Actually, ADA have only one local copilot and his arrival was not the cause of any jobs being lost. Many pilots have failed to make it to the end of their first tour because they were supposedly not up to the required standard - what a joke. You only have to look at the numbers who have left/been fired during the last 2 years to realize that job security must be amongst the lowest in the industry.
The pay is exactly the same as at Gulf Helis (it's just that they pay a daily rate for time on site, which works out as the same as the monthly rate paid by ADA). Saudi Aramco pay slightly more because they provide free food whilst with ADA and Gulf you have to pay for your own from the salary (though one of the elements of the ADA salary is a monthly food allowance - that however is included in the overall monthly rate they quote to most people they offer to hire). The accommodation with Gulf is very good, but the working conditions for engineers are not quite so good as the hangar is not air conditioned. The good thing about Gulf is that with a daily rate, if you're asked to workover, you know what you'll end up getting - with ADA it's just the excuse for another shouting match! Aerogulf pays less, but at least is in Dubai and has good housing. However, of the international operators both CHC and OLOG/Bristow pay considerably more for touring pilots. CHC is around 20% more for 6/6 or 5/5 (depending in which country you get offered a job) and Bristow is higher again (though you probably have to go to Nigeria for that).
The new regulations came into force in July of this year, but ADA has an exemption from them and rumor is that when they fail to come up with enough pilots by January the exemption will be extended - pretty easy when you're the only operator.
Engineering is pretty good. Well funded and with an impressive stores inventory. They are supposed to be highly thought of by Bell Helicopter and I believe have some kind of award from them. There have been quite a few governor failures over the past couple of years, but that is just a PW problem. Engineering needs to be good though as the aircraft spend numerous nights offshore and because of the performance figures used (HOGE for offshore work), the high number of landings and the number of sling load jobs, all at max gross, those aircraft are very hard worked. Gulf and Aramco, mostly just fly to offshore and back. From what SASless has posted here in the past, he wasn't too impressed with Bristow engineering, but I think that may have been in Nigeria.
Actually, I forgot to mention another good point if you're looking at ADA - there are opportunities for long line (Yemen) and firefighting work (Spain) if you're qualified. These are paid more but you need to think about the number of Al Quieda rumored to be in Yemen if you're offered work there. Rumour has it that quite a few helicopters have been shot at and some of the people there have been held hostage and shot at too!
By all means go and give it a try as the Emirates itself is a nice place to be based, but go with your eyes open to the downside too. There are rumors of a big pay hike to attract more pilots so they may be starting to realize thay can't just keep firing guys like they do, but I wouldn't count on it. Doesn't look as if anyone there is willing to come up and tell you how he finds it now, but if you decide to go, good luck and post your view of the place after you arrive.
Yarba
