DHC-3T Wages

[slowflight]

As a company starting up with a fleet of DHC-3T it has been difficult to find an accurate industry standard for Otter wages. I think it is about time to put together an accurate survey of wages from pilots across canada who have some experience and wage information for flying the Otter. What I am looking for are pilots who can send me a payslip or proof of wages for the companies they have worked for or are working for. I would like the company name blanked out as well as your name. That stuff is unneccessary, just looking for an actual proof of payment as well as province of employment. The pay stubs should show either the number of days worked or hours worked with their compensation. I feel this way I can put together an honest averaging system and have our pilots in the company paid fairly. I will gladly share the information that I put together once I have enough info so that we can all have a somewhat accurate idea of the industry pay. I'm sure there are many pilots out there who would like to see our wages for float drivers be increased as they have remained fairly close to the same for the past 10 years or so, while cost of living has increased substantially.

Please forward any information or comments to floatpilot@live.ca

[slowflight]

Already getting some excellent feedback!! Thanks folks, keep it coming

[Lost Lake]

Don't keep us in suspense. I have a pretty good idea of the average rate, just curious about the extremes

[bubba070]

Already getting some excellent feedback!! Thanks folks, keep it coming

Well, what did you come up with?

[Edo]

I will gladly share the information that I put together once I have enough info so that we can all have a somewhat accurate idea of the industry pay. I'm sure there are many pilots out there who would like to see our wages for float drivers be increased as they have remained fairly close to the same for the past 10 years or so, while cost of living has increased substantially.

Please forward any information or comments to floatpilot@live.ca

Well..................

[MAD DOGGY]

Ya, I gave a pile of info. in detail and have saw no response here on the forum or in specific inquiries to that email address. Feel kinda used but... Hey, it's aviation in Canada !
Heard from a West-Coaster the fella was a decent guy ,so hopefully he's gettin' around to it LOL

[Lost Lake]

Starting to think this guy only wanted to find out how low he could pay to get drivers. I smell a rat!

[ragbagflyer]

Who sends an anonymous poster their pay stubs anyway?

[Lost Lake]

Who sends an anonymous poster their pay stubs anyway?

This is AvCanada!

[MAD DOGGY]

Actually, I just supplied a bunch of info. without the name of the company. No paystub. I made an inquiry first as who the individual was etc. It's Pacific Coastal if I remember correctly. I did it in good faith ,hoping to raise the pay standards a bit for others, as I was paid well in my books. Even when a person tries to help others there is always negativity...

[Lost Lake]

Actually, I just supplied a bunch of info. without the name of the company. No paystub. I made an inquiry first as who the individual was etc. It's Pacific Coastal if I remember correctly. I did it in good faith ,hoping to raise the pay standards a bit for others, as I was paid well in my books. Even when a person tries to help others there is always negativity...

It's not so much a point of negativity. If it's PC, they are a big company and I would think they would be well informed on wages. I think it is the fact that almost 2 1/2 months after their "survey", they have not shared a single thing. If they want us to help them, and they offer to reciprocate, then step up and reciprocate.

[ragbagflyer]

Interesting to me that Pasco would need to survey Otter wages seeing as they were running the Goose. Hopefully their wage for the Otter isn't lower than the Goose.

[longjon]

I thought they had parked the Goose? Are there some still flying?

[GUMPS]

No, they aren't flying. Otter drivers better be getting paid on par with the goose pilots...

[1000 HP]

My last year flying a turbo otter I made very good money. If the wage had been year round I would still be flying. Unfortunately the 6 month season inland just wasn't cutting it. I had 7 children to feed. (ok maybe only 4) I couldn't make inroads to the coastal jobs or I would have gone that route. In the winter I started working other jobs in the oilfield and soon found that I liked the much large paychecks.

I heard Pasco used to pay their Goose drivers about $12000 per month. Better than most Otter jobs, and way better than some Otter jobs. I never broke $11,700 and that was flying a Caravan on contract in a remote camp.

[bubba070]

I heard Pasco used to pay their Goose drivers about $12000 per month

Now that's funny!!

[angry inch]

Yeah, there may have been a Goose pilot who made that once, one summer, years ago, when the fishing lodge business was booming in the summer, but that's definitely not the case now.(Or until the recent retirement of the Goose fleet). When i worked there about 5 years ago, a senior Goose pilot pulled in around 70-75 G's working year round.


I heard recently, the Otter wage thing was still "in the works", it is aviation after all...
Kind of tough to base wages simply on an aircraft type... I too am interested to see what they come up with though.

[slowflight]

First of all I want to appologize for everyone who has been in suspense with this topic. My excuse is.... I have been so terribly tied up with things lately that I have not even been on Avcanada for the past couple of months. Have barely even been online other than email. Sorry guys/girls

Those who have emailed me directly should have had a response at least, to inform them that I am working on things even though it is taking some time. I have not had as much feedback as I had originally anticipated and it is tough to put a number on the stats as the info I have received have had SO many variances, such as .... seasonal vs year -round, part-time vs full-time, location of work, ect...

Now I could post some of these results, but I was really hoping to get a bit more info from more pilots, so that I can organize into these catagories more effectively. Unfortunately, if I do post the results, much to most people disblief, you will find that the numbers that I have come up with are much lower then I originally excpected, and I almost think I would be crazy to post those numbers. It seems funny to me that so many people tell me that the make x amount per month, or year, yet those are the people that cannot come to me with proof to back up their claim of salary. Its easy to say that I make $10,000/month, but how will someone believe me if I cant back it up?!? The salarys that I have been given proof of are much much much lower then this amount, honestly!! So, if you want to send me a quick line at floatpilot@live.ca a discussion via email would probably be better suited on a personal level.

Its up to you guys/girls, just let me know if you want the numbers. But at this point I will be quite honest that you may not like the numbers that I have come up with. If there are more people that would like to give me an acurate description of how much they have been making, even if you don't want to send me proof, then I can at least seperate the catagories of proof to 'word of mouth'. It would be probably better to post those results. lol

Cheers

[Cap't Hilts]

So ,first you post a request for help in gathering information...then you don't check the replies for 2 months...must have been really important to you...sounds like bullshit to me!!

[GUMPS]

Could be bullshit.. But up until 5 days ago this thread wasn't active since December...Also avcanada isn't the priority in some peoples life too.

[angry inch]

You would think that the Goose pilot wages would be pretty similar & transfer over to the Otter, since, as I stated earlier, one can not simply base a wage on an airframe alone. If it is the same guys with same experience, then it sounds like it's just a basic problem with pilot wages in general. Now there's a new concept... There's only two operators on the North Island, and they are vastly different in the way they are set up, but are serving the same customer base for the most part. Not sure if there's enough work for them both to thrive, but should be enough to survive for the time being. Sad fact is that the amount of work is decreasing, and the cost of operating is increasing, and let's face it, it's pretty tough to find experienced pilots who want to live in Port Hardy. I came to the conclusion that the risk was not worth the reward for flying up there. I hope for the sake of the guys that do want to tough it out, that a decent wage can be negotiated that's reasonable for them and their employer.

[GUMPS]

Flying in the shit is flying in the shit be it in an otter or the goose. Want you're pilots to last in Hardy, pay them what they deserve.

[Cat Driver]

Maybe the Goose being an amphibious tail wheel flying boat is more difficult to fly....

...therefore should pay more?

[angry inch]

Want you're pilots to last in Hardy, pay them what they deserve.

I think that this was the whole point of this thread...

[North Shore]

Maybe the Goose being an amphibious tail wheel flying boat is more difficult to fly....

...therefore should pay more?

So, going 'back' to the Otter, you'll ask them to take a pay cut?!