Help....any Australian Helicopter pilots here?
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Help....any Australian Helicopter pilots here?
I've posted these same questions on the Rotorheads board, but thought I might get some additional imput from this board too. I'm thinking about taking a job offer that was made to me in the Brisbane area. It would be flying Bh-205's (helicopters, mediums, turbine). What I need to know is:. .1.) Cost of living in Queensland (Brisbane area and surrounding locales).. .2.) Low-end and High-end salary that should be expected for such a position, and/or what a decent salary is in Australia (considering it takes 2 Aussie $$ to = 1 U.S. $$). The position is somewhat laid back, logistical support with around 250-350 hours per year projected.. .3.) What are taxes like?. .4.) If you do work or have worked in Australia, would you prefer to work there or elsewhere, overseas, and why?. .5.) Any other pro's and/or con's to working in Queensland.. .6.) How hard are the conversions to CPL(H) or ATPL(H) as opposed to say, Transport Canada or U.S. FAA Commercial/Instrument or ATPL(H)?. .Thanks for the imput, as I am flying blind here. No previous experience in this part of the world.
Helos,
Some info that may be of assistance;. .1.) Cost of living in Queensland (Brisbane area and surrounding locales). medium for Aust - epect to pay about $100-$200/week rent (depending on locale, tastes, circumstances)
2.) Check Aust remuneration awards for pilots on the following web site;
URL=http://www.osiris.gov.au/cgi-bin/download?/data/indrel/data/awards/8/H0036]Helicopter Pilots (General Aviation) Award - Download[/URL]
3.) Once you work out what you think that you will get you can play around with the Aust Tax Office calculator at this site;
<a href="http://www.ato.gov.au/scripts/taxcalc/calc_standard_hire.asp" target="_blank">Individual Tax Calculator</a>
Also;. .Tax rates 2000 - 2001 and 2001 - 2002 . .Taxable income. . Tax on this income. . . .0 – 6000. . Nil. . . .6001 – 20 000. . 17c for each $1 over $6000. . . .20 001 - 50 000. . $2380 plus 30c for each $1 over $20 000. . . .50 001 – 60 000. . $11 380 plus 42c for each $1 over $50 000. . . .60 000 - . . $15 580 plus 47c for each $1 over $60 000. . . .4.) Only worked in Aust; can't copare sorry.
5.) QLD has a great climate!
no further comment without starting the inter-state rivalry. You could probably expect to work interstate on occasion (e.g. bushfires)
6.) No experience here sorry. Anecdotal evidence is that it is not too hard; recognition for prior experience and then an Air Legislation exam and flight test to confirm. Your sponsor should grease the way for this though.
I hope that this helps. E-mail me if the url don't work for you and I can send details through on reply e-mail.
Aust is a great place to work; but I am biased. Good Luck! <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">
Some info that may be of assistance;. .1.) Cost of living in Queensland (Brisbane area and surrounding locales). medium for Aust - epect to pay about $100-$200/week rent (depending on locale, tastes, circumstances)
2.) Check Aust remuneration awards for pilots on the following web site;
URL=http://www.osiris.gov.au/cgi-bin/download?/data/indrel/data/awards/8/H0036]Helicopter Pilots (General Aviation) Award - Download[/URL]
3.) Once you work out what you think that you will get you can play around with the Aust Tax Office calculator at this site;
<a href="http://www.ato.gov.au/scripts/taxcalc/calc_standard_hire.asp" target="_blank">Individual Tax Calculator</a>
Also;. .Tax rates 2000 - 2001 and 2001 - 2002 . .Taxable income. . Tax on this income. . . .0 – 6000. . Nil. . . .6001 – 20 000. . 17c for each $1 over $6000. . . .20 001 - 50 000. . $2380 plus 30c for each $1 over $20 000. . . .50 001 – 60 000. . $11 380 plus 42c for each $1 over $50 000. . . .60 000 - . . $15 580 plus 47c for each $1 over $60 000. . . .4.) Only worked in Aust; can't copare sorry.
5.) QLD has a great climate!
no further comment without starting the inter-state rivalry. You could probably expect to work interstate on occasion (e.g. bushfires)6.) No experience here sorry. Anecdotal evidence is that it is not too hard; recognition for prior experience and then an Air Legislation exam and flight test to confirm. Your sponsor should grease the way for this though.
I hope that this helps. E-mail me if the url don't work for you and I can send details through on reply e-mail.
Aust is a great place to work; but I am biased. Good Luck! <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">
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G'day helosRfun,I'm not in the Helicoptor line of work but I can help you out with some of the other stuff.. .First of all let me tell you that Brisbane is the by far one of the most popular places to live.In the Airline game Brisbane has always been the most Senior port.some reasons been;. ....Great climate... avg 29 degrees C summer...avg 24 degrees C Winter.... .one of the cheapest capital cities to live,a nice house will cost $400,000 AUS a really nice waterfront will cost around 1.5 million AUS.. .A loaf of bread $2.50. A kilogram of rump steak $12.99 petrol 75 cents a litre a new holden commadore $40000 (including a few nicities),if you have Kids a good private school about $9000 a year.. .Brisbane is a city but size not on the scale of Sydney or Melbourne.It is close to both the north and south coasts which boast some of the best beaches in the world.The South coast(Gold Coast)has all the Glitz of Hawaii, the north coast a little more laid back.Both coasts about an hour drive from the airport.in fact most BNE based crews live on either coasts,prices are simular to Brisbane. .2)Don't know to much about Helo salaries but imagine they would be in the range of 50,000-120,000 AUS per year.. .3)Taxes, well not good,quite high compared to the US I believe.Without doing the reasearch for exact figures I carn't be accurate but a guide line is;its on a sliding scale in dollars
0-6000..nil. .6001-20000 17 cents for each dollar above 6001. .2000-50000 $2380 + 30 cents in the dollar above 20001.. .50000-60000 $11380 + 42 cents in the dollar above 50001. .above 60000 $15580 + 47 cents in the dollar above 60001.. .on top of that you have to pay a 1.5% medicare levy...(I did the reaserch). .Plus a 10% Goods and Services Tax ,above estimates include GST.
Carn't help you to much with Licence conversion but you can visit the Civil aviation safety Authority (CASA) web site.That site should give you some info if not you can E-mail them you Questions.
Hope this helps,anything more specific just ask.I like a lot of others here hope to make it up that way soon.I have my feet in the starting blocks.
GOOD LUCK!!>
0-6000..nil. .6001-20000 17 cents for each dollar above 6001. .2000-50000 $2380 + 30 cents in the dollar above 20001.. .50000-60000 $11380 + 42 cents in the dollar above 50001. .above 60000 $15580 + 47 cents in the dollar above 60001.. .on top of that you have to pay a 1.5% medicare levy...(I did the reaserch). .Plus a 10% Goods and Services Tax ,above estimates include GST.
Carn't help you to much with Licence conversion but you can visit the Civil aviation safety Authority (CASA) web site.That site should give you some info if not you can E-mail them you Questions.
Hope this helps,anything more specific just ask.I like a lot of others here hope to make it up that way soon.I have my feet in the starting blocks.
GOOD LUCK!!>
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THANKS ALOT GUYS!!. .I really appreciate the indepth answers to my questions. It gives me a basis on which to make some major decisions. Boy those tax rates are hiway robbery, eh?
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HelosRFun Brisbane is a great area to live (IMO). Did the conversion (Cdn CPL-H) a couple of years ago. Like everywhere else, it's an air law exam, btw it's open book, and not necessarily easy. Unlike the US, there isn't a book with all the questions from it. The ATPL-H is a series of 7 exams (I think). It won't cost you as much, since you will be bringing some of that "real" money with you. You will also have to do a flight test. There are several schools in the Brisbane area. PHS down at Coolangatta (Gold Coast), Heli-Brisbane, Heli-Aust at Archerfield, Blue Tongue, and Becker up on the Sunshine Coast.
Cheers
Randy_G
p.s. this wouldn't be chopperlite from a different forum would it ??
You will also have to do a flight test. There are several schools in the Brisbane area. PHS down at Coolangatta (Gold Coast), Heli-Brisbane, Heli-Aust at Archerfield, Blue Tongue, and Becker up on the Sunshine Coast. Cheers
Randy_G
p.s. this wouldn't be chopperlite from a different forum would it ??
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Randy_G
Roger on the chopperlite from a diff. forum. After viewing the tax rate, I believe I'll stick with Canada this next season. The place, Queensland, sounds great, but by the time I figure in the tax + conversion from u.s. $ to aussie $, I'm looking at making maybe .25 cents on the dollar. Can't afford to work there! At least in Canada, even though your $ sucks at .62 cents, they make up for it on pay, so it averages out rather nicely. Not as good as u.s. or elsewhere, but definetly better than what this particular job in Aussie has to offer. It's a shame gov's. are so damn greedy. Take a look at the tax structure, it penalizes the "go-getters". The harder you work, the more you pay. . .I had a couple of jobs lined up in NZ also, but the gov. structure combined with their taxes dissuaded me rather quickly. Again, a real shame as it is a very beautiful country.. .The only positive I could see in the Aussie job is adding another license to my bag-o-tricks. Can't say I really need that in exchange for all the negatives.
Roger on the chopperlite from a diff. forum. After viewing the tax rate, I believe I'll stick with Canada this next season. The place, Queensland, sounds great, but by the time I figure in the tax + conversion from u.s. $ to aussie $, I'm looking at making maybe .25 cents on the dollar. Can't afford to work there! At least in Canada, even though your $ sucks at .62 cents, they make up for it on pay, so it averages out rather nicely. Not as good as u.s. or elsewhere, but definetly better than what this particular job in Aussie has to offer. It's a shame gov's. are so damn greedy. Take a look at the tax structure, it penalizes the "go-getters". The harder you work, the more you pay. . .I had a couple of jobs lined up in NZ also, but the gov. structure combined with their taxes dissuaded me rather quickly. Again, a real shame as it is a very beautiful country.. .The only positive I could see in the Aussie job is adding another license to my bag-o-tricks. Can't say I really need that in exchange for all the negatives.
