Under 31 years old with an Australian Licence

[beechnut]

Philly
It sounds to me like Old Fart Dust is the one who didn't meet your standard of employment. Maybe he should come to Cat for a" little or a lot" of recurrent training.Most of the swelled heads you will find in Canada are from the school of hard knocks. Thanks for giving us a shot at your job i'm quite sure you will find someone who will meet your experience requirements.
Beechnut

[Oldfartus]

Philly
It sounds to me like Old Fart Dust is the one who didn't meet your standard of employment.
Beechnut

I have never been in the aviation tourist industry, aviation yes. I have however had plenty of friends who were employed flying floats, unless things have changed in the last six months it's a mugs game. With heaps of just quailified CPL's out there prepared to pay for employment so they can get a few hours. Sound familiar?

Pay is above industry standard.

"Industry standard", nice expression there. You mean work 13 hour days, 7 days a week for maybe half of what they are getting stacking shelves at the supermarket? That is "Industry standard". For such a you beut job why aren't here old fella's still flying tourists? Won't put up with the sh!t that's why, the older blokes get sick of working 12 hour days every day then when they question it they get told they have an "Attitude problem". You still haven't commented on the cost of living on the tourist coast, as I said on "Above industry standard" wages you would be living in a hovel eating noodles and rice but that's OK because your "Living the dream"

[phillyfan]

Schedule is 5on 3off then 4on 2off. Nobody even comes close to hitting CASA limits.
Pay range is from $50,000 to $80,000 a year + company car with fuel. Since we are all non residents we get our Superannuation back when we leave the country.
I pay $125 a week for a utilities included fully furnished room at a place with a pool. As for food I don't know, it's a whole lot cheaper then what I paid in the NWT. I can get a full meal and a beer at half a dozen places in town for $10. If you chose to shop for your food it's no different then Canada.
No pilot here is asked to do anything other then fly there airplane and put it away at the end of the day. If thats the horror story your friend told you about life as a float driver you and him are gonna have a tough time selling your sob story to any float pilots in Canada.

[Oldfartus]

May I suggest you advertise those positions and wages in OZ and see how many applicants you get?

[North Shore]

*Shakes Head* Sometimes I wonder about this place... Guys, all Philly has done is come on here and offer a job to someone, hoping to find 'the best' candidate for his company, and all we've done is give him sh!t about it...

[beechnut]

Old Fart Dust

Why are ragging on Phillyfan ? You with no experience in the float flying industry . Float flying is an absolute wonderful way to earn a living. Are you afraid of working 12 hours a day? Most of your friends that were float pilots were probably not destined to be career float pilots . It truly is a lifestyle choice . It sure looks like Phillyfan is trying to entice the right candidate which you so obviously are not. Good luck to the person who does take the job. When I go on days off I usually go flying wait a minute flying is a day off work.
Phillyfan I think that you are doing just fine on your quest to find a pilot . Good Luck
Beechnut

[beechnut]

Northshore
I am 100 percent behind Phillyfan . I believe there is a little bit of sour grapes that is making a great Whine

[Cat Driver]

I also am supporting Phily and wish him the best of luck finding someone who can do the job safely.

[Oldfartus]

OK fella's you've made your point, the thing is what is being quoted here is not the real world. For the money quoted there would be blokes lined up for miles, very expirenced pilots. If it smells like sh!t, looks like sh!t people don't want to try the taste to see if it is. How many of you know what the operation of float aircraft has been like over the last twenty years in this area? Any been employed there?

[beechnut]

Oldfartus
Truce
Beechnut

[phillyfan]

I may not have been clear in earlier posts but I have also reached out to Australian pilots. I have sent e-mails to Chief Pilots at several operators running Beavers in Australia asking if they have anyone who they may have had to layoff for the season. An e-mail was also sent to the AFAP site. I gather however that they only post jobs every Friday, so this offer will not appear for a few more days yet.
I have received a few offers from very qualified Canadian pilots who may not be usable at this time but will almost certainly be very valuable to our operation in the near future.

Anyways Thanks guys for your support and now lets hope I can find a "good driver" on short notice.

[Oldfartus]

If the conditions are as you state Philly you won't have any trouble getting people. I can think of a few current AG blokes with plenty of Beaver time who would be keen for a stable job.

[cdnpilot77]

I have received a few offers from very qualified Canadian pilots who may not be usable at this time but will almost certainly be very valuable to our operation in the near future.

I tell you what fellas say what you want, think of your conspiracy theories and be upset that people have stopped listening to your constant complaining, but I can only hope and pray that I am one of these lucky few! Unfortunately 32yrs old

[stew]

Just last week I was reading a post about how Canadian jobs were being taken away by German pilots working for Canjet. Looks to me that all Oldfartus wants is for someone in his country to get the job. Makes sense to me.

[Oldfartus]

If there truely was a shortage there would be no problem, if that is the actual wage then as I said there would be a long line up of very quailified people. There are also Canadian pilots coming out here for the summer firebombing when there are more than a few highly quailified Australians looking for work.

If Philly is telling the truth that would be the best paid job in GA in Australia but as I said the cost of living is horrendous on the tourist coast (If he can get a room with a pool for $125 a week he must be tuning tricks after dark to get that price ) so you would need the way better than average wages quoted to survive.

This is not an anti Canadian bash, pilots wages and conditions are being eroded by operators employing or getting less expirenced pilots to PAY to work for them. This is going right up the line with companies doing bank runs getting people to pay to crew the Aircraft. Feeder Airlines are getting people to pay big money to crew their RPT runs. Cut price airlines are getting people to pay for their own endorsments on the likes of Dash 8's and 737's and then employ them for half of what the expirenced crew get. It's getting worse, I'm sure it's the same in your country. If Philly is really paying what he said, then more power to him, he won't have trouble getting very expirenced (Australian) crew to do the job. That's why I'm cynical about employing young overseas crew.
AF

[cdnpilot77]

This is not an anti Canadian bash, pilots wages and conditions are being eroded by operators employing or getting less expirenced pilots to PAY to work for them. This is going right up the line with companies doing bank runs getting people to pay to crew the Aircraft. Feeder Airlines are getting people to pay big money to crew their RPT runs. Cut price airlines are getting people to pay for their own endorsments on the likes of Dash 8's and 737's and then employ them for half of what the expirenced crew get. It's getting worse, I'm sure it's the same in your country.

You know what really grinds my gears....Oldfartus, You are totally out of line here. If you actually read what Philly has said, there is nothing even remotely similar to anything you just mentioned. You are opening a whole new can of worms with that and the whole pay to fly training bond debate. It is quite clear that you have never had to run a company. I know from experience that even if you have a large hiring pool, there may not be people suitable for the job and you need to expand that hiring pool. The situation is magnified because of the timeframe. It's as simple as that and it is totally unnecessary to be cynical of someone that has had to expand his horizons to find a pilot that fits in the job.

[hugh_jorgan]

cdnplt, Problem here is that there are qualified pilots in oz that would like the work. Cant tell me that a 2000+ hr float pilot with rough water ops and time on type could not handle the conditions, few of those over here too. Just gotta know the right people and know where to look. Chatted to 2 Oz pilots yest who had no idea the job was on offer.

Philly, The afap website will post the add as soon as they receive it so if you sent the add last week and it is not up yet then i would be checking up on that and maybe resending it to (membership) @afap.org.au or (eric) @afap.org.au.

I am not against getting canadians over here to work but they should be used as a last resort and used by a company that has aussie pilots too, share the love. The current breakdown of the pilot situation there is this. CP Japanese/Aussie, 1 kiwi/canadian, 1 canadian and the pilot that left start of dec was a kiwi too. How is this helping float pilots in aust? or the company? You bring in another canadian for the busy months then they all head back for the winter it leaves the cp all alone to find and train more pilots in the worst possible conditions. Apr thru nov SE trade winds usually around 15-35kts. Nov thru march conditions are not anywhere near as bad (apart from the occasional cyclone but the planes come out of the water if they get close). The trouble is that management tend to work against the pilots and no matter how much you try to convince management that they must plan ahead they have and always will leave it all to the last minute to try and source new pilots after all good float pilots are easy to come by, so dont know what this thread is all about Philly I cant help but feel that you are fighting an uphill battle but I really do hope you succeed.

Oldfartus. how long since you have lived in cairns? Cost of living is nowhere near as bad as you make out. Place is built around backpackers...cheap accom, cheap beers and cheap food everywhere.

[Donald]

Gee, the local Aussies mad about this, and the local Canadians mad about the German Canjetters....

Go figure.

[hugh_jorgan]

Don, Like I said

I am not against getting canadians over here to work but they should be used as a last resort

would you consider importing 75% of the company pilots as an option if there were qualified local pilots out of work.

[phillyfan]

If you know of anyone looking who has 1000+ floats and 500+ on the DHC-2. Tell them to get in touch with me. This job is not open to only one nationality. It's open to the best candidate.