Carrier
18th Aug 2009, 17:32
On behalf of the oil industry Contrails audits and approves Western Canada air carriers as meeting acceptable standards for the carriage of their executives and employees. It sets minimum standards for air operators’ crew, equipment, maintenance, etc. If air carriers in Western Canada want to carry oil industry personnel they have to obtain Contrails approval. Certain oil companies find even this to be too low and impose their own higher standards. Contrails style approval is not unique to the oil industry. In Saskatchewan the uranium miners have their own audit system that air operators must meet in order to carry uranium industry personnel.
Nothing is perfect and Contrails approval does not guarantee absolute safety. However, it does mean that those air operators with such approval are likely to be safer than those without it. As well as for passengers, this also applies to the work situation for pilots employed by approved operators. Another benefit is that by setting certain minimum experience requirements Contrails has the effect of increasing salaries for those pilots who meet the minima as cut-price operators are precluded from using low time pilots for Contrails flights. Operators thus have to pay more to attract and retain pilots from the smaller pool who meet the Contrails minima. Even this does not always work as at least one company has taken advantage of the recession to pay less than its own advertised company pay scales. Increases due to pilots for meeting Contrails requirements have not only been ignored but earlier this year there were also substantial pay reductions of up to 35% for the mainly medevac pilots. One can imagine the morale there.
There have been many negative comments regarding the existence of Contrails in Western Canada. There have been even more negative comments regarding the unsafe operating practices, maintenance, low standards, abusive HR behaviour, etc. of various air operators. That nothing ever seems to be done regarding these low-life operators indicates that there is also a problem with the regulator, Transport Canada. As pointed out in another forum, Contrails has stepped into this vacuum. The oil companies and Contrails are to be applauded for this. Contrails should not be necessary but circumstances in Canadian aviation dictate that it is needed.
Readers should note that the existence of Contrails is a symptom, not a problem. The actual problem is the known on-going existence of some low-life air operators and the dereliction of duty by Transport Canada in refusing to effectively regulate the industry to protect the travelling public and employees. Action should have been taken long ago to either weed out these undesirables or force them to mend their ways. Intelligent people treat the problem, not the symptoms. Those who attack Contrails are aiming at the wrong target. They should be addressing the continued existence of certain sleazy air operators and the lack of effective enforcement. Many of those who attack Contrails are members, including at least one moderator, of another forum which obstructs the exposure of certain problem operators. Posts and even whole threads containing anything unfavourable to these sleazebags vanish. Surely everything possible should be done to expose unsafe operators and eliminate them? Interestingly there is a most uneven application of the post and thread removal policy on this other forum as threads attacking, sometimes unfairly, other companies or individuals and certain parts of Transport Canada are permitted.
The need for the existence of Contrails and the uneven attitude towards problem companies and individuals by a section of the Canadian aviation community is an unpleasant illustration of the current situation in Canadian aviation. Organisations such as Contrails and individuals such as those who work to expose the shysters are to be congratulated for their efforts. It is to be hoped that those who attack and obstruct them will see the error of their ways and will join those who are attempting to improve Canadian aviation.
Nothing is perfect and Contrails approval does not guarantee absolute safety. However, it does mean that those air operators with such approval are likely to be safer than those without it. As well as for passengers, this also applies to the work situation for pilots employed by approved operators. Another benefit is that by setting certain minimum experience requirements Contrails has the effect of increasing salaries for those pilots who meet the minima as cut-price operators are precluded from using low time pilots for Contrails flights. Operators thus have to pay more to attract and retain pilots from the smaller pool who meet the Contrails minima. Even this does not always work as at least one company has taken advantage of the recession to pay less than its own advertised company pay scales. Increases due to pilots for meeting Contrails requirements have not only been ignored but earlier this year there were also substantial pay reductions of up to 35% for the mainly medevac pilots. One can imagine the morale there.
There have been many negative comments regarding the existence of Contrails in Western Canada. There have been even more negative comments regarding the unsafe operating practices, maintenance, low standards, abusive HR behaviour, etc. of various air operators. That nothing ever seems to be done regarding these low-life operators indicates that there is also a problem with the regulator, Transport Canada. As pointed out in another forum, Contrails has stepped into this vacuum. The oil companies and Contrails are to be applauded for this. Contrails should not be necessary but circumstances in Canadian aviation dictate that it is needed.
Readers should note that the existence of Contrails is a symptom, not a problem. The actual problem is the known on-going existence of some low-life air operators and the dereliction of duty by Transport Canada in refusing to effectively regulate the industry to protect the travelling public and employees. Action should have been taken long ago to either weed out these undesirables or force them to mend their ways. Intelligent people treat the problem, not the symptoms. Those who attack Contrails are aiming at the wrong target. They should be addressing the continued existence of certain sleazy air operators and the lack of effective enforcement. Many of those who attack Contrails are members, including at least one moderator, of another forum which obstructs the exposure of certain problem operators. Posts and even whole threads containing anything unfavourable to these sleazebags vanish. Surely everything possible should be done to expose unsafe operators and eliminate them? Interestingly there is a most uneven application of the post and thread removal policy on this other forum as threads attacking, sometimes unfairly, other companies or individuals and certain parts of Transport Canada are permitted.
The need for the existence of Contrails and the uneven attitude towards problem companies and individuals by a section of the Canadian aviation community is an unpleasant illustration of the current situation in Canadian aviation. Organisations such as Contrails and individuals such as those who work to expose the shysters are to be congratulated for their efforts. It is to be hoped that those who attack and obstruct them will see the error of their ways and will join those who are attempting to improve Canadian aviation.