Pilots pay and conditions - FLIGHT SAFETY ISSUE
We all know that the industry is not in the best of health especially in the airline world. Pilots are being taken on for short contracts and then let go over the winter. Experience is going to be lost as we do not seem to "value" pilots and the committment they have made to the industry by in most cases paying for training.
My concern comes as a result of one company apparently now not paying their pilots. If a pilot is only going to receive £800 from the receivers everyone knows that the average pilot earns much more than that per month and that the average pilot mortagage is more than £800 per month!
Many helicopter pilots that work for the smaller companies are not covered by a union so when their employer breaches their contract what do they do? Whatever happened to Flight Safety? If a pilot is concerned about his financial problems especially when they may have been brought about by their employer, is his full concentration on the job? What is the cost of an air accident? A car crash due to a momentary lapse in concentration can be devasting enough but a helicopter crash has the potential to be far worse and costly.
Pilots having time off due to stress caused by financial worries is also costly to companies. So come on employers just pay everyone what is owed when the payments are due and everyone will be happy. More importantly the world will be a safer place.