Can ARA helicopter pilots retire to an airline pilot position?

[PeterN91]

Hi,

I was wanting to know if helicopter pilots in the Australian Army gain the necessary hours/ qualifications to enable them to get a job with an airline after they leave the service.

Im pretty sure the army won't pay for their pilots to get an ATPL... but the main thing I need to know about is the hours, and are they the right kind of hours.

Any advice would be great.

Cheers

[Trojan1981]

They can apply for a position as an SO, or for the Jetstar cadetship :}

[parabellum]

About forty years ago QANTAS recruited several ex RAF and RN helicopter pilots from the UK, as SOs, ( I think), but they had to have a minimum of 400 hours military fixed wing.

I would doubt you could get a fixed wing job anywhere without at least enough hours to qualify for a fixed wing CPL/IR.

[Senior Pilot]

ISTR that the North Sea lost a significant number of helicopter pilots about 20 years ago when the airlines woke up to the wealth of untapped IF handling experience.

And the NS pilots woke up to the significantly better (in those days) work roster and salary!!

As already stated, airlines would expect FW qualifications but also there is a school of thought in the HR Departments that a young, newly qualified FW pilot makes a better recruit to the airline 'culture' compared to an experienced aviator who may have too many 'bad habits' which are too difficult to change. Just a theory, but with some merit looking at friends who have tried and been knocked back for jobs in favour of less experienced applicants :(

[Doors Off]

Have a look at the Qantas web site. It lists the requirements for applicants, including those with Rotary experience. I think you need 250 comd hours on fixed wing (CPL(A)) and ATPL(H) with a larger amount of Turbine rotary hours.

There are quite a few ex ARA pilots, with rotary experience working with all of the Airlines in Australia. Most of them did however, spend time on either the Twin Otters or King Airs, after their rotary tours. Some had a bit of civil fixed wing prior to ARA.

If you are considering joining, and currently fly fixed wing, keep up the fixed wing flying in your own time whilst employed in the ARA. You will have double the options, when you decide to leave. Not sure how they view that these days. You used to have to include your civil hours in endurance/duty calculations. Though I think the flying rate has dropped off as a result of the more "relevant" aircraft the ARA now has. I doubt they would be doing cross country navs in the Tiger, they probably have way cooler and better things to do.

Good luck with it all.

[Trojan1981]

Better and cooler things like trying to get the Tiger operational:}

But seriously folks. The flying hours have dropped dramatically, mainly due to serviceability issues. I know of many ADF pilots who have gone from helos to airlines, but they were mainly ex-RAN or ARA with fixed wing experience. You can qualify for a CPL (a) in the ARA, depite the lack of any fixed wing type in the inventory, but hours will be low. Also, the vast majority of Army operational flying is VFR. This makes fixed wing, IFR experienced civil and military pilots more attractive candidates.

I lost count of the number of ADF pilots who were flying with my former employer in order to build up their hours and become competitive for entry to the airlines. One bloke had only 1100 hrs after 12 years service!