Originally Posted by
havick
Honest question, at what point do pilots (including check and training pilots etc) get recycled at RFDS to the point that really any corporate knowledge/experience is much different to PelAir at this point?
I’ve seen the same thing amongst helicopter EMS operators. People come and go, and what was the new player 7-10 years ago is now really no different with experience level to the guys that have been around 20-30+ years.
The RFDS has an attrition rate of pilots, more so in the couple of years prior to COVID. However the gap between the pay and conditions between a RFDS pilot and a PelAIr pilot doing the same job is very significant. If you were to sample the number of pilots that have a long service record with PelAir (AirMed) I believe it will be majorly less than those with the RFDS. COVID has altered this situation due to mass unemployment across the industry. In response to your question, I estimate about 5% of RFDS pilots would have migrated to PelAir and that was more likely due to personal circumstances (family, age etc). In better times maybe even less. So nothwitstanding any more viruses or equivalent events, in about two years from now, I anticipate the average experience of a PelAir pilot based in SYD on the air ambulance service will be between two & four years.
Someone who was in the government involved with assessing tenders once mentioned, the assessors look at the first page (for name and spelling etc) scurry through the "waffle" (aka the all important responses to the critical questions about quality and provision of service) and then look for the price.