Military Leave - Possible in 705?

[TumbledGyros]

Greetings all.

I'm in the military reserves, but civvie side I'm a commercial pilot. At this point I'm looking at going into the airlines, but part of what's holding me back is that if I join the airlines I'll probably need to quit the military since I won't be able to get time off for training or deployments.

Does anyone know any airlines that have a policy on military leave, and if so what the policy is?

[Bradley Tucker]

I am sure that would be up to each company.

That would be a good question during an interview.

[Big Pistons Forever]

My last company (Nor 705 though) had specific provisions in the CBA for military leave

[TumbledGyros]

I have done a few interviews and so far the answers are "I'm not sure, that has never been asked" or "We don't have any policy for military leave".

So, of course I'll keep asking. But if anyone knows of a place that has a policy that would be great!

[Scuderia]

There's been a decent amount of recent work on this by the feds, check out this site: https://www.canada.ca/en/ombudsman-nati ... vists.html

In fact, employers can receive compensation from the feds to offset the costs incurred by providing leave.

[Arnie Pye]

Flair has a military leave policy written into their current collective agreement. You can google the contract as it is online and see if that fits your needs.

[oldncold]

Reputable companies should be PROUD to have an employee that still is contributing to our armed forces. goodness knows we need all the modern equipment and manpower/ women power flying . IF your company does not have an leave allowance policy for aviation military reserve s pilots ame 's get at it in putting one in place. since deployments can be upto 6 months a recommended balance between civilian employer /military is ONE 6 month deployment in 24 or THREE 3 month deployments in 24 months //

terms > seniorty does not accure while deployed in military deployment away from civilian job , // however health, dental , remain. in place . cases are reviewed on a case by case basis . reasonable efforts will be made by management to support our employees service to the canadian forces.

[RoAF-Mig21]

How much leverage do you have at your military job? There are operators that offer rotational flying, (2 weeks ON / OFF), so you may be able to co-ordiante around that. As far as what type of commitment you have to the Canadian Forces, I wouldn't even begin to guess. What happens if the forces need you in Latvia for 3 months?

I don't know of any companies that are required to accommodate that. It's not like jury duty, but then again, I may be wrong. Everyone throws around "Support our troops, etc." but few do, if it affects their bottom line.

My advice is to pick one of the two and focus on that. It's not realistic to expect to be a professional pilot and on your time off (when you're supposed to rest, physically and mentally) to have another job. That goes for everyone, not just folks in the military reserve.

Good luck.

[TumbledGyros]

How much leverage do you have at your military job? There are operators that offer rotational flying, (2 weeks ON / OFF), so you may be able to co-ordiante around that. As far as what type of commitment you have to the Canadian Forces, I wouldn't even begin to guess. What happens if the forces need you in Latvia for 3 months?

I don't know of any companies that are required to accommodate that. It's not like jury duty, but then again, I may be wrong. Everyone throws around "Support our troops, etc." but few do, if it affects their bottom line.

My advice is to pick one of the two and focus on that. It's not realistic to expect to be a professional pilot and on your time off (when you're supposed to rest, physically and mentally) to have another job. That goes for everyone, not just folks in the military reserve.

Good luck.

There actually are laws (at least in Alberta) requiring employers give a certain amount of time off to military members, but I don't believe it's generally "enforced" when push comes to shove.
Personally, I like to keep myself busy with different things. With flying, the schedule is the biggest problem for military involvement, but it is possible to work. Neither job requires an entire life dedication in my opinion (when taking into consideration reserves vs. reg force at least).

There's only so much of your life you can sit around practicing emergency procedures in a plane, or practicing rifle drills (without a rifle since they're illegal now). I'm not in JTF2, and I'm not a test pilot... Everyone in the reserves has another job that they need to balance.
In the reserves deployments are optional, unless something big happens...in which case we've got bigger problems.

I'd just like to know what options are out there, for my own consideration. Thank you for your input.

[TumbledGyros]

Flair has a military leave policy written into their current collective agreement. You can google the contract as it is online and see if that fits your needs.

Great to know. Thank you!

[tsgarp]

Depends on your PRes job. If you are A Class and your unit is flexible about your work it should be a non-issue. I know a couple of guys who work full time airlines and plug in their 12 A Class days every month as duty ops or some such.