Originally Posted by
Squawk7700
The last thing they need right now, is a bunch of low time PPL’s with a recently acquired AG rating, trying to drop retardant on bushfires!
You're right, albeit for the wrong reasons.
Low time PPLs are anyway
not going to get an AG rating.
Why not? Because of CASR 61.1115 (1) (b) which requires candidates to hold a CPL or higher for the AG rating. Note that the rating itself is not enough, there's a requirement to hold the firebombing endorsement too.
Now that this has been clarified, I reiterate my suggestion that many who would otherwise be instructing or performing all sorts of less urgent flying activities when bushfires ravage Australia could get an AG rating with firebombing endorsement and act as reserve pilots.
Originally Posted by
Sunfish
Squawk 7700 is absolutely correct. All it would do is cause confusion, inefficiency or casualties. There is a great deal of training needed just in operational procedures to start with.
Well, Squawk 7700 clearly wasn't. I'm not sure about the confusion, inefficiency and casualties part to be honest. Yes, there's a great deal of training involved but wouldn't that money be better invested so than spent in damage reparations? It'll take political impetus to implement. I'd rather read in the newspapers that a pilot died doing the right thing fighting fires than people who perished in the inferno trying to flee.
Originally Posted by
Jerry Springer
An Ag Rating on it’s own is currently useless for getting a job fighting fires if you’re an Aussie on fixed-wing. 1,000 hours of Ag flying is the requirement, which will take a good number or years to log. There isn’t so much Ag work around these days
I suspect in years to come most of the fire-fighting pilots in Australia will be from overseas, as the 1,000 hours of Ag isn’t required of them - or maybe CASA will make a Fire-Fighting Rating that bypasses Ag ?
Many instructors have logged close to 1000 hours. As you say CASA would have the final say but I expect that things will change politically after this season's bushfires.