Coastwatch/Surveillance Australia
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Coastwatch/Surveillance Australia
There has been a bit of talk lately about Surveillance Australia and their recruiting for the Coastwatch contract.
As I hear that there are some interviews coming up, I thought the following might be some use to those hopefulls.....
Surveillance Australia are a subsidiary of National Jet Systems. The coastwatch contract is a substantial part of the NJS bottom line.
NJS is owned by the Cobham group of the UK who own several special mission type flying contracts/companies.
Surveillance Australia operate 6xBN2's, 5xDHC8, 3xF406 and 1xAC50. All aircraft were new at the start of the contract (except the AC500).
All aircraft are very well fitted out, and are maintained to Class A std.
The min hours required for employment are stipulated in the contract with Customs and are rarely relaxed. The mins are:
1500hrs TT
100Hrs NGT
3 IR renewals
Some multi time
The NGT hrs are not relaxed due to the CAO requirement for min 100hrs NGT for NGT surveillance below LASLT. I havent heard of the TT being relaxed either.
The three renewals however is occasionally relaxed as when you join teh company your IR is renewed and they will sometimes count this renewal to make up the three.
The recruitment process allows people of varying experience and background to have a go. There dosent appear to be any particular formula. We have recent had people in with 1500TT and people with 3000TT, 100 Hrs multi to 1500 Hrs multi.
I found the recruiting process is very 'sensible' - That is, you are not just judged on the numbers in your logbook. You are assessed as a complete package.
The interviewing is usually done in the companys office in Adelaide and usualy involves about an hours chat. Nothing too unusual here, a bit about yourself and your background, a little bit of tech stuff (CIR theory, ME theory etc), a bit about the company and its all fairly relaxed. They will also want to get an idea of your suitability for a security clearance as a few people have had problems in the past.
Then usualy a sim ride in a basic computer type synthetic trainer. A few NDB's, Ltd panel, ILS etc.... Not unlike a CIR renewal.
If you are lucky enough to make it through chances are youll be off to Horn Island to fly one of the Bongo's. Before they let you loose on Horn, youll get about a months training in Cairns.
This training involves about a week for the acft engineering, two weeks for SOP and coastwatch type training then about 7 hrs fendorsement training then a base check which is essentially a CIR test/renewal. Incvluded is a low level component.
All training is conducted under a CAR 217 check and training organisation and is very thorough.
The company has very thorough SOP's and the ops manual runs to 15 volumes. Youll be examined on this stuff every few months.
Once youve passed the ground exams and the base check youll likely be off to HID. About 30 hours of line training with a C&T pilot and youll be let loose on the Torres.
Progression from the BN2 varies depending on requirements but at the moment, it seems to be about 12 months till you'd be an FO on the dash or a Capt on the 406. Good prospects for progression.
The flying is the most fun Ive ever had with my pants on. Lots of low level work and when youre doing a radar homing, inshore, at night below LSALT youre really glad you know your SOP's.
Base checks are every six months, with ground and an air component. The standard expected is very high and people do fail. DONT GET COMPLACENT !. A DHC8 captain with several thousand DHC8 hours from a regional airline did not pass his first sim check.
The travel is great too. After a few years in the job you will have seen nearly the whole coastline. The back-enders are mostly great and overnights are great fun.
Depending on your basing, expect to spend anything up to 15 nights away from home each month. All accomodation is to a very good standard and you are paid a healthy overnight allowance. Depending on the crew youre away with, expect to spend a significant amount of your allowance on beer!
The lifestyle is very well suited to those that are single. The roster does put a lot of pressure on families though. Due to the nature of the work, its not uncommon to only know whats going on a few days in advance. You will never be able to make plans more than a week in advance !.
The company has lost a few good people recently mainly due to rostering. Money is great - but after a while, it cannot compensate those whos families never see them.
Ive done a fair bit of different flying in my time and have now reached my initial goal of flying high cap. RPT. I love my current work however it will never compare to passing below the bridge of a ship at 200kts !.
Hope this info helps anyone whos looking at a career with Surveillance Aust.
As I hear that there are some interviews coming up, I thought the following might be some use to those hopefulls.....
Surveillance Australia are a subsidiary of National Jet Systems. The coastwatch contract is a substantial part of the NJS bottom line.
NJS is owned by the Cobham group of the UK who own several special mission type flying contracts/companies.
Surveillance Australia operate 6xBN2's, 5xDHC8, 3xF406 and 1xAC50. All aircraft were new at the start of the contract (except the AC500).
All aircraft are very well fitted out, and are maintained to Class A std.
The min hours required for employment are stipulated in the contract with Customs and are rarely relaxed. The mins are:
1500hrs TT
100Hrs NGT
3 IR renewals
Some multi time
The NGT hrs are not relaxed due to the CAO requirement for min 100hrs NGT for NGT surveillance below LASLT. I havent heard of the TT being relaxed either.
The three renewals however is occasionally relaxed as when you join teh company your IR is renewed and they will sometimes count this renewal to make up the three.
The recruitment process allows people of varying experience and background to have a go. There dosent appear to be any particular formula. We have recent had people in with 1500TT and people with 3000TT, 100 Hrs multi to 1500 Hrs multi.
I found the recruiting process is very 'sensible' - That is, you are not just judged on the numbers in your logbook. You are assessed as a complete package.
The interviewing is usually done in the companys office in Adelaide and usualy involves about an hours chat. Nothing too unusual here, a bit about yourself and your background, a little bit of tech stuff (CIR theory, ME theory etc), a bit about the company and its all fairly relaxed. They will also want to get an idea of your suitability for a security clearance as a few people have had problems in the past.
Then usualy a sim ride in a basic computer type synthetic trainer. A few NDB's, Ltd panel, ILS etc.... Not unlike a CIR renewal.
If you are lucky enough to make it through chances are youll be off to Horn Island to fly one of the Bongo's. Before they let you loose on Horn, youll get about a months training in Cairns.
This training involves about a week for the acft engineering, two weeks for SOP and coastwatch type training then about 7 hrs fendorsement training then a base check which is essentially a CIR test/renewal. Incvluded is a low level component.
All training is conducted under a CAR 217 check and training organisation and is very thorough.
The company has very thorough SOP's and the ops manual runs to 15 volumes. Youll be examined on this stuff every few months.
Once youve passed the ground exams and the base check youll likely be off to HID. About 30 hours of line training with a C&T pilot and youll be let loose on the Torres.
Progression from the BN2 varies depending on requirements but at the moment, it seems to be about 12 months till you'd be an FO on the dash or a Capt on the 406. Good prospects for progression.
The flying is the most fun Ive ever had with my pants on. Lots of low level work and when youre doing a radar homing, inshore, at night below LSALT youre really glad you know your SOP's.
Base checks are every six months, with ground and an air component. The standard expected is very high and people do fail. DONT GET COMPLACENT !. A DHC8 captain with several thousand DHC8 hours from a regional airline did not pass his first sim check.
The travel is great too. After a few years in the job you will have seen nearly the whole coastline. The back-enders are mostly great and overnights are great fun.
Depending on your basing, expect to spend anything up to 15 nights away from home each month. All accomodation is to a very good standard and you are paid a healthy overnight allowance. Depending on the crew youre away with, expect to spend a significant amount of your allowance on beer!
The lifestyle is very well suited to those that are single. The roster does put a lot of pressure on families though. Due to the nature of the work, its not uncommon to only know whats going on a few days in advance. You will never be able to make plans more than a week in advance !.
The company has lost a few good people recently mainly due to rostering. Money is great - but after a while, it cannot compensate those whos families never see them.
Ive done a fair bit of different flying in my time and have now reached my initial goal of flying high cap. RPT. I love my current work however it will never compare to passing below the bridge of a ship at 200kts !.
Hope this info helps anyone whos looking at a career with Surveillance Aust.
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Thanks for your post Ops Normal.
Sounds like a fantastic job. I put an application in but I am just a bit short in two areas so no look-in for me yet...
Very informative and helpful post - the best on the subject!
Sounds like a fantastic job. I put an application in but I am just a bit short in two areas so no look-in for me yet...
Very informative and helpful post - the best on the subject!
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A question about the 100hrs NGT: Is that 100hrs COMMAND or just 100hrs of any night experience?
Also if there are any current S.A./Customs pilots out there happy to comunicate and answer a few more questions would you kindly PM me or email me at [email protected]
Thanks guys
Also if there are any current S.A./Customs pilots out there happy to comunicate and answer a few more questions would you kindly PM me or email me at [email protected]
Thanks guys
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Not really appropriate for me to go into full detail of the specifics but the Bongo drivers (at HID particularly) would be the best paid in the world I reckon.
Interviews in the very near future my spys tell me.
Interviews in the very near future my spys tell me.
The 100 night is PiC but it is not a hard limit. The Islanders don't do night surveillance and an FO on the Dash is (obviously) not in command so doesn't require the night experience specifically.
Not quite having 100 hours night shouldn't be a valid reason to not apply. There is some flexibility there, whether they choose to use it is up to them I guess. You'd need to have other qualities that offset the night hours.
1500 total time is a hard limit (required by Coastwatch rather than SA) and is only relaxed if you have some previous coastwatch observer experience. I know of a couple of ex observers who ended up with flying jobs with SA.
A minor correction to Ops Normal's post, Surveillance Australia are no longer a subsidiary of National Jet. National Air Support is a sister company to National Jet (specialising in non RPT aviation contracts), SA is a subsidiary of NAS.
I'd agree that the Islander pilots are probably the best paid Bongo drivers in the universe, the Dash 8 pilots pay is not too far removed from what a Dash 8 RPT pilot gets.
The biggest gripe is the roster, it is not particularly stable, and due to the nature of the Coastwatch contract it will never be as stable as an RPT roster. But then RPT guys don't get to snot past a Cruise Liner at 200'/200kts.
Not quite having 100 hours night shouldn't be a valid reason to not apply. There is some flexibility there, whether they choose to use it is up to them I guess. You'd need to have other qualities that offset the night hours.
1500 total time is a hard limit (required by Coastwatch rather than SA) and is only relaxed if you have some previous coastwatch observer experience. I know of a couple of ex observers who ended up with flying jobs with SA.
A minor correction to Ops Normal's post, Surveillance Australia are no longer a subsidiary of National Jet. National Air Support is a sister company to National Jet (specialising in non RPT aviation contracts), SA is a subsidiary of NAS.
I'd agree that the Islander pilots are probably the best paid Bongo drivers in the universe, the Dash 8 pilots pay is not too far removed from what a Dash 8 RPT pilot gets.
The biggest gripe is the roster, it is not particularly stable, and due to the nature of the Coastwatch contract it will never be as stable as an RPT roster. But then RPT guys don't get to snot past a Cruise Liner at 200'/200kts.
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RPT guys don't get to snot past a Cruise Liner at 200'/200kts
also had the 'pleasure' of watching one of the aussie navy ships slip off the slip at Larrakeyah .. a few very good action photos taken on that flight ...
Was that in the Islander or F406? You were hanging out orbiting over town for some reason when the boat went crunch yeah? And I believe the aircraft ended up in the background on the footage for the news.
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actually .. we were inbound tracking COT for ldg on 036 .. we were in the 406 .. the thing slipped just as we tracked past, so, enterprising pilot (on the ball and asked for an orbit or 3) and quick thinking crew (unpacked the already packed/stowed flt bag) = lots of good photos and something not seen by many actually happening ...
and yep .. that was us in the background
and yep .. that was us in the background
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captain69
Come on then, don't keep us all in suspense.... who then has the worlds highest paid Islander pilots? I demand to know!!
God knows that for putting up with all that bloody noise and vibration
pilots and passengers alike deserve the highest financial compensation possible!
Come on then, don't keep us all in suspense.... who then has the worlds highest paid Islander pilots? I demand to know!!
God knows that for putting up with all that bloody noise and vibration
pilots and passengers alike deserve the highest financial compensation possible!
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OperationsNormal
This is the best thread, and most informative post I have seen on Surveillance Australia/ Coast watch. Thanks heaps. I have been interested with this organisation for a while now and not much informative information has been posted in the past.
A question-
Does everyone after training go to HID, on the BN2 or can you go to one of the other bases? Or how do you progress to other bases after HID. is it a bid type system?
Cheers!
This is the best thread, and most informative post I have seen on Surveillance Australia/ Coast watch. Thanks heaps. I have been interested with this organisation for a while now and not much informative information has been posted in the past.
A question-
Does everyone after training go to HID, on the BN2 or can you go to one of the other bases? Or how do you progress to other bases after HID. is it a bid type system?
Cheers!
A question-
Does everyone after training go to HID, on the BN2 or can you go to one of the other bases? Or how do you progress to other bases after HID. is it a bid type system?
Does everyone after training go to HID, on the BN2 or can you go to one of the other bases? Or how do you progress to other bases after HID. is it a bid type system?
Cairns is generally out of the question. Almost everyone would like to go there so a new BN2 pilot isn't likely to get in straight away. Darwin is the most likely non-HID first base for a new BN2 driver as the base population is quite transient there.
If you get based at HID there is the option of working in HID and getting time off in Cairns. I'm not sure how quickly you can get on to that. It's certainly not available straight away.
There is no bid system as such. If you want a transfer, then you let them know and they will give it consideration based on its merits. If there's more than one pilot wanting a spot then the decision will be made based entirely on performance and overall suitability for the position. There is no strict seniority system, though if you have no problems then you will generally get upgraded in turn.
Airspeed Ambassador
The contract expires over the next year or so. The different aircraft have different expirey dates. The BN2 is due to go first.
I have heard nothing from the company about the next contract. I would be surprised though, if the current contract was not extended. I would have thought that the tendering process would be more advanced than it is if they intend the current contract to expire on schedule.
The above is pure speculation on my behalf and the information should be treated with due caution.
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For info ..
the order of acft coming on line with the the present contract was BN2B, 406 then -8 .. the original contract had 9 +1 +1 year options for exactly this purpose .. allowing the tendering process to be adequately completed .. there would be mechanisms in place to cover any slippage ..
the only chat I have heard is the possibility of the Reims being replaced with possibly PC12 .. but there is a bit of angst ref a single engine acft over water .. and the inevitable chat about a jet of some sort for long range transit times being reduced ..
as always, cards are being kept pretty close to the chest .. for obvious reasons ..
the most likely base for Obs. is DWN having suffered a heavy loss due to the people leaving to take up other options interstate ..
it isn't always a gimmee that a BN2B driver will go to HID first .. it could be to another base most likely other than CS ..
the order of acft coming on line with the the present contract was BN2B, 406 then -8 .. the original contract had 9 +1 +1 year options for exactly this purpose .. allowing the tendering process to be adequately completed .. there would be mechanisms in place to cover any slippage ..
the only chat I have heard is the possibility of the Reims being replaced with possibly PC12 .. but there is a bit of angst ref a single engine acft over water .. and the inevitable chat about a jet of some sort for long range transit times being reduced ..
as always, cards are being kept pretty close to the chest .. for obvious reasons ..
the most likely base for Obs. is DWN having suffered a heavy loss due to the people leaving to take up other options interstate ..
it isn't always a gimmee that a BN2B driver will go to HID first .. it could be to another base most likely other than CS ..
Last edited by The Voice; 14th Mar 2004 at 22:40.
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Interesting - a quick read of the tender documents seems to indicate that only two aircraft types are likely, both radar equipped to cover both "Offshore" and "Inshore" surveillance.
Tender Documents
I am sure SA would tender with both the Dash 8 and alternatively a jet type to cover all bases for the "Offshore" platform. As for the "Inshore" platform I would think the Cessna Caravan with a radar looks good (PC-12 would be nicer - who cares if the wing is in the way!!)
Love the tender requirement relating to personnel -
Quote
"Tenderers shall advise their strategies for maximising personnel retention over the duration of the contract" Good luck on that front
AA
Tender Documents
I am sure SA would tender with both the Dash 8 and alternatively a jet type to cover all bases for the "Offshore" platform. As for the "Inshore" platform I would think the Cessna Caravan with a radar looks good (PC-12 would be nicer - who cares if the wing is in the way!!)
Love the tender requirement relating to personnel -
Quote
"Tenderers shall advise their strategies for maximising personnel retention over the duration of the contract" Good luck on that front
AA
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The Voice
also had the 'pleasure' of watching one of the aussie navy ships slip off the slip at Larrakeyah .. a few very good action photos taken on that flight ...
A beacon search in Darwin Harbour in the F406 when the controlled release of HMAS Gawler from its precarious perch on a broken lift went bad. It ended up with its stern and back deck underwater and the bow still on the lift.
Anyway there is no doubt that it’s a great job and you get to see some amazing sights.
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very interesting sea eagle
there were two events occuring with the navy vessels coming to grief on that particluar slip ..
perhaps we each are talking about a different event?
In any case .. Customs Cato and Navy Officer now retired to Tassie was pretty chuffed with the photos of the flight to which I was referring ..
sea eagle there were two events occuring with the navy vessels coming to grief on that particluar slip ..
perhaps we each are talking about a different event?
In any case .. Customs Cato and Navy Officer now retired to Tassie was pretty chuffed with the photos of the flight to which I was referring ..