Aluminum, having been down route and shared some pretty austre accommodation as well as share the flight deck on the following mornings dead head back to Brize with a reservist air tanker crew, my experience was quite the opposite.
I think the civilian world gets an insight into how much greener the grass is on their side, the military pilots are keen to learn what can be done to dig the quickest, deepest hole to civilian transition at the moment. The salaries thing has caused no "them and us" at all; all it has done has drive individuals in the military to get their licences quicker! We all know that as military pilots, we didnt pay for training, rating, class one medicals and didnt have to live with the debt associated with getting into the industry (instead being given a room for 200 quid a month with an attached bar with beer a pound a pint); besides as one senior officer briefed, the military is a bit like being on a train to Glasgow, its a rough ride but if you dont like it, PFO, you can get off at any stage.
From the civilian side, I think the biggest misnomer the reserve pilots have picked up on is the standard and quality of crew resource management and attitude to the job; I think a few probably had concerns as to how military rank structure played into CRM and operational decision making, as there have been horror stories in the past from the 70's generation of military captains making civilian transition. Not the case these days; guys have been operating in pretty tough conditions now for well over a decade (if you think sub part Q is bad, you should see our regs) and its put guys in situations that you just wouldn't find in civvie street. We embrace PACE, CRM training and we dont have the issues of being overly sensitive and worrying about union involvement; if someone isnt performing, the crew debrief process picks up on any non SOP adherence or deviancy pretty quickly. This involves debrief from all members of the crew, not just the officer front enders. I have seen a senior officer debriefed on weakness by a crew member of a far lower rank. Crew integration and cockpit gradient issues simply do not exist in military aviation these days from my perspective of over 4000 hours operational experience on the front line.
By and large, the guys working for air tanker on the civvie side accept that the company is offering some of the best T+C's in the industry, with PFI backed job security to boot. With the past few years worth of redundancy, Im sure many would love the opportunity to have a stable secure job. Worth the lower salary? That's your call!
