45 yo Australia/U.S. Citizen work in Canada?
 

I am 45 and just about to finish my CPL here in Australia. I would like to go to Canada and do a 50 hours float training course next year in April. By that time I will have CPL ME CIR. I already have tail wheel and aerobatic endorsements. Currently I have 260 total, 90 PIC, 70 TW. 15 Aero. By April I will have at least another 73 total with 45 PIC. I will probably also pick up an additional 50 or so as paid PIC for the Shark Patrol.

Would any of the float plane trainers hire me for the rest of the season after my training or is that an impossibility? The problem is, as I've been told, that there is absolutely zero chance of getting a floats job in Australia with less than 500 hours on floats. Getting my floats rating is the last investment I can make in Aviation before getting regular work.

Thank you in advance even if it's just to confirm that I am insane :O

I'd say you are on the right track. Canada AND Alaska are two of the best places in the world for float plane operations.
It does NOT matter where you do your float training however, if you find the right operator, and they like you and your flying, they might also hire you.

There are several who might be sympathetic to allowing you to later work for them but its going to be impossible to do it over the phone.

Start with the directory, look at their fleets, you need the 180, 185, 206 or 172 on floats.

A multi engine rating and instrument rating is not going to help you that much as its cheaper and easier to get both in Canada and or the USA.

Now, bear in mind, its a lot EASIER for an Australian to get to work in the USA than Canada, but not a lot of difference at the end of the day.

To land that job in Canada, the employer has to file a form that it could not locate a Canadian to do the job... you take that to the Canadian embassy in Seattle, get it issued, then pay a fee for a work permit that is limited to that company.

As long as you don't go have to cross a border, no immigration officer is going to ask to see that work permit. Drive across the border, and come back again and even with a work permit, an abusive Canadian official can keep you there for days until a Ministers permit gets you back into Canada.

With your low, but significant time, it is better to go the instructing route.
Again, DONT DO the instructor rating in Australia..

First, even with an instructor rating from AUS, or the USA,, remember the USA... you still need to do 15 hours duel and 15 hours ground before you can be recommended for a flight test.

The better way for you is to do get a US commercial, get an US instructor rating, instrument rating and then add on the Instrument Instructor and ME instructor if you can afford it or leave it for later, when you need to renew, just do the add on ME instructor and that renews the US rating.

Now, if you DONT land a job teaching in Alaska, you will land one somewhere else in the huge country of the USA...

Now, that instructor rating is done on time required not minimum hours. So just reach standard.

That will give you an ICAO instructor rating, that reduces your Canadian requirement to 15 duel and 15 ground.

Now you have a US instrument rating, just do a simple exam and its Convertible to Canadian.

Then in Canada, you have duel tickets, not that it can be used but it gives you TWO systems and that broadens your outlook. It also opens up a world of opportunities in the Caribbean, Africa, South America , you name it, jobs galore go begging.

Africa.. Get that instructor rating and it will open doors for you flying a 206 in Botswana or similar operations.

Now, if you are instructing in Canada, you can then look for that FLOAT JOB as it crops up. Find a flight school with a float operation. That would help you get those float hours..

I recall back in 1988, when I came to Canada I had NO float time and was offered a job flying floats.. I took a turbine merlin job instead. I was worried at the time of not having a work permit but operators did not give a dam back then. The bush is the bush and there is different attitude.
If you are near a city odds are you will find airport immigration officers will want to see that work permit.

Again, I'd suggest you get your bag packed and go the USA.. Find a place that specializes in the production of Instructor Ratings.

Now, if you can find a CANADIAN Class One instructor rating in the US, then that might help reduce the hours requirement but, in reality you will need every one of those 15 hours of air and 15 hours ground to be recommended for the flight test. In fact, I'd expect more but if you do you preparation, you wont have a problem.

The KEY is to have your preparatory ground instruction down pat. Very few candidates actually fail the air portion, its the ground that is the maker or breaker.

Now if you are coming to Canada women will come into your life and you need to remember, DO NOT start a family in Canada.

Canadian father's have NO legal rights. Any separation will most probably result in the kids never seeing their father at all or in any substantive way in the future. It's NOT like Australia. False allegations are rampant and do not need any corroboration. What ever high quality evidence you may have will not be listened to.

If you meet a Canadian girl make sure you use multiple precautions and never ever have a child born in Canada.

More than 50% of pilots are divorced and most had their flying career interrupted by the stress of the above crap.

I've lost count of the number of pilots who had their careers destroyed. Then I recall a transport canada inspector who had a heart attack due to stress and several months later, told him to go back to work...

Canada has a great deal to offer new CPL's, it can be one hell of an adventure.

I'd suggest you watch "ice pilots", the lay back attitude is typical. So is the traditions of working the ramp etc before flying.

That route can take a long time. Instructing means little ramp time. If you can change countries, you can drum up students and end up very busy even at a school that has a large number of "part time instructors" ...

When those successful instructors move on, the schools hours can suffer.
Other schools have a never ending constant stream of high quality cashed up students.

Good luck...

Ramjet

Cheers, Mate
 

Hi Ramjet,

Thanks heaps for the advice. I'm on the Australian Government's dime until the end of the Grad Dip which includes ME CIR but I would like to get real experience in between CPL and then. I'll see if I can combine a 50 hours floats with CPL conversion and an Instructor's Rating. If I can't do it all at one school in Canada I can always schlep across the border. I have U. S. citizenship, too.

You needn't worry about me and Canadian girls. I'm a happily married man with 2 baby boys. How happy, you ask? My wife is the one who is behind all this madness. She dreams of beach life in the Maldives :)

Cheers,

Logan

Sorry to burst yer bubble, but probably no chance of employment as a seaplane instructor with that time. Most insurance companies won't even cover hull insurance until 200 on type/category ie: float. Then you would have to look at immigration paperwork, you would have to leave to apply for the visa, an LMO would have to be done, employer would have to post it for 2-3 weeks and not have equivalent/higher qualified people apply. So many more places in the USA, we have fewer airplanes than alaska, that says it all

Hi rigpiggy,

No bubble burst, just blown off track and needs a bit of heading adjustment :) I've lived, worked, paid taxes, fell in/out of love and been chased by villagers with pitchforks and torches in 12 countries now. I don't care where I work, I just want to get the best training possible to do the best job possible wherever that is. As it looks from this hot, flat and dry little island, the best bush training is in Canada. Even if I have to separate 50 hours Floats and Instructor's Ratings between Canada and Hawaii, it still comes out cheaper than just getting an instructor's rating here in Oz. If I could combine 50 hours floats with getting an Instructors Rating I might be able to teach people anywhere in the world a bit more than If I had only done circuits in a 172.

Though I really want to teach and help get more people in the air, that is something to do between all the other flying that needs to be done. I'm not building hours for the airlines, either. The only airlines I would ever be interested in are the ones who fly Twin Otters on Floats. Maybe I just don't like runways....

No matter how it works out, you can't argue that a pilot with 350-450 hours, TW, Aeros, Floats Endorsements, and experience in a slew of planes in radically different environments looks better than a 200 hour sausage :)

How do you quote in this forum? Anyway, Pilot Breezy, I agree. The cost here in Oz is ridiculous. I can get my Floats Endorsement, 50 hours of Bush Training and an Instructor's Rating for cheaper than the same time hire and fly here.

Where are you going in the U. S.? We might meet up next year.

Get a Multi CPL and Floats (Canadian or US converted to Can.) and then go to the Maldives as an FO on twin otters. Otherwise you will be running all over the North American continent away from you family for months at a time chasing hours.

Sudbury Aviation in Ont

Air Hart in BC

Posted for float training but at least one does licenses too, maybe instructor.

If you do go the US for your instructor rating, have a look at American Flyers and/or AllATPs.

As far as I know, there is no set minimum for the number of flight or ground instruction hours for an instructor sign-off in the US which can lead to some 'interesting' situations. But the above two schools are pretty good.
There is a lot of differences and regulations to study, a lot of good material is available on the FAA website for free (such as the Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Airplane Flying Handbook, AIM, etc.) For the written exams, you can use the online test prep from Sheppard Air. Pretty good and they guarantee a pass. You can study it before going to the US and save some time.

While you are at it, get your ground instructor ratings too. You essentially pay for the written exam and get another (or three) extra certificate to show. I found it useful in getting a ground instructor job at an aviation college.

By the way, I heard about only locals being hired in Maldives as FO, so do your research. I think Ken Borek Air of Canada has some contracts in the Maldives but Im not sure.

Good luck!