Originally Posted by
muermel
I know a few but all had a personal contact within the company. The companies were family run and it was all on a personal level, also they had to sign some sort of agreement to stick around for some years in exchange for the cost to get the visa.
Anyway, from what I've heard there's several hundred positions vacant in HEMS allone, plus GOM, plus tourism, plus utility. If the company can prove it can't get americans to do the job (which should be easy by now, considering for how long they've been advertising) why would it be so difficult to get a foreigner with an FAA licence? Otherwise, where are these pilots supposed to be coming from?
Pool of low hours pilots that is already here?
Once pilot shortage really starts to bite, companies will either start paying to train pilots to levels required or will push against insurance companies and their requirements.
Short term solution is to raise salaries/packages, but even that pool wil eventually dry up.