Coastwatch/Surveillance Australia
There has been a bit of talk lately about Surveillance Australia and their recruiting for the Coastwatch contract.
As I hear that there are some interviews coming up, I thought the following might be some use to those hopefulls.....
Surveillance Australia are a subsidiary of National Jet Systems. The coastwatch contract is a substantial part of the NJS bottom line.
NJS is owned by the Cobham group of the UK who own several special mission type flying contracts/companies.
Surveillance Australia operate 6xBN2's, 5xDHC8, 3xF406 and 1xAC50. All aircraft were new at the start of the contract (except the AC500).
All aircraft are very well fitted out, and are maintained to Class A std.
The min hours required for employment are stipulated in the contract with Customs and are rarely relaxed. The mins are:
1500hrs TT
100Hrs NGT
3 IR renewals
Some multi time
The NGT hrs are not relaxed due to the CAO requirement for min 100hrs NGT for NGT surveillance below LASLT. I havent heard of the TT being relaxed either.
The three renewals however is occasionally relaxed as when you join teh company your IR is renewed and they will sometimes count this renewal to make up the three.
The recruitment process allows people of varying experience and background to have a go. There dosent appear to be any particular formula. We have recent had people in with 1500TT and people with 3000TT, 100 Hrs multi to 1500 Hrs multi.
I found the recruiting process is very 'sensible' - That is, you are not just judged on the numbers in your logbook. You are assessed as a complete package.
The interviewing is usually done in the companys office in Adelaide and usualy involves about an hours chat. Nothing too unusual here, a bit about yourself and your background, a little bit of tech stuff (CIR theory, ME theory etc), a bit about the company and its all fairly relaxed. They will also want to get an idea of your suitability for a security clearance as a few people have had problems in the past.
Then usualy a sim ride in a basic computer type synthetic trainer. A few NDB's, Ltd panel, ILS etc.... Not unlike a CIR renewal.
If you are lucky enough to make it through chances are youll be off to Horn Island to fly one of the Bongo's. Before they let you loose on Horn, youll get about a months training in Cairns.
This training involves about a week for the acft engineering, two weeks for SOP and coastwatch type training then about 7 hrs fendorsement training then a base check which is essentially a CIR test/renewal. Incvluded is a low level component.
All training is conducted under a CAR 217 check and training organisation and is very thorough.
The company has very thorough SOP's and the ops manual runs to 15 volumes. Youll be examined on this stuff every few months.
Once youve passed the ground exams and the base check youll likely be off to HID. About 30 hours of line training with a C&T pilot and youll be let loose on the Torres.
Progression from the BN2 varies depending on requirements but at the moment, it seems to be about 12 months till you'd be an FO on the dash or a Capt on the 406. Good prospects for progression.
The flying is the most fun Ive ever had with my pants on. Lots of low level work and when youre doing a radar homing, inshore, at night below LSALT youre really glad you know your SOP's.
Base checks are every six months, with ground and an air component. The standard expected is very high and people do fail. DONT GET COMPLACENT !. A DHC8 captain with several thousand DHC8 hours from a regional airline did not pass his first sim check.
The travel is great too. After a few years in the job you will have seen nearly the whole coastline. The back-enders are mostly great and overnights are great fun.
Depending on your basing, expect to spend anything up to 15 nights away from home each month. All accomodation is to a very good standard and you are paid a healthy overnight allowance. Depending on the crew youre away with, expect to spend a significant amount of your allowance on beer!
The lifestyle is very well suited to those that are single. The roster does put a lot of pressure on families though. Due to the nature of the work, its not uncommon to only know whats going on a few days in advance. You will never be able to make plans more than a week in advance !.
The company has lost a few good people recently mainly due to rostering. Money is great - but after a while, it cannot compensate those whos families never see them.
Ive done a fair bit of different flying in my time and have now reached my initial goal of flying high cap. RPT. I love my current work however it will never compare to passing below the bridge of a ship at 200kts !.
Hope this info helps anyone whos looking at a career with Surveillance Aust.