Here is some advice from Bob Heath quoted below:
All of the above are correct. Here's some more:
When you drive up, have a zillion copies of your resume. Don't put your picture on it. Have your (maybe not so)grand total out front so they can read it. Don't emphasize your university debating club as one of your hobbies. Bush Pilots don't debate. We always know we're right, even when we aren't.
Don't show up in a suit. Wear clean Mark's Work Warehouse type clothes with work or hiking boots, and work gloves. Not NEW ONES!
The driver you want to speak with will probably be on the Ramp or Dock hucking freight. Toss freight while you're talking. Nobody needs a special guest star while they are loading. Don't ask if you can come along. If he or she wants you to, they will ask. We are not shy up here.
Come to think of it, once the driver takes off with his Norseman load of crap, talk at length to the Ramp Rats.
Heck, buy 'em a coffee! They could easily be would-be pilots. And NOBODY knows the operation better than the rats.
If you haven't a clue ask them how to load a snowmachine, boats, drums, sattelite dish and anything else wierd you see lying around the dock. Remember, if where you are standing is the end of the road, then anything and everything you need for a small town has to be flown in.
Hopefully by you! Make notes on how this crap is loaded, take pictures. Sure as heck they don't cover this in the edmonton flying club ground-school!
If you can, borrow a map for the perspective area. Know how to read all the details of a map like the saturday comics. GPS will probably be turned off for your check-ride. Know where the usual destinations are.
You studied up before each ride right? In the hope of getting a job? It's no diferent- each little talk is a check-ride. Keep a file of who you talked to, and about whtat and when is a good time to talk to them again. Then make sure you call back
Speaking of destinations...Is there a bar or coffee shop that area drivers favor? Be in at O 'dark thirty and pay attention. In Redl Lake fer instance the Lakeview Restaurant at o dark thirty is going to have a bunch of airplane people in it.
Buy a boy scout manual at a yard sale. Master all the knots in it. Learn how to splice.
Get a thermos and a sleeping bag. Learn how to sit and wait for te chief pilot to come sauntering out of the office door. Talk to a stalker for more advise on this.
At each stop, there will probably be a library in town. Get a hotmail yahoo or similar account. Check it at each stop. That job offer might just be there for a limited time only.
When asked about career expections, you might consider letting the interviewer know that eventually you want to drive something bigger. Just leave the impression that that 'something biger' is a twin otter or a hawker, not the Airbus 330 or something.
Find out the rudiments of smalll engine repair, and how to trouble-shoot a propane fridge. Joe McBryan in the 'Knife always asks people if they have a trade. He doesn't mean do you have an ATPL. He wants to know what other skills you possess that can help him keep his small airline alive. Maybe to you its a stepping stone. To him and guys like him the business is his RRSP.
Presumably, there are going to be customers of the airline.If it's in the bush, a fair bet is that they will be native. Learn how to say hi, bye and thanks in their language. Customer service is important. In Cree, its Tansi or boujou, and Meegwutch for thanks. WAY up north thanks can be Masi or Masi 'Cho.
Up at the top its Quayanakpak, Daigoo, Quayanaini, Quana, Quayanomin Nakomin, (going left to right from Siberia to Greenland.)
If you are going on your trip up to april or after labour day, bring a parka. not a shiny clean ski jacket. You might want to consider buying a reynolds flight suit, so if you do get hired you fit right in. Pile enough crap in the car that if you do get a job, you can start right now. Every employer wants two weeks notice before you bail, but they also want you that afternoon if they hire you.
Remember that life is a journey, not a destination, (especially if your destination when hired is Pikangikum, Stoney Rapids Shammatawa, Rae Edzo, or Lake Harbour) so if they offer you a ramp job, grab it, and work it as if the one thing in life you wanted to do was get to work a pallet jack. That way paradoxically, you won't spend as much time on the pallet jack.
Have fun. We did.
Note:
I remember much of the advice given above. At Pikangikum I used Meegwutch, and other words at other places that I don't recall now.
I'll add to Bob's advice.
When you are in Native communities, you show respect, lots of respect, you do a lot of listening and don't stare people in the eyes. It's a different culture and showing respect for elders is very important.
I also remember Bob's advice about maps, I flew with him so you paid respect. I went out and spent $100 on lots of smaller scale maps, all covered with map plastic and the routes coloured in. You got to know ever feature around for large distances and knew where to spot all the unusual sights.
I remember trying to pass on the same information to copilots when I went captain in the same area and you soon came to see who was going to be an asset to aviation or a royal pain that was more interested in stabbing other pilots in the back to get ahead.
And, if you end up in an unsafe abusive job, get the hell out of there because they will never respect your hard work or principles. That's when you start looking for another job, and if your former Captain's name was Bob Heath, you have a hell of a reference for you next job. At least it was that way for me.
Ramjet
Last edited by Ramjet555; 29th Jan 2013 at 04:25.