Who`s Hiring? (rotary)

[Decimal]

So after 2 years of getting the commercial - doing the trans Canada tour of operators, getting IR and building time ........ Still no light at the end of the tunnel.

Its pretty much the hiring season now. So who is hiring low time guys - be it ramp/ground crew or flight crew. And I mean the sub 500hrs pilot. Any rumours, anyone?

If not, any idea how you get the magic 1000 without the job (I know - the old catch 22 situation) AES used to be the guys hiring new CPLs - but I understand their policy is quite different now. Surely there must be some operators bringing up the low time guy - provided they don`t jump ship when they get some some experience i.e. a bond of employment.

Any suggestions/comments appreciated

Decimal
T

 

[Bush Bunny]

If you do the legwork, you'll find who is receptive or not. I've spent the last three months phoning and e-mailing and have had some very positive responses - now I'm heading out to go and see several of these outfits with interviews and/or flights already lined up for some, others know I'll just be dropping in.

Keep your head down and be positive, remember, nobody wants to hire a desperate looking guy!! good luck.

BB

 

[sweetlilsky]

Alright, hopefully by now you have found a job... but just in case someone else is looking where helicopters are concerned, how willing are you to relocate? My dad flies for Abu Dhabi Aviation, in you guessed it Abu Dhabi (UAE) and they do mostly HELICOPTER operations, and most of it involves flying Americans to and from their oil rigs. They pay quite well and they're often low on pilots, mostly because it's not the most pleasant place to be and they get sent to various places in the middle east (some not so inviting). You can either live there permanently or do the 2 months on, one month off thing (and they pay for your flight to where ever in the world you live - each time you go to and from for your leave). There are a lot of Canadians who work for them.

Personally though, even if I were done my degree (not to mention CPL etc...) I would never work [fly] there, but that has mostly to do with the fact that according to my dad and his friends, they hire NO women and so they would never hire me. :down: :down:

Don't even start with me on that!

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I remember seeing on Abu Dhabi Aviation's website that they are looking for someone with around a 1000 to 3000 hours...and mostly looking for medium time. As far as I know this is not an option for us lowtimers.

 

[sweetlilsky]

Alright someone sent me a PM asking questions and for more info, I was away on vacation so sorry for the delay.

Question about actual TT time required. Well when I spoke to my dad last week I asked him how many hours you needed (since Puddle Jumper most duly noted the mins posted on their website - even though that was just for captains), and he said it wasn't even a question of that anymore because they are just so low on pilots. Besides which, if he is training some people to fly IFR they probably don't have too many hours. They have even raised the retirement age from 55 to 60 because they don't have enough people and a lot of them were nearing retirement. So if it's a question of hours, I would apply and see what happens.

Their pilots get sent to many places in the middle east, usually on contract with oil companies operating off-shore. My dad has told me stories of how they had to pick up children to take them to hospital to things like being around for a very important person's bird hunting trip (can't remember the bird, maybe falcons but I don't know the difference). It's hard work though. I think most of their pilots come from Canada, the US, and Europe. There sure are a lot of my dad's coworkers who live in our area, BC, when they're off in any case.

It's not all roses. There was one place they had a contract in for a while and my dad told us that since he was white the company had body-guards accompany him for safety when he would go out and there are some parts that don't welcome foreigners all that much (but this isn't the main base, which is Abu Dhabi, and it's supposed to be quite liberal there). Can't remember where that was. They certainly won't intentionally put you in harm's way though. Compensation is good and my dad says there is nowhere in Canada he would get paid near the same amount flying helicopters, which is why he only let me learn to fly fixed wing.

Good luck Snake. If you fly where you say you do I am willing to bet I know you by at least 10 degrees of separation. It's a small world.

 

[duf]

Can you PM me that site. Just wanna check it out