RFDS requirements
............in defence to the RFDS their entry requirements are there for very good reasons. The aeromedical flying in Oz esspecially at the S.E Section (which operate only B200's) require , at times quite demanding efforts to complete a task. It is regarded by many that single pilot multi-eng turbo prop in the aero medical role is considered the most demading of any flight requirements. Sure there are many times that it's fair weather flying into paved runways with the sun shinning brightly & everything is humming along..........but & this is where this sorts the men from the boys out there.
This is a typcal Eg...........at night, CB's at every corner or the radar screen, turbulence like you wouldn't believe, rain pelting down with incredible intensity, more ice on the airframe than what used to be in Dean Martins booze.......sometimes HF radio comms only (marginal at the best of times) PAL lighting way out west where the surounding image seems like it's been painted onto a blackboard that's moving around like a jack rabbit toy at an ammusment park with only an NDB approach available (if yr lucky otherwise is was only a visual approach) to the happless pilot with a x wind that feels like it's out there to get you, ..............oh by the way to add a little more spice to that scenario above the pilot could very well have been asleep & required to be flight ready within half an hr of a phone call!!!!..........try being awoken up in the middle of the night, flight planning (with an alternate that at times is interstate only) to a small country strip with a full medical team onboard & on yr own (pilot wise) handling a 5.6 tonne plane with the added pressure that somebody out there needs urgent medical assistance.........yeah sure a lot of pilots could do the task as described but most go fly (therefor leaving the RFDS short of suitable applicants) a far more 'known' job with assitance at every corner called RPT with less entry experience, RPT, what I would call "Realitve Passive Transport" !
Flying careers in OZ are & will for the forseeable future I believe be available in one form or another, but like all things in life, someobody out there believes there's always a better way to build a mouse trap as in with less resources & therefor moves the goal posts to create a new playing field!:-)
capt wally:-)