VB 3000TT Limit?

[wateroff]

Gday folks,

Rumour - True or False?

VB are not hiring anyone with more than 3000TT.

[Shagtastic]

No more than 3000TT and no less than 30,000 in da bank!

Shags

[Grivation]

I think you'll find VB are more concerned with getting guys/girls in their early to mid 20's. Around the 3000 hour mark is probably where you'd be at that stage of your career.

VB have a massive glut (guess 75%) of mid 30's to mid 40's drivers. There have only been about 3 retirements in 5 years of operation. Time to command around 8 to 10 years.

They're just trying to sort out the demographics.

[bushy]

They are doing well. Nearly all the accidents happen to pilots with less than 5,000 hours. (look at the figures. Its proven and consistent)

[Howard Hughes]

They are doing well. Nearly all the accidents happen to pilots with less than 5,000 hours. (look at the figures. Its proven and consistent)
I think you will find that is for the pilot in command, most VB captains would have well in excess of that Bushy.

[slice]

Nearly !!!! - what exactly constitutes nearly - 90% ? 95% ? 99% ??

I think you will then also find that "nearly" all pilots have less than 5000 hours!!

A meaningless statement!

[bushy]

Casa (or their brothers in ATSB) recently published the figures again. You can look them up yourself.It is a fact that pilots with 5000 or more hours have very few accidents, and this has been the case for decades. Thats' why outfits like the RFDS look for pilots with 5000 plus hours,(and get them) and one of the reasons why they have a very good safety record. (better than GA or regional airlines I think) Nearly all the RFDS pilots would have more than 5000 hours, many with about 10,000. I had 12,000 when I left. I went on a scenic flight in Hawai some years ago, with a pilot who had 29,000 in floatplanes, and some on wheels..
There are MANY pilots with more than 5000 hours in their logbook, and hudreds more who started yesterday. I had 5000 hours in my first log book. I have four.
GA is not just a tertiary flying school where you get paid to learn. It is an essential aviation service that the people outside the J curve rely on. And there are many honourable people doing it.
In recent times there has been a flood of "newbies" sent out by the city based flying schools.
I wish them well, but we must realise that many of them are too young to rent a car at normal rates.

[slice]

I think you missed my point completely - which is that to quote some magic number (5000 in this case) at which a pilot is suddenly safe is an exercise in futility!!

Relative to the total number of pilots, those that have in excess of 5000 hours would be relatively small. I am guessing but something in the order of 10% seems likely.

In addition the bulk of those pilots would be operating in equipment (turboprop, turbojet) that has redundancy and safety technology that light aircraft just don't have. Also they would tend to operate for organizations that have a far more extensive support network.

The pilot in command of the Lockhart River accident had a little in excess of 6000 hours - the worst accident for 40 odd years and one that will likely be attributed to have a significant pilot error factor. It would be probable as well to assume that the crew of the fatal RFDS accident at Mt. Gambier also had well in excess of your magic number as did the famous Bangkok golfers. Hours alone gurantee nothing and to rely on someones total flying hours as a safety indicator is high folly.

I am not saying that experience is not a significant determinant in risk, but that to say you are bullet proof once you have so many hours is ridiculous

[wateroff]

Thanks guys,

But if anyone could expand further on the original topic it would be good, any VB crew?

[rcoight]

Oh No!
I'll be ticking over the 3000 this week, and had big plans to apply to VB later this year.
Should I cancel all upcoming flights?!

[sprucegoose]

Unable to confirm or deny wateroff. Haven't hada new pilot through he system for a while and just a few coming through in the next couple of months.

[wateroff]

Thanks Spruce,
If you or anyone else hears anything......

[morning mungrel]

Yeah that'd be about right. You either have too many or not enuf. Never the right number. Think I'll go back to driving trucks, this industry sucks big.

[Mr.Buzzy]

Spot on slice!

3000 hours or one hour done 3000 times.

Who cares about hours? What do they mean? A hornet pilot with 2000 hours is "unsafe" compared to a guy that has been flogging over cotton crops for 5000 hours? Hey?..... What?....Are you serious?

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