Originally Posted by
tqmatch
Personally I think as an aside to the pay, the whole experience criteria in the UK specially needs some attention. I'm not suggesting putting a fresh 185hr CPL on to a type rating course and letting them loose, but in reality if a HEMS pilot needs 2,500hrs plus 135/145 type rating, plus significant low level experience, plus winching experience etc etc where are these going to come from if not ex-mil? If pay is well below par, where do companies expect to get pilots from?
Personally I've ticked the box with exams, built up hours to get above the minimum for carrying out the practical part of the CPL course, but now I've stopped. I don't want to instruct to the 2,500hr point before I'm eligible for another type of job, typically as I don't see a great rush of fresh PPL(H) students on the sideline, so the 2,500hrs may well take years, and those years would be spent earning around £40-£50 an hour whilst flying, everything else for me as an instructor would be "free". I don't know if it's worth gaining my CPL/ATPL anymore. I've often been tempted to approach operators such as SAS or Babcock etc to ask about acting as supernumerary crew, but I don't think this could even be possible in today's heavily legislated industry.
switch to fixed wing, the industry booming.