AME Wages

[Fling Wing]

Anyone out there who's a helicopter AME working in Canada?
Average apprentice wage compared to licensed AME wage?

Thanks

[HS-748 2A]

Anyone out there who's a helicopter AME working in Canada?
Average apprentice wage compared to licensed AME wage?

Thanks

The licensed guy's wage will vary heavily depending on endorsements he carries.

Apprentices rarely are doing too much better than $18.00/hr

With rotary, there is almost always some bush pay and flight pay over and above the hourly wage as well though.

Apprentice flight pay at the last rotary outfit I had anything to do with was $5.00 for 206
Licenced flight pay; $15.00/hr.

Significantly more for Mediums.

[NeverBlue]

43 yrs old
15 year E license holder
$50/hr for a company with an ATO
9 - 5 Mon - Fri
Benefits ok, Holidays above average, Pension ok

been in industry 21 years

[Fling Wing]

Anyone out there who's a helicopter AME working in Canada?
Average apprentice wage compared to licensed AME wage?

Thanks

The licensed guy's wage will vary heavily depending on endorsements he carries.

Apprentices rarely are doing too much better than $18.00/hr

With rotary, there is almost always some bush pay and flight pay over and above the hourly wage as well though.

Apprentice flight pay at the last rotary outfit I had anything to do with was $5.00 for 206
Licenced flight pay; $15.00/hr.

Significantly more for Mediums.

I'm kinda a newbie to this. What exactly is flight pay? I take it bush pay is an increase in of a few dollars of your hourly rate for anytime you spend away from the hangar?

Thanks

[HS-748 2A]

No. It's an hourly rate you are paid for every hour the machine flies.

It's an incentive for you to work hard and actually fix shit, vs leaving the thing grounded, "waiting for parts", or other such excuses for screwing the pooch.

You get it going. It goes out and makes money. You are rewarded for your good work with some extra bling while you snooze the afternoon away under a mosquito net.

All the glory you can eat.

[Fling Wing]

Wow, that's actually pretty neat. So what would the average be for flight pay for a fully licensed AME ? Say you stay with the same company and move up from 206's up too 212's or 205's, is there an increase in flight pay or does the company pay the same for all machines?

[rotorhead350]

Places i've worked payed $25-33hr for lights/intermediates, $40-50hr for mediums and anywhere from $50-75hr for heavies(depending on if you're crew chief or second engineer). As well the last company i was at would pay a $500 signout bonus if you were stationed somewhere with an a/c and there was another machine in the vicinity that had some work to be done.

[HS-748 2A]

So what would the average be for flight pay for a fully licensed AME ? Say you stay with the same company and move up from 206's up too 212's or 205's, is there an increase in flight pay or does the company pay the same for all machines?

Generally about double the numbers I quoted above for the 206, but who knows. It's going to depend heavily on the company, the location or may even change depending how they priced the job when they got the contract.

[jsmetalbashers]

Places i've worked payed $25-33hr for lights/intermediates, $40-50hr for mediums and anywhere from $50-75hr for heavies(depending on if you're crew chief or second engineer). As well the last company i was at would pay a $500 signout bonus if you were stationed somewhere with an a/c and there was another machine in the vicinity that had some work to be done.

Wow, helicopter engineers can make some serious coin. Must have been a good summer on the fires.

[The Weasel]

Licenced 2004
Light/Intermediate Helicopters
Mix of winter maintenance and base/bush work (summer rotations)
western and northern canada
80-110K per year
Excellent benefits, decent pension, reasonable holidays/time off

[Quick Disconnect]

Age 49
M1/M2
Licensed 1985
84500k
Normally about 8 percent bonus of gross
Not bad benifits
Rotation so about 6 months off
All in All not to bad
Zero OT which is fine by me

[CanNorth]

20
Finished AME school and started current job about 7 months ago
$16/hour + some overtime + clothing allowance + ok benefits + pretty much free flights
Probably not the greatest place to work, but I like it here and theres always something new going on...

[qa guy]

32 yrs. old
licensed in 2004
$30/hr, plus about 5k in ot, (70k) large FTU,
Mon- Fri, Days with pretty good bennies
3 weeks off.

[airmech07]

-Age: 25
-Licenced since May 2009
-Wage: $23.40/hr
-Clothing allowance: 4 pairs of clothing/year new jacket,vest,winterjacket/2years, 160 boot -allowance/year
-OT whenever double time
-travel benefits
-60 days vacation next year
-Endorsements: M2

[bigbrow]

25
M2 licensed 2008 with 1 endorsement
about 70K with o/t
good benefits

[Simon Says]

Age: 30
M1(Recently)/M2(2003)
1 endorsment
73K+
Benefits(Health and Travel)
Profit Sharing twice a year
Employee Share Purchase Plan up to 20% of salary
Been here since first got in the industry 10yrs ago

[tellyourkidstogetarealjob]

Horseshit!

Double horseshit!

Absolute steaming, fetid, rotting pile of horseshit!

Most of the replies here are total crap.

I personally know a few of you. One is actually in management - conveniently forgot to mention it. Another is perpetually depressed about the crap conditions he has to work under. At least two others are frustrated cheerleaders so they come on here to post their rah, rah, rah, sis, boom. bah drivel. One of them, every time he posts his wage, increases the number by 10-15,000 per year. Either he's God's gift to aviation or he's full of it.

Inflation hasn't been much the last 10 years. If these people took their last 5 or 10 years T4's and averaged them, the numbers would be A LOT lower.

The average wage in this industry for a licensed AME is well under $60,000 per year. The only reason most take home more than that is due to overtime that most mechanics don't feel they can say no to (either due to company pressure or financial desperation). Oh, and of course, that's assuming no layoffs or work slow downs. How many of us can claim that?

There's rarely a meaningful pension. Benefits? Come on, talk sense! McDonald's has a dental care plan for full timers, that's nothing to feel overly attached to. Yes, it's nice to have dental, prescription, etc. but be realistic when describing your work.

It would interesting to see a thread on how many work routinely outside in below -35 weather. Or what the longest work day you've ever done it. My personal is around 28 hours but I know guys who've done in the high 30's. An 18 hour day is very frequent and I've passed 20 more times than I can remember. Let's start a thread bragging how our respective spouses/significant others love that shit - and never argue with us about it!

This thread has officially pissed me off!

[Pat Richard]

was thinking the same about some of the replies, and was going to call bs, but who am i to mess with peoples delusions...

looks like some are in happier places, at least in their heads.

[HS-748 2A]

This thread has officially pissed me off!

$37.00 Hr (Supervisor pay) + excellent bennies and working conditions.

Ooohhh - and I get to work on my favorite airplane!

[Cranium]

Age 29
M1 2004
25/hr + 2 ACA's @ 0.50 ea
Shift work
Occasional OT
Company provided uniforms
Per diem when req'd (approx 50/day) - last year - 6 days
Away from base pay when req'd (approx 25/day - taxed) - last year - 6 days
Mileage approx .030 / km
Travel time (sort of) paid - "2 hours" Edmonton - Winnipeg?
Shared pension and health

Horrible company culture, but it's mostly in a nice warm hangar.
My second job in this field.

[quote="tellyourkidstogetarealjob"]Or what the longest work day you've ever done it. My personal is around 28 hours but I know guys who've done in the high 30's. An 18 hour day is very frequent and I've passed 20 more times than I can remember. Let's start a thread bragging how our respective spouses/significant others love that shit - and never argue with us about it![/quote]

42 hours - thank God we didn't have a crucial part so I could look at my work after sleeping for a day...

[billy ray valintine]

Horseshit!

Double horseshit!

Absolute steaming, fetid, rotting pile of horseshit!

Most of the replies here are total crap.

I personally know a few of you. One is actually in management - conveniently forgot to mention it. Another is perpetually depressed about the crap conditions he has to work under. At least two others are frustrated cheerleaders so they come on here to post their rah, rah, rah, sis, boom. bah drivel. One of them, every time he posts his wage, increases the number by 10-15,000 per year. Either he's God's gift to aviation or he's full of it.

Inflation hasn't been much the last 10 years. If these people took their last 5 or 10 years T4's and averaged them, the numbers would be A LOT lower.

The average wage in this industry for a licensed AME is well under $60,000 per year. The only reason most take home more than that is due to overtime that most mechanics don't feel they can say no to (either due to company pressure or financial desperation). Oh, and of course, that's assuming no layoffs or work slow downs. How many of us can claim that?

There's rarely a meaningful pension. Benefits? Come on, talk sense! McDonald's has a dental care plan for full timers, that's nothing to feel overly attached to. Yes, it's nice to have dental, prescription, etc. but be realistic when describing your work.

It would interesting to see a thread on how many work routinely outside in below -35 weather. Or what the longest work day you've ever done it. My personal is around 28 hours but I know guys who've done in the high 30's. An 18 hour day is very frequent and I've passed 20 more times than I can remember. Let's start a thread bragging how our respective spouses/significant others love that shit - and never argue with us about it!

This thread has officially pissed me off!

well said tellyourkidstogetarealjob, i agree with you calling bullshit on this topic!
i didn't chime in because i was having a good laugh at some of these guys.
lets see... guys in their 20's and early 30's , licence is still wet, one maybe two
endorsements making 70k+ per yr and 60 days off per year? bla bla bla....
don't get mad, just laugh at the bullshit!
most of these guys are talkin out their ass,like they do when it comes time to FIX
the airplane. no shortage of those kind in this business
BRV

[mmartin1872]

Well 60 days a year off, to make 80,000 makes sense. $30/hr * 250 days (5 days a week times 50 weeks) @ 8hrs a day = $60,000. They only have 60 days off a year, so off the 365-60-250 days leaves 55 days of ot. 55 days at 1.5 times $30/hr @ 8 hrs a day = $19800. plus 2 weeks holiday pay that they didnt use $2400.

Your sitting at 80,000. If I did my math right. But most in the real world have 114 days off a year. 2 days a week times 52 weeks plus 10 holiday days.

I myself make just shy of $50,000 get promised my holidays off during the slow season, don't get paid ot but do plenty of it during the summer. But then I'm lucky, I work in a hangar all the time, never have to go to the bush, and get to sleep with my wife every night... so I can't complain.

Wish I took that plumbing apprenticeship I was offered when I was layed off the 2nd or 3rd time in the first few years of my aviation career. I'd be making a lot better money than I'm making now, and a lot less headaches... Stupid "I love airplane" syndrome.

[tellyourkidstogetarealjob]

$37.00 Hr (Supervisor pay) + excellent bennies and working conditions.

Ooohhh - and I get to work on my favorite airplane!

Ha, ha HS!

How many times have I had to tell you: free kneepads are NOT a company benefit!

Speaking of working conditions, how thick is the ice in that low spot INSIDE the hangar this year?

Does 'the boss' still expect you guys to do split shifts for him to save money?

On a more serious note:

Cranium and mmartin have posted answers I can believe.

Actually BRV, what pisses me off is not what people delude themselves with. I could never change that. It's that kids who are considering this trade may actually buy into this crap and base their decision to join on it. The internet is a great potential resource. If I had access to this info when I started, I would've chosen something else.

[Pat Richard]

Actually BRV, what pisses me off is not what people delude themselves with. I could never change that. It's that kids who are considering this trade may actually buy into this crap and base their decision to join on it. The internet is a great potential resource. If I had access to this info when I started, I would've chosen something else.

Can we get quotes stickied???

[HS-748 2A]

The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely the one who dropped it.

'48