Instructor lying about helicopter pilot salary?

[TheFirstDohrnPilot]

Hi everyone. OK so, my brother is currently in New Zealand about to start helicopter training and I spoke to him on the phone today.
He claims that helicopter pilots can make up to £400,000 :eek:. I have done research into this before and I am sure that this is nonsense. No pilot gets that much! He must have been grossly misinformed by his FTO! What do you think? I know you guys here on PPRune have a lot of first-hand experience so what better place to ask?

Thanks, TFDP :ok:

[griffothefog]

Mwahahahaha... Must be true with the amount my Mrs spends :eek:

[GoodGrief]

400000 Rupees is more like it...:{

[spinwing]

Mmmm .....

I WISH .......




(load of BOLLOCKS ..... even in the middle east you'd be pushing to get US$ 150k .... so in the 'real world' £400,000 NEVER perhaps he meant £40,000 ?)

[RPM AWARE]

or he meant total for his whole career !

[Turkeyslapper]

If you have some unique skill sets you may get up there....400k is probably a bit of a porky but some guys who work in the same place as me here in the UAE are on about 200k....some more!

Cheers

[Whirlygig]

No, that's what you need to spend in order to get a job.

Cheers

Whirls

[lelebebbel]

If you have some unique skill sets you may get up there....400k is probably a bit of a porky but some guys who work in the same place as me here in the UAE are on about 200k....some more!

Yeah but (aside the fact that those folks have probably been in the industry for 30 years to get there) your numbers are dollars - the OP is talking £s!

400,000£ would be about $640,000 (US) at the current rate. Pretty ironic being told that by a school in NZ of all places....

TheFirstDohrnPilot:
If they really told him that, I'd suggest to your brother to run away as fast as he can.

[SASless]

What is the name, address, telephone and email for this guy who says Helicopter Pilots earn all this great Dosh?

He plainly has a mental issue that would invalidate his flying medical!

[TheFirstDohrnPilot]

Thanks for the excellent responses guys. I also think it's a pile of bullsh**t tbh. I just feel bad for him because he's maybe a bit naiive and although he's two years older than I am, I know far more about this sort of stuff but he would never listen to me :ugh: but we'll see in the long run who's right :E haha
And I agree with most of your comments. lelebebbel - you're right he should!
Oh ye, and spinwing I'm pretty sure he said £400,000. I shall question him again though haha
Thanks a lot guys, great feedback! :ok: haha

TFDP

[Pandalet]

Echoing what spinwing said, £40,000 would be a believable starting pre-tax salary as an offshore co-pilot on the North Sea. However, to get to that point, you need a JAA CPL+ME IR (around £80k - £100k spend) plus a load of luck / right-face-right-time. I'm not aware of any schools in NZ offering a JAA-approved course.

[DauphinDude]

I have heard that Blackwater/XE-defence contractors pilots make a ton of money, but I dunno how much exactly.

[zlocko2002]

they earn cca 1000$/day

[zondaracer]

Similar contractors pay between $500 and $1000 per day for pilots performing pilot duties in deployed locations. But guys usually go on rotations and are not in theatre all year.

[Evil Twin]

My first flying job in NZ I earned $15,000 in the first year. I think the most I earned in NZ was $45,000 that one of the reasons I left.


$400,000:yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk::yuk: What a merchant banker!

[alouette3]

Of course, there are always the cartels------:E
Alt3

[TheFirstDohrnPilot]

Pandalet, if what you're saying is correct (that JAA licences aren't attainable in NZ) then that's quite a bad thing, right? Because these days a JAA licence is the most sought after licence in aviation isn't it?
zlocko2002 and zondaracer, that sounds like a lot of money, but surely the only recruit ex-military people???? And that sounds terrible Evil Twin! :yuk:
i don't think that's a good option alt3...... haha!

thanks, TFDP

[zlocko2002]

only ex military, only US with security clearance...

[SASless]

these days a JAA licence is the most sought after licence in aviation isn't it?

Depends upon where one wishes to fly....in JAA or is it EASA land now...maybe?

In all the other parts of the World....not so much really!

In the USA....not at all in fact.

[Squeaks]

Similar contractors pay between $500 and $1000 per day for pilots performing pilot duties in deployed locations. But guys usually go on rotations and are not in theatre all year.

Base daily rate for an IFR Offshore casual/contract pilot in Oz is $A1,000 plus accomm & allowances. At least one international is reputed to pay $A1200/day ++.

Let me think: the same money to fly out of Pt Hedland as to fly out of Helmund? What was that about a JAA licence :p

Back to the OP, someone is extracting the urine: K1W1's are notorious for low pilot salaries, both rotary and fixed wing. Qantas have found it a fine rort to register and crew their domestics from the Land of the Long White Cloud at massive savings over Australian rates :sad:

[zondaracer]

Depends on the contractor, but typically 95% or more are exmilitary or govt employee and 100% are US Citizens so Green Card holder won't cut it due to security clearance issues.

I worked alongside a contractor, and they had 14 pilots. 13 were former military, 12 of those military were former military pilots. The non military guy had over 10,000 hours before he got hired.

[Squeaks]

Just a bit more on the pay rates in Oz, which are significantly higher than UnZed: offshore Captains are around $A170k, CP salaries well north of that, same for Check & Training. EMS around $120k+ for SP/IFR, similar for Police.

Again, the OP's brother needs a reality check with a 2 x 4 if he is believing what was quoted ;)

[TheFirstDohrnPilot]

Ye, I thought so. Shame that - don't really fancy a military career haha
SASless, in the US an FAA is the licence equivalent to a JAA? I heard, though, that a JAA licence is more desirable because of the higher standards... No disrespect, this is just what I'm hearing from other people! :}
You're right Squeaks, he is 'getting the urine extracted' and he does need a reality check lol I will get him to read all the posts on this thread so he can see from the first-hand guys what the deal is ;)

Cheers

[GoodGrief]

Here we go again...

Higher standards?
I live in both systems, the JAA teaches you rocket science, the FAA teaches you flying.
The FAA certificate (it's not a license) makes you more employable than the JAA thing when it comes to world wide employment. Exceptions apply.

[lelebebbel]

The JAA licence is simply more expensive and takes longer to get. That has nothing to do with standards, and everything to do with protectionism and European bureaucracy. It is relatively cheap to convert a JAA pilots licence to an FAA certificate, and very expensive to go the other way. That's probably why someone might have called it more "desirable".

The real catch is the working visa. If you aren't legally able to work in the EU or in FAA-Land, neither one of these licences will help.

[Epiphany]

100% are US Citizens

Not true.

that a JAA licence is more desirable because of the higher standards

Theoretical standards - yes. Practical standards - not particularly. A JAR licence is desirable because it is then a very simple process to convert to another licence. Other licence holders are not happy with this because they don't want to have to study to the depth that JAR licence holders do, or pay the associated costs.

[Thomas coupling]

Highest salary I have come across in the Uk is: Bristows TRE offshore on £117,000 gross. Met police CP: £100,000.

[Pandalet]

I wasn't suggesting that JAA licenses are better or that JAA-license-holders get paid more, just that to be eligable for the job I used as an illustration required a JAA license. As the original post had a figure in £, I assumed you were talking about a UK-based job (or at least one involving working for a UK company). The figure quoted was about right, if you reduce it by a factor of 10.

I have no idea whether there are any JAA-authorised schools in NZ (and I don't care enough to go dig out the list from the CAA website). As per my last post, I'm not aware of any (AFAIK, Bristow is the only non-EU JAA helicopter school).

In short, get whatever license is used by wherever you wish to work. This is often dictated by where you plan to work. If you wish (and are allowed) to work in the EU, you need a JAA license. Ditto FAA for the USA. For a lot of the touring places (Africa, etc), it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference - the companies involved will sort out a local validation of whatever you have.

[Epiphany]

How times change. When I moved to Australia I took a big pay and conditions drop now the opposite is the case. Pilots in Australia, particularly offshore are some of the worlds best paid. That and the tax laws change mean that you rarely meet Australian pilots overseas these days.

[Jet Ranger]

@Epi

Tell me, ATPL-H licence conversion from european JAR to CASA, is it complicated?

JR

[Kelly Hopper]

CASA conversion is not so difficult. Getting residency and a job offer if you are not a born and bred Aussie........ That's another story!

[Epiphany]

Which is just the way it should be Kelly and Europe could learn much from the Australian immigration system.I was lucky and my wife got a job there.

Rules change Jetranger and your best bet is to look at the CASA website or contact them. I had to sit Air Law, Irex, do 3 hours of flying including a flight test and instrument rating test.

[TheFirstDohrnPilot]

OK I get you now - the JAA licence is more expensive and bureaucratic than the FAA certificate. That said, it all depends on where you want to work and if you later need to convert.
And for that reason - I would opt for a JAA, even if that means taking out a loan and having to pay money back. I think it would maybe benefit me in the future :E Didn't mean to cause a stir haha

Thanks :ok: