first oil rig job

[yannis]

gidday there
im a fresh CPL (H) 170 hours
currently doing my fixed wing PPL and instrument rating
to convert back to helicopters.
does anyone know who would hire me after i have finished for a co-pilot job or something like that, off shore work??
any help would be appreciated.
thanks:ok:

[Superpilot]

Dream on buddy.

All you need to do is look at job ads for chopper pilots. You will very quickly notice that all require a minimum of 500 hours commercial time. For offshore jobs, they want at least 1,000 hours in a turbine powered chopper. Unless you know somebody fairly powerful you are not going to get a job flying helicopters for a living straight after graduating. There's a small chance of an instruction job maybe but for that you'll need to do additional training. It's a tough world out there.

[Halfwayback]

Yannis

Welcome to Pprune!:ok:

Whilst your post quite rightly concerns a job after training - and as such was in the right forum - I am moving it to the Rotorheads forum where there is a vast wealth of experience who may be able to give you a more accurate advice as to the way forward in the rotary world.

HWB

[Reefdog]

Yannis
You can have mine....job and licences,,,going cheap,,give me an airticket HOME

As long as you can fly 412/212 vfr but ifr ( oh the dust haze and the fish bowl effect)...land on a oil rig in pitch black Minimal lights in the middle of nowhere in a sea of nothing and in the middle of summer at 45C at 90 % humidity with no air con..

No mate in all serious, I think you will need a bit more time and experience to get into this market,,,and an ATP in the least...
though you never know
Some guys have been very very very lucky.....
Good Luck
reef

[bellfest]

Maybe a little too enthusiastic as the others have mentioned. The best you can do is get the Instrument Rating and an ATP and keep applying, don't hold your breath and be prepared to master a mop before a rotor disc!

Unfortunately at this stage it would seem that yannis stands for ........ You Are Nowhere Near IFR Standard but if you stick with it you can change that to ....... You Are Now Navigating Instruments Seaward!

Good luck!

[Wizzard]

Hi Yannis,


Just a sliver of hope. You do not need an ATP but you do need more hours - an IR will go a long way to help as well. Good luck in your career, you're not the first to start with low hours so hang in there! Things are not great at the moment but it WILL pick up.

:ok:

[chcoffshore]

Many of the co-pilots i work with offshore are straight out of the box with min hours and the min qualifications, which aren't always 500 hours. So there is hope for all new Cpl H IR holders.:O

[imuney]

chcoffshore, you must obviously talking about JAA-land........nowhere else you could get into a cockpit with this quals?!?!?

[chcoffshore]

Yep sorry JAA land it is!

[imuney]

for a moment I thought I´m doing something wrong. 3500TT, two ICAO ATP´s, JAA CHPL, offshore IFR experience and unemployed.........the market is tight right now!

[fadecdegraded]

yannis go and talk to pete at NEST in whangarei, it may be the start you need its not Oil rigs but a few years there will give you the experiance you need to go where you want, if they have a opening that is, good luck

[amostcivilpilot]

for a moment I thought I´m doing something wrong. 3500TT, two ICAO ATP´s, JAA CHPL, offshore IFR experience and unemployed.........the market is tight right now!

imuney, have you considered Doha at Gulf Helicopters? A friend of mine was called back recently after a 5 year break as they needed crews.

Yannis, if you can bear it and can get your head around studying for a JAA licence and then forking out the cost for the flight test, IR, etc there is always a good chance of getting into the North Sea with low hours when things pick up again. The major north sea companies do like to see someone who is willing to go the extra mile to secure a position. You may even find that they will sponsor you in the right circumstances. I don't know if there are any companies providing cadetships these days, but it would do you no harm to contact the majors and get your name in the loop.

Other wise the supposed easiest route is the instructor road to hour build, but do you have the temperament for it? There is nothing worse than the low time, hour building instructor who cannot communicate the skills required and who doesn't have the students welfare in sight.

Good luck. We have all been there with low time. Some day you will look back and think "was I ever there"

:ok:

[PO dust devil]

Reef dog had it right......some people are VERY lucky.

But - the harder you work the luckier you get.

[Plakstift]

Dear Yannis.

You may be able to find an IFR offshore job... not impossible but the question is should you?

I do work in the offshore oil bussiness and I started after 7 years of typical VFR work. Most of my co-workers also have a similar background.

The advantages this background, I beleive, is preferable compared to jump straight into a co-jo seat.


-You will get PIC time which is required to be a captain offshore. (very hard and very long to build PIC time when a co-jo offshore)

-You will learn how to properly fly an helicopter with limited power. (very useful when you fly a large and powerful one.)

-Time flown on a offshore job does little for handling experience. Indeed, there is a minute or so of handling at departure before you are up and cruising and then another minute or so on final approach. VFR has maybe 50% of its time spent handling the aircraft (not level cruise).


The majority of strong offshore pilots, my opinion of course, are from a VFR backgrond.


So Yannis, look for any VFR job and fly 206, astar, 500 or whatever and get 3500hrs or so and then you will find a good offshore job with a quick captain upgrade. It will take you about 4-5 years or so to get 3500hrs and that's fine as their will be plenty of offshore job in the future.

I work for the biggest offshore helicopter operator and the above description is our prefered profile when we hire.

Good luck.

[Heliringer]

Plaksift,

Is anyone hiring in the OZ offshore industry at the moment?

[albatross]

I hear rumors of an upcoming large contract in Australia but have no details.
Of course I also am informed via email that I need drugs to produce an erection.
I also am informed that I need a loan at low rates - easily achieved as soon as soon as I send all my banking and credit card details to someone in Nigeria.
However I also learn that , even though I need drugs to "get it up" and am poor and have to borrow money that there are young beautiful college co-eds who have just got a web cam that desperately need to contact me.

[Epiphany]

RW. You live/work in a very different place to Yannis who does not, I think. have a JAR licence or EU passport.

Getting a CPL in Aus/NZ is relatively easy compared with UK. Getting a twin/IFR job straight after training is relatively difficult compared with UK.

[Whirlygig]

I got a job on the North Sea with only 200hrs. I had a Frozen JAA ATPL and an Instrument Rating.
I'd have thought the minimum would be 235 hours not including the flight tests?

Cheers

Whirls

[Heli-Ice]

Whirlygig

As said before, if there is a will, there is a way.

I think it is good to see that people are getting hired fresh out of school into co-pilot positions in the North Sea.

On the other hand, I am happy that I am not the old guy in the other seat who is supposed to teach the new guy all the tricks. :)

Yannis. You have a goal, just keep on trying to reach it and you will get there.