Originally Posted by Same again;10541192[b
]If you are desperate enough to actually want to work in the North Sea then I am sure that you will find a job there if you want one. All of the operators there seem to be short of pilots which is not surprising considering the numbers that were offered redundancy and gladly took it 4 years ago. What is so attractive to you about employment there?
I'm not that desperate, I have a decent paying seasonal job in southern Europe right now but that ends mid October. Before that I used to fly onshore in Germany and flying helicopters onshore in Germany, unless it's HEMS, is something that get's you nowhere. Small operators like my former boss fly 200-300 hours a year so it takes forever to gain experience. I've been trying to get into aerial work (pipeline, powerline, fertilizing/ spraying) to fly much more and even that seems impossible cause companies lie to your face, seem to be completely clueless what they want and need or are too arrogant to even talk to you. Or they need people with longline skills that they aren't willling to teach to you cause you know, it's costs money. In general it doesn't help that there's very few jobs around and the industry is very small.
So getting the IR and flying offshore is something I'm considering to be more employable and have a better career in the long run and a better work/ life balance.
Thanks for the replies so far but that all doesn't sound like with just an IR, without the right TR, I have a good chance of getting a job offshore. All the ads read something like "500 hours multi engine & current TR AW 139/ S92/ H175 required".
Cheers