Theweave;
Ignoring your somewhat patronising first sentence, surely a sign of self-discipline and care is presenting a C.V that is neat, orderly with correct spelling and punctuation, dashing something off carelessly and e-mailing it to a bunch of blokes who do the hiring gives a very poor first impression. Its' odd how often we look through the C.V file and someone will comment on a sloppy approach
I would love to have co-pilots. I started as one, I learned so much from the guys I flew with, but I don't know anybody in corporate/charter at the moment who can afford them. It is rare in this market to have a pilot flying just one type, everybody has to be able go from P2 on a 155 this morning to P1 on a 109 this afternoon. Training costs are ever increasing, customer requirements are tougher and the experience gap just gets worse.
Another factor well outside our control are the key man insurers. These people insure the lives of our customers taking into account what will happen to their businesses should we cock up completely. They do their research and come up with their numbers, if a senior director of a FTSE 100 company wants to fly on a helicopter you will often find the aircraft and pilot experience requirements are written into his company's key man policy. One (US) bank we fly for audits our maintenance, training and pilot experience and even asks for copies of log books and FTLs before we fly. Two crew is becoming more popular, especially since January 16th, but the vicious circle closes because I don't have a budget for pilots who can't fly multiple types either seat.
There are jobs out there and pilots in the rotary world have always been prepared to move for employment but, the experience levels asked for now (except for P2 off-shore) are the highest I've ever seen in nearly 30 years. As the CP I answer to a board of directors and have a budget for pilots. To my mind some of that budget could go on two co-pilots, but for that I can get one and a third P1s who can just slot straight into place rather than developing the skills of a couple of youngsters and closing the experience gap for the future, and trust me that really hacks me off.
SND