O'Connor Airlines J32 course

[Horatio Leafblower]

Hello,

Does anyone have any info about the O'Connors SodaStream course? Anyone done it?

How are the schedules, conditions, the general vibe?

I have heard mixed reports about employment with the company BUT there are certainly no whinging threads here about 'em so they can't be that bad :ok:

[slice]

Being a relatively small company current employees might be a bit reticent about posting here. The schedules are published on their website, the conditions are the Award minimum I think, and the vibe ? Well, hard to say exactly from the outside, but most of the younger ones seemed happy enough, but that could be due to the fact that they expected to be moving on to bigger and better things sooner rather than later. Time to command also relatively short (2~3 yrs?). I guess your perception depends largely on what your current situation is. If you PM me I can give further details.

[Dubya]

Why aren't there any whining threads about O'Connus.... every time someone posts such a thread, it get removed......... go figure...
As far as working for them, been there .. done that.... NEVER again.. would rather go back scrubbing dunnies...

and yes, I have all the J32 manuals and engineering question papers.. the whole bit...

[neville_nobody]

The recruitment is a scam, you go and do the ground school for two weeks (paying all your own expenses) and they guarentee you nothing. They then take FO's out of the groundschool. Unsure to what the selection criteria is based on. Doing well in the course doesn't mean you get a job either.

However if you have nothing to lose other than some dough (or you have family/friends in Gambier) then it is a opportunity to get good experience.

[bushy]

Taking large ammounts of money from wannabies seems to be common these days in Australia. Apparently it also happens overseas too.
The obscene lottery is breeding.

[Green gorilla]

Its a rich mans game get into a company that will pay for your ride Pearl pays for it but you are bonded for 18 months Skywest is another the mining sector would be looking down on us thinking suckers.:ugh:

[Horatio Leafblower]

to be fair, O'Connor don't ask you to pay for the training or the endorsement - just give up a week of your time while they give up some of their time and teach you a thing or two.

I would imagine it wouldn't be a cost-free exercise for them either :=

I think I remember Hugh Jarse estimating that the cost per candidate for his employer was well over $1000 per interviewee.

Finally, I know it isn't fashionable to say so but I don't really feel that bonding is so unreasonable in this dog-eat-dog "every man for himself" industry - but that's another argument for another thread.

[THE TAV]

Green gorilla I think you will find these days that Pearl Bonds you for 24months and around $20 000. (B200 ENDO + Training and Accommodation).

[Green gorilla]

20000 for a bond on a king air your crazy mun..

[Yon Garde]

Worked for them for 2.5 years and highly recommend it. It's all a balance as the money is relatively low (GA award) however the cost of living in the Mount is low as well.

More importantly, the skills picked up in the job are invaluable. My IF skills will never be as good as the day I left UQ as there is no autopilot on the J32 and the south east has more than it's share of crap WX. There is usually a good bunch of guys to work with at any one time, comeraderie is high (if the beer fridge is still in the crewroom) and Leigh and Mike O'Connor are pretty good people to work for and standards are pretty high. Like all family businesses, it's no place for whingers or slackers as you work pretty hard.

The ground school/ interview is basically a chance for you to throw the job away. It gives you a week to decide if MTG is the place for you and your family and it gives you a chance to make a goose of yourself if you were trying to hide it. Anyone who is half decent will get a go eventually, even if not straight away as the company has the same turnover issues that everyone else has.

All in all, one of the best jobs I've had and a superb environment for skills development as long as your not chasing your fortune.:ok:

[maybegunnadoo]

If you want to learn to fly an AC, get heaps of genuine IF time all without an autopilot, and learn flying skills that will stay with you for your whole career then this is the job for you.

Yes the moneys not great, but Leigh and company are genuine people that I for one can only hold in utmost respect for their endless effort to keep it all afloat. Learn some facts before you bag these people...

Its not for everyone, MTG is 'different', it can get very cold and you learn to hate the bloody Crows (AFL). But the beer is cold, the group is great and there is SO much worse out there.

Nuff Said...

[Chimbu chuckles]

Years ago Leigh did my C441 endorsement on behalf of a company I was working casualy for (the company paid for the endo, airfare to MTG and Accom) at the time.

Over two days of flying and classroom as well as drinking with Leigh in the evening I found him to be a very genuine and pleasant man indeed.

Yes the company is small and family owned and that requires a different approach to and from employees than might be the case somewhere else....but the attitudes to work learned at airlines like this stand a pilot in good stead later in his career.

Leigh ownes and runs the last 'family' airline in the region...once upon a time I worked for the biggest family owned airline, Talair, and it's a wonderful experience if you can fit in in this style of operation...where going the extra mile for the employer without necesarily expecting anything back all the time is invariably rewarded in some manner sooner rather than later.

In an industry where loyalty is essentially non existant you can experience it at places like OConnors.

On the other hand if you're the type of person who thinks the world owes them a living you probably wouldn't like working for Leigh...your problem not his.

In fact as I look back over my career I have always worked for small companies where everyone knew everyone and the CPs office was an open door, sometimes my door, where you could just stick your head in and say "hi" rather than making a booking or living in fear of a call from him...even the widebody Asian operation I work for now to a great extent.

I recently had a birthday and via a set of coincidences ended up getting a call from my 767 fleet manager a few hours before my dinner party with a few friends at the local yacht club. He was asking me to dinner with a representative of a previous company I had worked for when said rep asked after me. I invited them to join us instead. The conversation occurred at 1600 and when the Fleet manager arrived at 1900 he had bought me a very nice tie as a present....it was a completely unexpected and very pleasant surprise.

That is that sort of guy Leigh is too....the sort who appreciates a pilot who does his job as well as he can and doesn't get worked up about the little things.

I know for a fact that leigh 'carried' for some significant time at least one long term pilot employee when said individual was having a very tough time in his personal life....years before that pilot had stood by Leigh when Oconnors nearly went under as a result of actions by Ansett (from memory).

That is called loyalty.

[maybegunnadoo]

Hear,hear........and don't forget the jazz.

[Reverseflowkeroburna]

Yep, been there done that. It was a very pleasant and fun week. I met some great guys & gals and maybe even learnt a thing or two. Pretty good value for the cost of a cabin in a caravan park for a week or so in a nice, none-too-expensive country town; I thought.

As CC & Maybe said, just don't go expecting the world and you won't come away disappointed. :ok:

[HotelTango]

I spent three years there, Great bunch of people to work with. If you have any problems you can always walk into the Boss's office to discuss it with him. Most of the times you would just go in for a chat.

The jetstream is a great plane and I loved flying it, your IF scan will be spot on after a very short time flying the J.

Although the ground school/interview process is not the best it gives the company a week to see how you interact with everyone in the company. It also lets you show your true colors down the pub over a few beers.

If you are a city slicker who thinks the world ends at the edge of the suburbs it may not be the company for you as the Mount has a population of about 25,000. There is also a crew base in Adelaide.

It was a great job!