airports run 24/7

things change fast

TAM does not hire everyone with 500 hours, they start at 1200 hours, if you have a degree reduce by 500 hours, jet time 100, ICAO 6 150.....

their next class starts in 2 1/2 month, they need pilots but it`s not crazy how some think it is.

It is really important to have a contact inside the company. Azul seems the easiest place to get a job, but their new upgrade system makes no sense and so do the peanuts they pay you.

All the cargo companies are going bad, VARIG LOG is down, AIR BRASIL is down, TOTAL is on it`s way, so the whole country only has two cargo operators now: RIO (727, 767, this last one is grounded) and ABSA (767)

Biz aviation is doing bad, Colt is trying to move in the cago market to fly the mail contract....

Aviation did grew a lot in the past 5 years, just go to any airport and you will see that there is not enough room, on the ramp, at the check-in at security.....The number of flights also increased, until few years ago there was no flights in the middle of the night, now all the main airports run 24/7

things change fast