The LAME shortage

[Kanga767]

If there is so much of a worldwide shortage of heavy metal aircraft engineers, with an Aussie 737 and 767 ticket, is anyone interested?

[Jango]

Hi Kanga, we have swapped threads on this before, seems you are getting desperate to get away. I have been doing recruitment for the past year and it boils down to the aircraft types guys have, as to the real shortage.

For you with 737/767 your options are a bit more limited. Gulf Air/GAMCO might want you for your 767. RBA in Brunei are usually looking for 767 guys, in fact a mate of mine has just joined them, so they must be actively looking now. AWAS/Vietnam Al are normally looking 767 guys too.

The 737 is more limited these days as the A320 family becomes more popular in the asia region.

Europe a bit different, but as an antipodean you can have the work permit/right to work problem. Soon enough there will be a lot of jar66 european engineers on the contractors circuit too.

Here in S'pore 747-400 guys are tough to find as are 777 guys, for SIA naturally, then again SIA pay crap and have Pw4000s on their 744s which few operators have.

Aren't the big kangaroo airlines going for an airbus fleet? worth hanging on for a course ? ;)

Good luck

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Old age and treachery will always triumph over youth and enthusiasm.

[This message has been edited by Jango (edited 15 February 2001).]

[Kanga767]

Actually I feel a little silly having started this topic, almost sounding like a whining pilot!
But thanks for your reply Jango, and you're right, I am a little tired of bug smashers.

[Jango]

Its all relevant mate, as they say...life is a sh*t sandwich...more bread you get, less sh*t you taste .....

I have never believed in staying put and being miserable, if it gets me down, time to move on.

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Old age and treachery will always triumph over youth and enthusiasm.

[spannersatcx]

Don't you think it's a little shortsighted of Airlines and or agencies to restrict themselves because a perfectly capable and highly experienced engineer can't or won't be employed because they haven't got approval on xyz type. Not only will there be a shortage of engineers they'll find it harder and harder to get people with the appropriate approval. I guess in the long term for those with the right approval they'll have to pay bigger bucks to get them.

[Rob_L]

I think type approval is not the main issue.
Type experience is. Training someone up to approval standard could take up to a year,
but even then their experience level will be low.

When you consider the costs involved in training engineers, it's no wonder companies are paying more to retain them.

A friend of mine with LWTR no type experience has had B737 200,300,400,500,700
airframe and engine courses, boroscope, ground run and 700 avionics courses in less than two years with more to come. You can't fault the operator commitment, but I'm sure they would have preferred someone "off the shelf".

[pepsitop]

hey kanga
a lot depends on your marital status, believe it or not.
as an aussie, AWAS would be a good option for you if your'e single. particularly saigon.there's also a new york operation too.
the money is ok, not brilliant, but you have a fair amount of autonomy working for them.
as for RBA, well, blokes leave there for numerous reasons, it gets a little quiet at times, but it's a cruisy job with not much stress. you do however tend to develop a real dislike for mosques when they wake u at 4.30 in the morning. gulf air is a loser of an airline, dont keep many european expats, also emirates are stealing their pax, but emirates pay decidedly average pay too. if u have a uk passport perchance, contracting in europe is where you'll make the big bucks these dayz. the days of making a lot in third world countries are few and far between now.
believe it or not, you've got a pretty good life in oz, with not bad pay. just get a great accountant to minimise tax mate. they're worth their weight in gold.
my advice if you've got your heart set on going overseas and are not married is to go with AWAS, you actually get to see a lot more than the average engineer sees. if you are married, then brunei might be ok as it helps to have someone else to talk to when the lights go out, as they regularly do. failing that, singapore is good but expect to work hard for your dosh. SASCO sometimes wants guys with your ratings.
good luck.

[lame]

Kanga 767,

Not sure about Saigon currently, the New York operation was an A300-600 and is now a B757, so no good.

They were after a B767 Engineer for Nairobi only a few weeks ago, don't know if they still are?

Best regards,

"lame"

[Jango]

I have had numerous discussions with the likes of SIA and Sasco to get them to see that looking for guys with those specific types is becoming a pointless exercise. As spanners is saying, why not offer some training and incentives in payment for loyalty...sadly an element missing from our industry.

Sasco are after MD11 engineers with a UK or Aussie licence ??? so now they have realised they are next to none, they asked me to look for DC10 guys and offer them the carrott (?) of an MD11 course in exchange for a 2 or 3 year contract. Not a bad deal and had a few guys interested, but then Sasco HR binned the idea on cost and guess what, they still have no dc10/md11 engineers.

Same goes for SIA with 744 guys, very few with Pw4000 version, so why not get guys in , chuck them a Pw4000 course (2 weeks) and start them gaining experience, 6mth down the line you've got an approved guy .... try telling that to the bean counters. And lo and behold, SIA are still short of 10 engineers for the line operation.

But does not seem like other places are much different?



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Old age and treachery will always triumph over youth and enthusiasm.

[near enuf is good enuf]

I believe Ash Northcott is involved in NY with AWAS.
Anyone got an address for him ?
If so an e-mail would be appreciated.

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So that you may not be the martyred slaves of Time,
get drunk, get drunk,
and never pause for rest!
With wine, poetry, or virtue,
as you choose!"

[rpm]

Do not believe anybody saying there is a shortage of engineers. Companies are just too cheap to inlude courses if they think they can get away with not including them. In the U.S. alone there are over twenty thousand licenced guys out there roaming around only as contractors. I refuse to pay for a single course that only benefits the companies. Problems do arise, when you need work permits. Sometimes out of stupidity of the companies looking for people, require a particular license, such as Malaysian Airlines wanting UK CAA engineers to work on US registered aircraft. What do the brits know about FAR'S? Unfortunately, if you are not flight crew, you get little respect.