MAG Aerospace SK detection contract

[DanWEC]

Does anyone know the current pay and per diems for the SK detection contract under SERM? Looks like MAG has expanded out of Ontario and holds it now.
Not interested in the position, but more of a curiosity, I was involved with a previous subcontractor who ran a great op and was a terrific guy. I've been through the financials as I actually wanted to buy the op with the remainder of the contract at the time.

Cheers

[cargocowboy]

My info is 3yrs old but I interviewed with them and it was close to $1000/wk with accommodation paid for. Schedule was something like 25/5. This was for Ontario where 25mpic was required. Sask was 100mpic requirement so I think it may have paid a bit more. There was a decent retention bonus at the end of the season.

Again, this was 3 years ago, so maybe not relevant. Seemed like a decent gig for a low timer (I was around 900hrs at the time), and I was offered the job, but they were so slow getting back to me that I had taken a different job in the meantime.

[DanWEC]

Thanks. There was a massive difference in pay between the Ontario detection contracts and the SK ones. Primarily in the perdiem structure. Hence why I'm curious now that MAG has won the SERM contract.

[RockSalty]

Old info but it was around $35/day for the per diems in Sask, only for the 25 days you were scheduled as on for the month

[DanWEC]

Old info but it was around $35/day for the per diems in Sask, only for the 25 days you were scheduled as on for the month

That is absolutely light years away from the old pay, to the order of barely 20%. I wonder if MAG underbid to win or if they're absorbing the difference and not passing it to the pilots.

[RockSalty]

Old info but it was around $35/day for the per diems in Sask, only for the 25 days you were scheduled as on for the month

That is absolutely light years away from the old pay, to the order of barely 20%. I wonder if MAG underbid to win or if they're absorbing the difference and not passing it to the pilots.

Surely for them to have gotten the contracts away from the other guys it must shave been an underbid. The actual salary itself was a fair bit lower too from my understanding.

[DanWEC]

The epitome of the race to the bottom. Infuriating. We had older guys coming back every year for a fun, very well paying summer job. Would finish off a summer with $20k in the bank easily after paying for all living expenses and not pinching pennies. Now it's entry level pay.

[Launchpad1]

I feel like I should defend MAG. Having worked for them previously, in my experience, it's a good company with some great people working there. I also did a season back when it was Discovery.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a summer flying gig.

[RockSalty]

I feel like I should defend MAG. Having worked for them previously, in my experience, it's a good company with some great people working there. I also did a season back when it was Discovery.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone looking for a summer flying gig.

Totally agree, would go back again without hesitation if I didn't have year round work already. The pay might be less than what the competitors were giving their guys, but it was still pretty good for what you were doing. The management folks were great and easy to deal with, and it was by far the most fun I've had flying as a job.

[Col. Panic]

Old info but it was around $35/day for the per diems in Sask, only for the 25 days you were scheduled as on for the month

That is absolutely light years away from the old pay, to the order of barely 20%. I wonder if MAG underbid to win or if they're absorbing the difference and not passing it to the pilots.

It’s a good thing that everything is 20% cheaper these days compared to 10 years ago, so 80% less per diems will go that much farther!

[DanWEC]

Friendly managers don't pay your mortgage or make up for executives whose salaries and targets come at the expense of those under them.
The facts I see is a large company got the contract and the pay for the working position was cut by roughly 80%.

[Launchpad1]

Friendly managers don't pay your mortgage

Yeah but come on a summer flying job doing fire detection is not meant to pay anyone's mortgage. It's a fun way to get some multi hours and do a responsible job that can give a lot of professional satisfaction.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

Friendly managers don't pay your mortgage

Yeah but come on a summer flying job doing fire detection is not meant to pay anyone's mortgage. It's a fun way to get some multi hours and do a responsible job that can give a lot of professional satisfaction.

Slippery slope when the entire industry becomes a “fun way” to gain experience with no ultimate end goal…

[DanWEC]

Friendly managers don't pay your mortgage

Yeah but come on a summer flying job doing fire detection is not meant to pay anyone's mortgage. It's a fun way to get some multi hours and do a responsible job that can give a lot of professional satisfaction.

I have to respectfully disagree.... Selling a job as less money because it's more fun doesn't somehow reduce the responsibility and professionalism it entails. That's what's driven down the industry. I did this position some years ago for literally 4-5x what they're paying now. It was very remote, northern Sask single pilot op, very different from flying around Dryden or Geraldton. Half the plane was survival gear. Only one 337 per fire base, and it was yours for the summer. I think it was personally riskier than any job I've had before or since, but I wouldn't change a second of it for anything!

[RockSalty]

Friendly managers don't pay your mortgage

Yeah but come on a summer flying job doing fire detection is not meant to pay anyone's mortgage. It's a fun way to get some multi hours and do a responsible job that can give a lot of professional satisfaction.

I have to respectfully disagree.... Selling a job as less money because it's more fun doesn't somehow reduce the responsibility and professionalism it entails. That's what's driven down the industry. I did this position several years ago for literally 4-5x what they're paying now. It was very remote, northern Sask single pilot op, you are alone with your airplane. Very different from lflying around Dryden or Geraldton. Half the plane was survival gear. I think it was personally riskier than any job I've had before or since, but I wouldn't change a second of it for anything!

Were you flying out of Stony Rapids? As far as I know Canwest still has that contract, or at least had it last year.

[DanWEC]

Were you flying out of Stony Rapids? As far as I know Canwest still has that contract, or at least had it last year.

No, I was always Buffalo Narrows. Not for Canwest but I did know one or two of their guys and kept in touch when stopping in La Ronge for random reasons.

[RockSalty]

Yikes, I knew they weren’t paying as much as the guys up in YSF were making but didn’t realize it was that big a cut for the yvt/yvc flying too

[Launchpad1]

I have to respectfully disagree.... Selling a job as less money because it's more fun doesn't somehow reduce the responsibility and professionalism it entails. That's what's driven down the industry. I did this position some years ago for literally 4-5x what they're paying now. It was very remote, northern Sask single pilot op, very different from flying around Dryden or Geraldton. Half the plane was survival gear. Only one 337 per fire base, and it was yours for the summer. I think it was personally riskier than any job I've had before or since, but I wouldn't change a second of it for anything!

No I hear what you're saying and I don't disagree.

I know the old company in Sask used to pay more but I don't know if they got paid more by the Sask government to do the work. Either way I totally agree that the job can be somewhat 'remote work risky' and totally agree that Pilots should get paid as much as possible for the professional work we do.

I did a few stints over in Pickle Lake but that's about as remote as I got doing the fire detection flying.

I guess all I'm saying is, in my experience, the management at MAG Canada are as good and approachable a bunch of people as you're likely to get in aviation.

I'm sure we know a lot of the same people.