WA Fire spotting

[Bla Bla Bla]

Has anyone heard anything back or got an interview yet?

Anyone know when they replied last year and when the training/flying actually starts.

[FL170]

Nothing as of yet. Still waiting by the phone :zzz:

[Bla Bla Bla]

Come on someone must know something about this job, do share. The old threads say very little.

[solowflyer]

Spoke to CP the other day, they have had over 100 applications for 2 spots so don't hold your breath.

[Bla Bla Bla]

GA fat man

I've got about the same hours all bush flying and tail wheel, keep the fingers crossed but does sound unlikely.

Cheers

[The Green Goblin]

There still is a shortage, it's just of guys with command endorsements and command time on jets.

There will always be an over supply of tyre kickers thinking it would be sweet to be a pilot and fly for Qantas. They just don't often find out the truth until they have a CPL and are booted out the door of the flying school with no idea where to start.

[YPJT]

and some of the Jandakot flight schools are still talking up a pilot shortage You mean like the one with the picture of the big 747 on it's bill board sign and has it's PPL studes wandering around with gold bars?

[FL170]

There will always be an over supply of tyre kickers thinking it would be sweet to be a pilot and fly for Qantas. They just don't often find out the truth until they have a CPL and are booted out the door of the flying school with no idea where to start.

Green Goblin; I have read some of your encouraging posts in other threads and feel the above may be a little harsh for your standards.

Any CPL holder who possesses a tail-wheel endorsement with 10 hours PIC, met the requirements to apply. I can understand labelling someone fresh out of flying school a 'tyre kicker' when they are applying for a job out of their league, however how can you blame someone such as myself for trying regardless of what the economic climate is. We all have to start somewhere and to be labelled from the get go is quite a spit in the face.

By the way GG, I would like to know exactly what 'the truth' is :confused:

[Bla Bla Bla]

Lets not thread creep off into la la land, for once on pprune lets stay on the subject.

[The Green Goblin]

By the way GG, I would like to know exactly what 'the truth' is

The truth is you have to leave your home city, face a myriad of other fresh pilots in the same position which will no doubt demoralize the thin skinned and work in often poor conditions for less than what you thought a pilot would earn.

It's and adventure and I had the time of my life, but you need to know what you are getting yourself into before you sign the dotted line and often the flying schools don't tell you this.

I always say go for it, if you love the industry and are a proffessional operator you will succeed, its just a matter of putting yourself in the right position at the right time with the right attitude and realistic expectations of what you can expect to receive in return.

I've always got time for the tyre kickers, I used to be one! (and so did we all)

Ask the experienced guys who have done it as much as you can, talk to your instructors about getting work. I found many of the instructors when I went through were the ones who were desperately trying to stay home and would only speculate about working 'up north' (from heresay as most had never done it) often giving you a distorted perspective of what the reality really was. You will hear things such as 'flying over weight' 'flying unserviceable aircraft in poor conditions' 'no jobs' 'too many kiwis :p' etc etc BUT in reality the flying schools are the dodgiest places in Australia. They often don't pay award, the aircraft are in the 'airwork' category and the instructors lower the bar for each other with working conditions so they can stay home.

There is a wealth of experienced opinions on here, sift through the bull and the ill informed and build a picture in your own mind of what to expect.

Good luck with the fire spotting, I know of quite a few guys with applications in, plenty of charter time and lots of tail wheel!

Will be very interesting to see who gets the lucky break!

[FL170]

I like that talk GG :) , let us know if anything comes up that might be useful to us tyre kickers :ok:

Oh and sorry bla bla, I diverted the thread a fair bit...back on to FPT now!

[solowflyer]

To all who have applied as long as you have minimums required and are current you will still in the running for a spot. This is a first job for most and you have just as much chance as someone with 1000 hr. Reason being the bloke with 1000 hr is more likely to jump ship halfway through the season if a position opens up in a twin etc leaving the boys and girls short handed and having to retain someone new (approx 20hr icus). So all hope is not lost.

[gsmob]

What aircraft are they using for firespotting that requires tailwheel time? 185?

[Fratemate]

Nah, the Bunbury spotters use Scouts. Pretty little things they are too, with lots of radios.

[The Green Goblin]

If it were a 185 I'd ditch the flight levels for 6 months and give it a crack :)