It’s not all one way. In the 80’s Bristow were short of pilots in Aberdeen. To overcome this they recruited pilots from Oz. They were all CPLH(V) or muster pilots and were trained up to ATPL m/e IR and flew the North Sea. Their pay and allowances far exceeded the money their equivalent UK pilot was getting but nobody moaned about it. I would have a bloke sitting next to me with less than 30 hours twin engine and offshore experience getting paid more than I was.
When Bristow had a redundency scheme none of the foreign pilots were laid off because the company couldn't get a tax rebate for them.
In the last few years I have known Oz pilots working short term contract overseas and making a pile of mortgage repayment money but again the permanent residents didn’t complain. I do it. My pay is astronomical compared with the national pilots with the same qualifications but there is no resentment. They need me now, when they don’t they will show me the door..
Should a company not be able to source experienced M/E I/R captains that meets it own or the oil companies criteria from within or nationally then it has to recruit from the rest of the world. To get somebody to shift from half the world away for a year or two you have to pay. That is a fact of life.
The price of oil is in a sustained growth period similar to the 70s and there was the same panic for pilots then. Forward planning for recruitment and training has to be based on a five year forcast and no helicopter company has had that amount of warning. Just look at the airline industry, they have the same problem but for different reasons.
As far as disliking sitting beside a Expat (previously Pom in that particular post) is concerned I have been privileged to fly over a considerable part of this world. I have sat beside Frogs, Krauts, Noggies, Cloggies, Wops, Diegos, Canuks, Czechs, Ragheads, Slopeheads, Chinks, Nips, Yanks, Poles, Wogs, Kiwis, Yarps and even Australians but I have never disliked fellow pilots because of where they came from or how much they were earning.
Last edited by Fareastdriver; 16th Nov 2007 at 08:24.