The helicopter industry searches for the next generation

[Bug_Stomper_01]

What about the existing generation that refuse to work for what’s on the table?

https://verticalmag.com/features/the-he ... eneration/

[digits_]

“Most of the work we do involves hand and foot skills,” he told Vertical. “It’s not like in an airplane where you can learn to take off and land and be paired with a senior captain. That option is not open to us for the vast majority of our work. It takes practice, practice, practice.”

Yellowhead, which operates 42 Airbus and Bell helicopters, typically hires four or five freshly licensed helicopter pilots each year. They start working dispatch, the ramp, or in the hangar, learning the business from the ground up.

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

[SeptRepair]

“Most of the work we do involves hand and foot skills,” he told Vertical. “It’s not like in an airplane where you can learn to take off and land and be paired with a senior captain. That option is not open to us for the vast majority of our work. It takes practice, practice, practice.”

Yellowhead, which operates 42 Airbus and Bell helicopters, typically hires four or five freshly licensed helicopter pilots each year. They start working dispatch, the ramp, or in the hangar, learning the business from the ground up.

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

Yes, and all the while being told to be thankful. Wonder what they pay a freshly licensed Helicopter pilot with over a 100k in debt. Sweeping the hangar floor or being a maintenance "helper"

[Crewbunk]

“Most of the work we do involves hand and foot skills,” he told Vertical. “It’s not like in an airplane where you can learn to take off and land and be paired with a senior captain. That option is not open to us for the vast majority of our work. It takes practice, practice, practice.”

Yellowhead, which operates 42 Airbus and Bell helicopters, typically hires four or five freshly licensed helicopter pilots each year. They start working dispatch, the ramp, or in the hangar, learning the business from the ground up.

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

Yes, and all the while being told to be thankful. Wonder what they pay a freshly licensed Helicopter pilot with over a 100k in debt. Sweeping the hangar floor or being a maintenance "helper"

I was hoping with today’s demand for pilots, those days were behind us.

It’s curious though that a company that admits it is parking helicopters and turning down jobs due to lack of pilots, would be sticking those new hires into non-flying positions. It’s almost like they do it, “because we’ve always done it that way”.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

“Most of the work we do involves hand and foot skills,” he told Vertical. “It’s not like in an airplane where you can learn to take off and land and be paired with a senior captain. That option is not open to us for the vast majority of our work. It takes practice, practice, practice.”

Yellowhead, which operates 42 Airbus and Bell helicopters, typically hires four or five freshly licensed helicopter pilots each year. They start working dispatch, the ramp, or in the hangar, learning the business from the ground up.

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

Basically free labourers for the first 2-3 years of their careers unless they know and blow someone important. It’s ridiculous, and not one mention of the root cause to this “shortage” which there’s isn’t. PAY APPROPRIATELY and the problem goes away. It’ll never happen, that article is infuriating.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

Yes, and all the while being told to be thankful. Wonder what they pay a freshly licensed Helicopter pilot with over a 100k in debt. Sweeping the hangar floor or being a maintenance "helper"

I was hoping with today’s demand for pilots, those days were behind us.

It’s curious though that a company that admits it is parking helicopters and turning down jobs due to lack of pilots, would be sticking those new hires into non-flying positions. It’s almost like they do it, “because we’ve always done it that way”.

Partially, and also the fact that they don’t want to set a bad precedent of evolution which would cause industry wide wage increases. Keep in mind many of the shareholders and owners of these aircraft don’t make their money with helicopters.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

“Most of the work we do involves hand and foot skills,” he told Vertical. “It’s not like in an airplane where you can learn to take off and land and be paired with a senior captain. That option is not open to us for the vast majority of our work. It takes practice, practice, practice.”

Yellowhead, which operates 42 Airbus and Bell helicopters, typically hires four or five freshly licensed helicopter pilots each year. They start working dispatch, the ramp, or in the hangar, learning the business from the ground up.

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

Yes, and all the while being told to be thankful. Wonder what they pay a freshly licensed Helicopter pilot with over a 100k in debt. Sweeping the hangar floor or being a maintenance "helper"

Minimum wage, nothing, and in some
Instances some of them pay to work , it’s still happening in 2023 ffs

[Han Dong]

It is important to take care of the least fortunate in society. This is why in Canada we have made sure that minimum wage meets or exceeds inflation. Helicopter pilots are fairly compensated and no where near minimum wage. The focus should be bringing the bottom up.

[digits_]

“Most of the work we do involves hand and foot skills,” he told Vertical. “It’s not like in an airplane where you can learn to take off and land and be paired with a senior captain. That option is not open to us for the vast majority of our work. It takes practice, practice, practice.”

Yellowhead, which operates 42 Airbus and Bell helicopters, typically hires four or five freshly licensed helicopter pilots each year. They start working dispatch, the ramp, or in the hangar, learning the business from the ground up.

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

Basically free labourers for the first 2-3 years of their careers unless they know and blow someone important. It’s ridiculous, and not one mention of the root cause to this “shortage” which there’s isn’t. PAY APPROPRIATELY and the problem goes away. It’ll never happen, that article is infuriating.

The bottleneck they mention of there basically being no jobs for people having between 200 and 1000 hours is a major valid factor as well though. You can pay millions, but if nobody can get the 1000 hours, it won't help.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

Basically free labourers for the first 2-3 years of their careers unless they know and blow someone important. It’s ridiculous, and not one mention of the root cause to this “shortage” which there’s isn’t. PAY APPROPRIATELY and the problem goes away. It’ll never happen, that article is infuriating.

The bottleneck they mention of there basically being no jobs for people having between 200 and 1000 hours is a major valid factor as well though. You can pay millions, but if nobody can get the 1000 hours, it won't help.

There are flying jobs for them after 3-500 hours, and some even right after 100. Contrails and other external auditing companies have some jobs minimum 2500-3000 hours. There are definitely gigs for them out there cherry and vineyard drying, flying news 44s, flying crew change machines etc. It all comes back to $$$$$, if these operators are desperate to fill the experience gap they’d pay hand over fist to get guys experience, unfortunately you can’t read their claims on its face. Actions always speak louder than words (or magazine articles)

[Bug_Stomper_01]

I am sure those hand and foot skills improve drastically working dispatch or the ramp!

Basically free labourers for the first 2-3 years of their careers unless they know and blow someone important. It’s ridiculous, and not one mention of the root cause to this “shortage” which there’s isn’t. PAY APPROPRIATELY and the problem goes away. It’ll never happen, that article is infuriating.

The bottleneck they mention of there basically being no jobs for people having between 200 and 1000 hours is a major valid factor as well though. You can pay millions, but if nobody can get the 1000 hours, it won't help.

There’s plenty of experienced licensed guys out there that are no longer working in Canada or out of the industry altogether. Follow the money

[Bug_Stomper_01]

It is important to take care of the least fortunate in society. This is why in Canada we have made sure that minimum wage meets or exceeds inflation. Helicopter pilots are fairly compensated and no where near minimum wage. The focus should be bringing the bottom up.

You couldn’t be further from reality. They aren’t paid fairly across the board. Wages are just now slowly creeping up from pre 2008 rates. Where you get your information from is wrong, or your standards are just that low.

[helicopterray]

It is important to take care of the least fortunate in society. This is why in Canada we have made sure that minimum wage meets or exceeds inflation. Helicopter pilots are fairly compensated and no where near minimum wage. The focus should be bringing the bottom up.

We don't work in a minimum wage industry. It's not supposed to be, anyways, with the amount of skill and responsibility we have. And there are crews working for around minimum wage with tens of thousands in student loans.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

It is important to take care of the least fortunate in society. This is why in Canada we have made sure that minimum wage meets or exceeds inflation. Helicopter pilots are fairly compensated and no where near minimum wage. The focus should be bringing the bottom up.

We don't work in a minimum wage industry. It's not supposed to be, anyways, with the amount of skill and responsibility we have. And there are crews working for around minimum wage with tens of thousands in student loans.

It’s pretty disturbing, it’s even filtered down to maintenance crews working in Canada from abroad without Canadian licenses. That’s what domestic and skilled ames are being put up against for compensation competition….

[daedalusx]

I have a couple hundred hours on rotary incl turbine time and during Covid layoffs from my airline jobs I’ve applied to dozens of operators and all got the same “sorry but it would be too expensive to retrain you”. That’s too bad because some airlines guys are dual rated and can take short term LOAs in the summer. It’s the same shit today that it was in the mid 2000s. Too expensive to “train” the local guys, let’s send them to the ramp to wash the owners car and paint the equipment and let’s hire a bunch of kiwi TFWs with padded logbooks instead, it’ll be cheaper.
Fast forward to 2020s - Boo hoo, how come nobody wants to work rotaries ? Those darn millennials just don’t have the boomer work ethic and grit.

[North Shore]

There are flying jobs for them after 3-500 hours, and some even right after 100. Contrails and other external auditing companies have some jobs minimum 2500-3000 hours. There are definitely gigs for them out there cherry and vineyard drying, flying news 44s, flying crew change machines etc. It all comes back to $$$$$, if these operators are desperate to fill the experience gap they’d pay hand over fist to get guys experience, unfortunately you can’t read their claims on its face. Actions always speak louder than words (or magazine articles)

Contrails seems to be part of the problem, though:

"Then, about 20 years ago, he said a crop of private advisers came on the helicopter scene.

“It started in the oil-and-gas patch. These advisers go to clients and offer to evaluate air operators for them. Overnight, companies doing some of the easiest and most controlled types of helicopter flying were requiring pilots with 1,500 to 2,000 hours. Newer pilots were effectively shut out from jobs that had previously allowed them to gain experience while building time.”

Taylor said that today, 200- or 300-hour pilots who have been flying sightseeing or ferry flights are ready to tackle something more challenging. The problem is, there is almost nothing for them to do. The situation is creating an industry bottleneck and preventing pilots from progressing in their careers.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

There are flying jobs for them after 3-500 hours, and some even right after 100. Contrails and other external auditing companies have some jobs minimum 2500-3000 hours. There are definitely gigs for them out there cherry and vineyard drying, flying news 44s, flying crew change machines etc. It all comes back to $$$$$, if these operators are desperate to fill the experience gap they’d pay hand over fist to get guys experience, unfortunately you can’t read their claims on its face. Actions always speak louder than words (or magazine articles)

Contrails seems to be part of the problem, though:

"Then, about 20 years ago, he said a crop of private advisers came on the helicopter scene.

“It started in the oil-and-gas patch. These advisers go to clients and offer to evaluate air operators for them. Overnight, companies doing some of the easiest and most controlled types of helicopter flying were requiring pilots with 1,500 to 2,000 hours. Newer pilots were effectively shut out from jobs that had previously allowed them to gain experience while building time.”

Taylor said that today, 200- or 300-hour pilots who have been flying sightseeing or ferry flights are ready to tackle something more challenging. The problem is, there is almost nothing for them to do. The situation is creating an industry bottleneck and preventing pilots from progressing in their careers.

Absolutely part of the problem, it’s now owned by another owner and managed a little differently but the standard they set still seems to be the same. It’ll only be a matter of time until another company comes out with different or “better” standards than contrails. The CAR’s and labour code aren’t enough for contrails so why should contrails be enough for industry? Bit of an interesting sector if you ask me

[Bug_Stomper_01]

From what I’m seeing some operators are grossly abusing the TFW program. There’s no protection for domestic pilots and ames in Canada

[The Mole]

From what I’m seeing some operators are grossly abusing the TFW program. There’s no protection for domestic pilots and ames in Canada

Awww yeeaaa i got (insert time needed for contact) flying my buddies squirrel around the didgery doooo. TFW and Holiday working visas both exploited by a few well known operators. I met a kiwi that was living in a drill tent camp in Yukon, days off in camp as per tradition, low time guy of course with just the "right" amount of hours.

Pay is coming up, to bad the company in the vertical article didn't get that memo. I did see some suspicious parked Astars this summer during the height of fire season and heard some absolute horror stories on the maintenance side being short. But these were the usually dirt bag outfits. I think most decent places found enough crews as usual, and guys just are not accepting the long tours anymore. Only seem to be the 4 times divorced old guys doing long tours anymore as is tradition for them i guess.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

From what I’m seeing some operators are grossly abusing the TFW program. There’s no protection for domestic pilots and ames in Canada

Awww yeeaaa i got (insert time needed for contact) flying my buddies squirrel around the didgery doooo. TFW and Holiday working visas both exploited by a few well known operators. I met a kiwi that was living in a drill tent camp in Yukon, days off in camp as per tradition, low time guy of course with just the "right" amount of hours.

Pay is coming up, to bad the company in the vertical article didn't get that memo. I did see some suspicious parked Astars this summer during the height of fire season and heard some absolute horror stories on the maintenance side being short. But these were the usually dirt bag outfits. I think most decent places found enough crews as usual, and guys just are not accepting the long tours anymore. Only seem to be the 4 times divorced old guys doing long tours anymore as is tradition for them i guess.

You are spot on. And moving forward I encourage any guys going out to contract to have an iron clad solicitor’s contract signed by the employer with a Hefty deposit before they even start packing. Lots of these more ruthless operators are going kicking and screaming being pulled away from the rates they’ve been paying for the last 30 years. The aforementioned of which have had no adjustment for even interest let alone competitive rates reputable employers (not as plentiful) are keeping up somewhat with current cost of living adjustments.