View Full Version : Bush pilot - Alaska ........How?????
Currently 1100 hours, OZ CPL ME/CIR and GR 2 instructor rating, and soon ATPL, however, considering bush flying for a few years before applying to the heavies, how does one go about converting to FAA and likelyhood of job ops ?
If your an Aussie, under 28 you can get a holiday work visa for Canada which is real easy to get and provides great flexibility, ie you can work any job while you do your licence conversion, the Canadian dollar is cheaper and there is lots of bush work up north in Canada....just a thought
thanks.....any contacts?
[This message has been edited by rho (edited 25 January 2001).]
Well as for the Visa thing, you need to contact the Canadian Consulate in Sydney for the gen, forms and dates when they release the visas ie normally at the Start of the year 1st up best dressed kinda scenario.
As for Canadian contacts, well you need to work out a plan ie where you'd like to do your conversion, all your hours count OK, but you will have to do the exams and the flight test.
In reality they are easy just 1 exam on all subjects, multi guess, in fact you could just write your ATPL exams (2 of) proabably and skip the CPL one. The ATPL are also easy, multi guess, they offer weekend courses for 400 CND and I garantee you'd pass after that.
Then a CPL/ IFR flight test no different to home I imagine.
Choose a flight school carefully, big cities cost bigger money to live in, so some of the smaller ones eg interior BC are better, you could even do a float rating (7hrs) while you brush up and do the CPL flight test in a float plane.
So with that out of the way do a little road trip, in person makes the difference, faxing resumes is a waste of time essentially.
I have just done some contract work for an outfit in Thompson Manitoba, I expect they will need more pilots all summer, they expect lots of movment. They even hire 250hr drives who have been doing no more than 6 months on the ramp then into right seat in the King Airs, Conquest, or 421. They don't pay great but over summer expect to do 100hrs a month. They have a high pilot turnover.....
Otherwise lots of distance to cover in the North.
D
Ummm
If you have an Aussie ATPL that might omit some of the requirements.
In CND you do not have to do a flight test for an ATPL. I know to convert my CND ATPL to an Aussie or NZ I need 500 2 crew command time , write a transition exam and do a flight test.....
....thanks, sounding better exponentially as the days pass; will look into it.