Commercial Aviation Pay Rates
Interesting thread & a subject I have pondered often - I have a trade & once I had enough money from the mines to get my CPL(H) I moved into aviation & spent many years going broke - back to the mines for more money - back to aviation to go broke again - back to the mines for more money - back to aviation to go broke again, you get the picture. After a few years of this I was experienced enough to get "lucky" (read lots of hard work & humble pie) & became gainfully employed flying & earning reasonable money, but I could see that financially I was standing still while the world roared past me. 2 1/2 years ago I left aviation(AGAIN!!) & went overseas in the mining game & now I'm back in Aus, still mining & earning big bucks, company house, car, super etc, etc, etc. The mining industry makes you feel that they actually WANT you to work for them as opposed to many aviation companies which make you feel as though they are doing you a favour by giving you a job. Having said that, now that I am a little better off financially I spend a lot of time calculating how I can get my backside out of this office & back into a helicopter. It all comes down to what makes you tick, & fixing big trucks doesn't do it for me. Door #1 - Mining, great money, no job satisfaction, do it 'cause I have to. Door #2 - Aviation, love flying, variety of tasks, great satisfaction, just enough money to live on, do it 'cause I love it. My calculator says stay mining, my heart says go flying - I'll have to get back to you on which door I choose.
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I don't know what you do in your 45min/60min pre departure sign on period, your turnarounds, and your post flight 15min+ sign off period mate, but most of the guys around me were/are pretty f'ing busy.
Why not apply a little test.. Stuff signing on, turn up at the door of your aircraft three minutes before scheduled departure time and say "I'm here!" Then when you park it, sit there and scratch your arse during turnarounds. Get interested again when its time to start engines. After you shutdown at the end of the last flight, p!ss off home immediately, bypass the office, your pen never having left its pocket.
You'd be in for tea and bikkies immediately. Do that twice and you would be out of a job.
Last time I looked, us pilots were responsible for...
Dragging our own briefings out of NAIPS/Avfax
Reading and interpreting Wx and NOTAMS
Completing a flight plan and calculating fuel requirements
Submitting flight details
Thinking strategically about the day ahead and organising fuel uplifts and calculating loads and providing the same to the groundies
Preparing the aircraft for flight. Preflight inspection, reviewing maintenance documentation, application of OMEL and effects on the days flying, cockpit setup, program the box/setup for departure.
Take on fuel. Load pax and freight safely.
Get a clearance.
Start the engines
Shut down engines.
Disembark pax and unload freight safely.
Fill in maintenance log(s). Administer pax and load documentation.
Check wx.
Get ATIS, clearance, set up aircraft for departure.
Load next lot of pax and freight safely.
Start engines
Shutdown.
Disembark pax etc.
Post flight activities... maintenance logs, liaise with engineering if required.
Tie it down/secure it/hand it over.
Back to the office, submit paperwork etc, flight and duty administration, etc.
Take another look at the Act/CAR/CASR/CAO etc etc etc and all the above that takes place is your responsibility, has to be done properly, and by you. I'd call that WORKING.
Trying to organise a clutch of tourists onto a C206 for a Rock scenic, turning round a C402 in 15 minutes at Pirlangimpi, or turning around an A320 in 25 minutes at Cooly, it bloody feels like work!
Don't use the half arsed arguments against your own profession that the second class managers and beancounters trot out.
Kill this stupid idea that you and I only "work" 700-800 hr a year.
Work time is ... on duty. And in that respect most CPL and ATPL are doing way more than a 38hr week.
Rant over.
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ICTZ
Torres will laugh his arse off at that one.
You might not have picked that he is an aviation management/beancounter type!
edited to add: Sorry - I also meant to say that yours is a good point well made, ICTZ
Torres will laugh his arse off at that one.
You might not have picked that he is an aviation management/beancounter type!
edited to add: Sorry - I also meant to say that yours is a good point well made, ICTZ
Last edited by Bendo; 30th Dec 2006 at 12:05.
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