Legendary Captain

"If you had told me that my dream was to be a pilot, I really wouldn't have been able to handle that. It's just about money, you should have said so earlier!" Qin Zongyang even let out a long sigh of relief, as if a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders.

Qin Zongyang is in a terrible situation! As the deputy general manager of the flight department, he has to personally visit his apprentice's home to accept him as an apprentice. He's really lost face.

But there's nothing I can do!

Qin Zongyang's reputation has even reached the company's senior management. Especially after two years ago, when students complained about being assigned to Qin Zongyang's teaching group and directly protested to the company's senior management, the company's senior management directly stated that, in principle, students should no longer be assigned to Qin Zongyang's teaching group unless the students also agree.

According to the company's senior management, Star Travel Airlines is not a bandit's den. If the students are unwilling, can they be forcibly taken away?

For this reason, Qin Zongyang had to obtain Xu Xian's consent before speaking to the squadron, otherwise the squadron would absolutely not agree.

For the deputy general manager of the flight department to reach this position is quite a failure.

Xu Xian was somewhat confused by Qin Zongyang's words: "President Qin, what do you mean?"

Qin Zongyang held up two fingers: "Become my apprentice. Second mate level, extra 10,000 a month; first mate level, extra 20,000; left-hand seat level, extra 30,000; captain level, extra 50,000. Want to join?"

Xu Xian was shocked and intimidated by Qin Zongyang's words, and involuntarily took several steps back!

Is this how instructors take on apprentices nowadays? Not only do they personally visit them, but they also pay them out of their own pockets. Has the world really become like this?

Xu Xian felt his blood rushing to his head, as if his skull was about to burst. According to Qin Zongyang, once you joined his teaching group, you would earn almost half again as much as a normal job at almost every stage. This was no small temptation.

"Wow! Is taking on apprentices this exciting now? I can't take it!" Xu Xian suddenly felt some liquid coming out of his nose. He quickly turned around and wiped it. Luckily, it wasn't blood!

He was worried that he had gotten too excited and his blood was boiling, which had caused his nose to bleed! Luckily, it was just from being in the sun for too long, which caused some clear snot to come out of his nose.

A false alarm!

Xu Xian sniffed a few times, trying to calm his thoughts. The information he had just received was somewhat alarming, and he needed to process it.

However, Qin Zongyang didn't intend to give Xu Xian time to react, and continued, "That's only one aspect!"

Xu Xian's thoughts, which had just calmed down, surged again. He saw Qin Zongyang grinning: "You know about pilot promotion points, right?"

Xu Xian shook his head blankly. He knew about some of the quantitative points for the assessment, but he really didn't know about the points for promotion!

"It's normal that you don't know. Promotion points are only related to one thing," Qin Zongyang said. "Hiring a captain!"

"Hiring a captain?" Xu Xian immediately became serious, obediently waiting for Qin Zongyang's next words.

"You should know that after passing the left-seat inspection by the authorities, you accumulate left-seat time, then there's the captain's inspection, and finally, the appointment of a captain!" Qin Zongyang explained, "Our company doesn't have a large demand for captains right now, so for the huge group of left-seat co-pilots, there must be a set of procedures for hiring captains!"

"What regulations?" Xu Xian's ears perked up.

Qin Zongyang raised his index finger: "First, we have to wait in line! But right now, the company has a large number of co-pilots on the left side, and the demand for captains isn't that high. Just relying on waiting in line, it's normal to wait one or two years!"

This is easy to understand, it's first come, first served! But it's a method that Xu Xian doesn't really like, he can't wait any longer right now.

"Second, accumulate enough promotion points!" Qin Zongyang carefully observed Xu Xian's eyes, and nodded in satisfaction after noticing that Xu Xian's eyes began to light up.

The fish has taken the bait!

"2700 hours of experience and 400 landings are the most basic requirements for becoming a captain. However, in reality, by the time you're hired as a captain, both the experience and landings will far exceed these numbers. Why? Because you have to wait!" Qin Zongyang's voice gradually rose: "You have to queue for the simulator, accumulate left-seat time depending on the planning department's schedule, queue for captain inspections, and queue for captain hiring. Until you've accumulated enough promotion points, all these steps require queuing! And clearly, the company isn't paying much attention to the captain promotion process right now; just waiting it out will take a very long time. But once you accumulate 100 promotion points, none of this will be a problem!"

"When you accumulate 100 promotion points, you'll have a smooth ride all the way, all waiting times will be reset to zero, and everything will be prioritized. The difference is unimaginable." Qin Zongyang's voice began to exude an alluring charm.

"How do I get promotion points?" Xu Xian asked.

Qin Zongyang was satisfied with Xu Xian's question and explained, "From the moment you leave the fleet, if you pass all the assessments and inspections throughout the year without any safety incidents, you'll get five points. If you do the same the following year, you'll get ten points, and so on, up to a maximum of twenty points per year! This is relatively the simplest way to score points!"

"This is the simplest one?" Xu Xian was struck by reality, almost incredulous.

Pilots undergo two proficiency checks annually, without fail. Sometimes there are also promotion checks, ICAO exams, and occasional background checks. In short, pilots are constantly surrounded by assessments and inspections. No one can guarantee they won't fail one. According to Qin Zongyang, failing even one assessment or inspection will result in zero points for the entire year, which is quite challenging.

Most importantly, assessments and inspections are only one aspect; ensuring no unsafe incidents occur is also crucial. If the captain makes a hard landing, even if it wasn't the co-pilot who caused it, the co-pilot would still be held responsible, and wouldn't they lose all their points?

If even this simplest method can guarantee an absolute pass rate and absolute security, what about other methods?

"Are you wondering if there are any other methods?" Qin Zongyang asked.

Xu Xian nodded honestly.

He did the mental calculations: even if he were lucky enough to escape unscathed for five years, he'd only get a 70. If he relied solely on this method to become a captain, it would take seven years, assuming absolutely no problems arose during those seven years.

So, when you calculate it this way, the method of using promotion points to avoid queuing is not much different from the clumsy method of waiting in line!

"The promotion points system isn't designed for mediocre people. For mediocre people, honestly waiting out the time is probably more practical," Qin Zongyang said. "You should know that Lu Xinyu was hired as a captain in four years by using promotion points. During the promotion process, there was almost no waiting time; the efficiency was unbelievably high."

From the time Lu Xinyu left the fleet to the point where he had four stripes on his shoulder insignia, it took him less than four years—his speed was like a rocket. Xu Xian had never understood how he could be so fast, and he had never heard of Lu Xinyu having any extraordinary background!

It turns out the root of all this lies in the promotion points!