"Experience in this industry means everything. On a sliding scale if you compare a Jetranger operation with a North Sea operation the experience of pilot required is totally different. Forget the licence type (although a Atpl is min required for P1) experience is what would be in question.
Jetranger operation on a helo value of £250k with max 4 pax requires a vfr cpl with min hours whereas a S92 helo with value of £28m and 19 pax capacity requires experienced pilots.
Getting into this industry as a private/self improver can be extremely difficult let alone expensive. Anyone who does not do their homework and expects to gain good employment soon after passing out needs a reality check." QUOTE Jeepys
Hmmm, Ok I'll bite at this statement. The S92 is very rarely hand flown, it has the latest and greatest avionics package and more than a few NS Captains have never really done anything else other than platform to platform work in a state of the art helicopter with full operational and engineering support available at all time. You mention experience, the Co pilot probably only has 300 hours on getting a job in the NS.
Not much experience there is there? Then after several years of this he/she will be a Captain with 3000 hours of boring airline type work and mostly straight and level cruise automated flying under their belt.
Now lets look at old mate in the Jet Ranger who is working a fire the size of a small city, precision drops onto Chimneys (burnt out trees) and saving houses whilst listening to 4 radios and getting instructions about drops from ground units. Hot environment and limited vis...no auto pilot here to help out or another crew member to look at gauges. You are on your own.
Or maybe he's doing 100 landings a day to unprepared sites during survey work, with no access to weather forecasts or any other support....just a bunch of Geologists and he is "The Aviation expert" in their eyes. You have got to know everything about your machine and how it works to be good in this sort of environment.
You're thinking about the UK, where pretty much none of this stuff happens but in the big world outside of CAA land there are very very experienced pilots still flogging around in light singles because thats where the challenges are. So please don't assume the bloke flying the light single is a newbie!
Utility flying beats the crap out of platform to platform work or deck to deck stuff. If the offshore money wasn't so good, I don't know many that would do it to be honest. Probably just the lazy ones and the guys who can't cut it in the utility world.
My two bobs worth.
Last edited by Heliringer; 22nd Jan 2016 at 05:53.