Skytrans or Surveillance Australia?

[piston captain]

As the topic says, who is best to apply for?
I've heard good things about both,

Conditions?
Location?
Progression?

Any help would be great.

Cheers

[captwawa]

Hi N.G.

[Capt Claret]

I know nothing about Skytrans and only a little about SA but surely you'd apply to both?

[redsnail]

Skytrans is a very good operator based in Cairns. Apparently they're having difficulty hanging onto their pilots as the bigger airlines hoover them up. Predominantly RPT.

Surveillance is a different kettle of fish operations wise. Again, very good, not bad T&Cs and reasonable progression.

Apply to both.

[piston captain]

Ok lets say both came up, who would be the one to go for?

I don't have a lot of info other than you start on HID with surveillance, Skytrans asks for 3 months on HID minimum with a 12month contract.

[Bendy]

Piston

Stay with either company and eventually you will end up with a turbine job. SA will get you higher up the turbine tree but it may take you longer to get there.

SA is a great operation, Skytrans is (reportedly) a good outfit to work for (no personal experience there, but I know a few ex employees)

At the end of the day, you would not turn your back on either operation. As redders says, go hard with both. If you get in with either, you will be very happy

Cheers

Bendy

[The Voice]

for my two cents worth .. both operators have a different core business.

Not all SA pilots start on the Bn2B .. which is the only type based on HID. It could depend if the requirement at the time of the job offer is for one of the other types and they may need someone already endorsed on that type, or if they need several Bn2B drivers at the same time.

I guess it would come down to whether you wanted to fly RPT or low level .. contracts with SA are longer than 12 months. I can only talk of SA experience wise, and can't say I've heard too many grumbles from any of the staff.

[Gear in transit]

So to those who are/have been there, whats it like to live on HID?

[AerocatS2A]

Even if you get given a BN2 job with SA there's still a chance that they'll send you to Broome or Darwin rather than HID. They won't send you to Cairns though, that comes later--if you want it.

I love my flying with SA, I know nothing about Skytrans, I also know the odd SA pilot who "don't like mucking around low level" and would rather fly RPT. Also bear in mind that the Coastwatch contract only has a little more than two years to run.

[maxgrad]

Any ideas on who may get the gurnsey for the next contract?