- Document
- GOV-08A
- Revision
- 1.3
- Effective
- 12 October 2026
- Issued
Pilot Career
Revision: 1.3 Effective: 12 October 2026
Scope
This document carries the career scheme of Human Resources and Organization, GOV-08, for the Airline's pilots: the grades, the conditions of advancement, appointment, and the assessment of flying on which advancement rests.
Definitions
In this document:
- Accepted flight means a flight whose flight report the Airline has accepted under Line Operations, GOV-02B.
- Accepted hours means the block hours of a pilot's accepted flights.
- Flight Record means the report of a flight submitted by its pilot in command through the Airline's flight recording system, as accepted.
- Assessment line means one entry in the assessment of a flight: the criterion, the points awarded or deducted, and the reason.
- Points balance means the sum of every assessment line a pilot holds.
- Days in service means the days elapsed since the approval of a pilot's application.
Entry
A pilot joins the Airline on approval of an application. Approval is the recruitment decision. A pilot is approved holding a licence and a type rating on the 737, and joins as a First Officer qualified on the 737-700.
Grades
A pilot advances to a grade on the day the pilot holds its accepted hours, its points balance and its days in service. Advancement is recorded without application.
| Grade | Accepted hours | Points balance | Days in service |
|---|---|---|---|
| First Officer | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Senior First Officer | 25 | 1,500 | 30 |
| Captain | 75 | 5,000 | 120 |
A grade once held is not lost through assessment. A pilot is suspended only under Conduct in GOV-08, and a suspended pilot keeps the grade held.
Differences Training
The type rating covers the 737-700 and the 737-800 with differences training between them. A pilot qualifies on the 737-800 on completing differences training, which is completed on reaching the accepted hours below.
| Variant | Qualification | Accepted hours |
|---|---|---|
| 737-700 | On entry | 0 |
| 737-800 | Differences training | 10 |
A pilot flies only a variant on which the pilot is qualified.
Appointment
Training Captain is an appointment and not a grade. The Director of Flight Operations appoints Training Captains from among Captains and may end an appointment at any time. An appointment ended leaves the pilot a Captain.
A role held in the administration of the Airline is assigned separately, confers no grade, and is not required for advancement.
Assessment
Every accepted flight is assessed from its Flight Record against the points table below.
The Flight Record is distinct from flight data monitoring under Regulatory and Safety, GOV-07, which remains de-identified. Assessment determines advancement and standing only. No disciplinary consequence follows from an assessment, a deduction is not a finding of fault, and the just culture established by GOV-07 applies in full to everything a Flight Record shows.
A flight not accepted carries no accepted hours and no assessment.
Points Table
| Criterion | Condition | Points | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base award | Every accepted flight | +50 | |
| Whole flight | Recorded from parked with every engine shut down to on blocks with every engine shut down, without time acceleration or slew | +30 | GOV-02B, Flight Recording |
| Touchdown rate | Less than 60 feet per minute | 0 | |
| Touchdown rate | 60 to 240 feet per minute | +20 | |
| Touchdown rate | More than 240 to 400 feet per minute | +10 | |
| Touchdown rate | More than 400 to 600 feet per minute | 0 | |
| Hard landing | More than 600 feet per minute or more than 1.7 g | -50 | GOV-02C, Hard Landing |
| Bounce | Each bounce | -20 | GOV-02C, Touchdown |
| Touchdown zone | Short of the landing threshold | -30 | GOV-02C, Touchdown |
| Touchdown zone | Within the touchdown zone | +10 | GOV-02C, Touchdown |
| Touchdown zone | Beyond the touchdown zone | -30 | GOV-02C, Touchdown |
| Centreline | Within 15 feet of the centreline | +10 | GOV-02C, Touchdown |
| Centreline | More than 30 feet from the centreline | -10 | GOV-02C, Touchdown |
| Stabilised approach | Stabilised at the gate | +20 | GOV-02C, Stabilised Approach |
| Stabilised approach | Not stabilised at the gate, and landed | -50 | GOV-02C, Go-Around |
| Stabilised approach | Not stabilised at the gate, and went around | +30 | GOV-02C, Go-Around |
| Flap limit speed | Each exceedance | -25 | GOV-02C, Flap Limit Speeds |
| Speed below 10,000 feet | Each exceedance | -15 | GOV-02C, Speed Below 10,000 Feet |
| Bank angle | Each exceedance | -10 | GOV-02C, Bank Angle |
| Landing lights | Each departure | -10 | GOV-02C, Landing Lights |
| Beacon | Each departure | -10 | GOV-02C, Beacon |
| Strobe lights | Each departure | -10 | GOV-02C, Strobe Lights |
| Doors | Each departure | -10 | GOV-02C, Doors |
| Altimeter setting | Each departure | -10 | GOV-02C, Altimeter Setting |
| Standard procedure | No exceedance or departure assessed | +20 | |
| Punctuality | Off blocks within 15 minutes of the booked time | +15 | GOV-02B, Booking |
| Block time | Within 10 per cent of the flight plan | +10 | GOV-02B, Flight Planning |
| Fuel burn | Within 5 per cent of the flight plan | +10 | GOV-02B, Flight Planning |
The stabilised approach criteria are assessed on each approach flown, from 1,000 feet above aerodrome down to 50 feet. The landing gear and the landing flap set in the flight management computer are assessed at 1,000 feet. The indicated airspeed is assessed against the reference landing speed set in the flight management computer, and an exceedance is assessed where it is more than that speed plus 20 knots, or less than that speed minus 5 knots, for 3 seconds; where no reference landing speed is set, the indicated airspeed is assessed as varying by no more than 10 knots from 1,000 to 500 feet. An exceedance of the rate of descent is assessed where it is more than 1,200 feet per minute for 5 seconds, or more than 1,500 feet per minute for 3 seconds. On an instrument landing system approach, a deviation of more than one dot from the glideslope or the localiser for 5 seconds between 1,000 and 500 feet is assessed. An approach flown away in a go-around is not assessed after its lowest point.
Any other exceedance is assessed only where the limit in GOV-02C is passed by more than a margin, held for a time: a bank angle of more than 35 degrees for 5 seconds, an indicated airspeed below 10,000 feet of more than 260 knots for 10 seconds, and a flap limit speed passed by more than 5 knots for 3 seconds. The margins allow for turbulence and for the tolerance of the autopilot. They are an assessment threshold and do not alter any limit in GOV-02C. A criterion assessed for each exceedance or departure is assessed at most three times for that criterion on one flight. A flight may carry a negative assessment.
Review of an Assessment
A reviewer authorised to review flight reports may strike an assessment line that the Flight Record shows to be wrong, including a departure made on an air traffic control instruction the pilot in command recorded in the flight report. The Airline may add an assessment line by hand. Every line struck or added carries its reason, and every line and every reason is shown to the pilot.
Points Balance and Standing
A pilot's points balance is the sum of every assessment line the pilot holds, and it may fall. The Airline publishes a standing of its pilots by the points earned on flights flown in the last 90 days.
Activity
A pilot with no accepted flight in the last 60 days is inactive. The Director of Flight Operations may grant a leave of absence, during which a pilot is not made inactive. An inactive pilot keeps the grade, accepted hours and points balance held, and becomes active again on the next accepted flight or on request.