SASless:
In your experience, do you have any idea of whether the minimum standards asked for by that advertisement meet oil company standards as specified in their contracts?
I always laugh when I read a post that asks a specific question which elicits a bunch of anonymous "Sorry, I can't answer that," replies. Happens here a bit, maybe more frequently over on that "other" helicopter website. And I always think, SO WHY EVEN POST THAT REPLY, NUMBNUTS?! If you cannot answer a question, then...simply...don't! But anal-compulsive helicopter pilots always just HAVE to chime in with their two cents, even if it is to make the tragically self-evident statement that they know nothing.
And so I find it ironic that to this question I have to reply, "I don't know." A current Air Log pilot who is knowledgeable about his company's customers and their particular requirements will have to give us that info.
Back in the bad old days when there were more major oil companies in the GOM...back when there used to be cooks offshore and you could be reasonably sure of landing on any big platform and getting a hot meal...many oil companies did indeed have minimum requirements. Either they related to make/model time, or offshore time. But the majors have dwindled, merging or being absorbed or selling off their "shallow-water" properties to smaller independant operators who really can't be picky about the qualifications of the pilot who drives them around.
However, we still hear stories from PHI pilots who suffer extended stays in the "pool," covering spare aircraft or being assigned to jobs that don't quickly build their oh-so-valuable offshore time. So maybe there still are enough companies with minimum requirements that it could make a difference. I just don't know.
But I *do* know that before we talk about any customer-imposed requirements we must consider this:
A) You are correct, Air Log's minimum
hiring standards have not really been reduced. Low-time Robbie pilots with big dreams and dollar signs for eyes need not apply; they still need to have 1,000 PIC R/W. So I do not predict a huge increase in the number of
qualified applicants they receive over what they're already getting every week.
B) It takes time to make an offshore Part-135 pilot. You do not just hire a guy, give him a headset and an Ops Manual and tell him to blast off out to Vermillion three-million in that there 407. There is an FAA-approved training syllabus, and I doubt very seriously that the feds will allow them to truncate or abbreviate it for the sake of expediency. (Just the opposite, you'd better believe!) My point is that the Training Department is going to be Busy with a capital "B." And remember, the existing training schedule cannot be discarded. Recurrent has to be done. So let's hope that none of the Training Department pilots are union members/supporters or there could be big trouble in little New Siberia.
C) Finally, the washout rate for offshore pilots is and has always been high. Not every applicant makes it through training. Of those who do, not everybody can actually do the job. Not everybody adapts to GOM-life. For various reasons, many leave. Air Log knows the percentage, and they surely know that just because they get 100 giddy applicants lining up for contract positions, not all 100 of them will make it out into the field, and of those who do, some will be gone by the second week of that ridiculous 28-day hitch.
And now we FINALLY get to think about customer minimum-requirements! At which point I must again defer to someone more knowledgeable than me. Sorry.