Reefdog,
I'll bet there're more Aussie 212 pilots than you think. The NSCA had them. Hevilift has them. Lloyds has/had them. The 412 endorsement covers the 212 and there are plenty of 412 pilots in the country. Just because you don't know any doesn't mean they aren't there.
Steve76,
I will never accept that the Canadians have some super-human advantage over Australians that should give them the right to be at the very front of our fire-fighting efforts here. Thats just insulting to the majority of Australian pilots who love fire suppression work and are committed to doing a great job.
Yes there are a lot of Australian and New Zealand pilots working in Canada. But my impression is that that is only the case because there is a chronic shortage of pilots there particularly during the summer. Thats not the case here. Steve, weren't you canvassing pilots to go up last year because it looked as though machines would spend the summer on the ground if pilots couldn't be found for them?
I think Canadian pilots should get as much work as they can in their own country and I'm sure they do.
So far as Johnny Mac's 214 going to Canada last year. Yeah it did. And it was NOT permitted to be crewed by Australians.
I'm all for the exchange of pilots across the Pacific, in BOTH directions. But only to take up the slack, not the pick of the jobs.