SAPL Questions

[Double Wasp]

I have done a search on the subject and I still have a few questions.
There has been a lot of discussion about roster instability. Could someone define this? Are we talking about getting a call on your day off and offering overtime or does your roster change from a day off to a day on with six hours notice and no incentive(additonal pay) or replacement of said day?
And...
How many vacation days are allotted per year? Not talking GDO's here.
Thanks for the help.
DW

[Whitney]

The instability is due to the nature of the business, ie it is reactionary to the intel received by Customs that may require investigation.

So, as much as it is in place, it can be changed, but having said that, RDO's are like gold and treated as such as much as possible.

They can only be changed if outside a 7 day period without your consent, or within 7 days only by your consent.

The company is striving to have Customs work with them to negate this issue.

[AerocatS2A]

You get six weeks leave per year.

Roster stability is pretty much as described by Whitney. The talk is that the new contract starting January 2008 will allow a much more stable roster. Whether this actually happens or not, who knows? I think it will depend on having reasonable crew numbers.

[Double Wasp]

Thanks for the replies.
Is a Darwin basing a good possibility off the hop or does one have to go to Broome?
Thanks again.
DW

[AerocatS2A]

You should be able to get Darwin.

[gav_20022002]

New Contract and Rostering

From what i have heard about the new contract its definately in SAPL's favour for stability but as always $hit happens and there will be changes that will be bound to give some one the $hits. You cant please everyone.

If you get called in on your day off you get a call out fee, if they cant replace that day with another RDO somewhere in that block 28 day period you get a additional day allowance and they can both add up to a nice little sum.

The 6 weeks Aerocat refers to is 42 days a year however this INCLUDES public holidays, weekends etc.
10 sick days a yr aswell.

However you really only need to use them if you need to go away somewhere. There isnt much point taking days off to hang around Darwin as thats what standby days are for and you do get quite a few of them aswell

[Double Wasp]

The info is great folks.
So am I right to assume that Darwin is the largest base that SAPL has?
How is the lifestyle there? How many hours per month, averaged?
Thanks again
DW

[AerocatS2A]

Cairns is the largest base. It will have 4 Dash 8s and a central checking and training cell. Darwin will also have 4 Dash 8s but without the C&T infrastructure. I'm not sure about the Darwin life style. It used to be that they didn't go away much. The new contract is supposed to be relatively low hours for the crews, around 450 - 500 annually. But that will depend on having sufficient numbers.

[Dashunder]

From 10 years of experience the flying is great, rosters are s*%t, but that is due to the nature of the work (customs). Darwin lifestyle is excellent, however cost of living is way up there. Hope this helps.

Cheers

[Double Wasp]

I guess I should have put Darwin or Cairns as a good possibility for a base. Darwin is better than Broome and Cairns is better than Darwin as far as the wife is concerned.
Dashunder, it all helps mate so thanks for the reply. Actually thanks to all for the great responses to this thread, it has been very helpful.
DW

[gav_20022002]

"Darwin lifestyle is excellent, however cost of living is way up there. Hope this helps."

Broome is way more expensive.

with regards to which base from what i have seen you say what base u want and unless there is a dire shortage at another base u get the one your after or work out a deal where you agree to do 6-12-18mths at a certain base 1st before you get your "choice base"
however i cant say thats completely going to happen but has seemed to in the past

[Double Wasp]

Just one more Q.

Hello all,
Just looking for a bit more info. I am thinkin of applying for a Dash capt. position. From what I understand Darwin is the base that is being assigned as that is where the main shortage is and transfer to a Cairns base is on seniority. Does anyone happen to know the approx timeline to get a Cairns basing. I don't have a problem with Darwin it is just Cairns is preferable.
Thanks
DW

[gav_20022002]

probably lookoing at around 12 months in darwin before a transfer and we are now getting a few overnights as the 4th dash is actually broomes 2nd but being crewed by us so we are doing 4 day darwin truscott broome truscott darwin trips and a bit over in weipa. they arnt great trips like cairns do but hey, its still extra money

[Double Wasp]

Thanks Gav
I appreciate the response. 12 months is not a big deal. Have a good one mate.
DW

[AerocatS2A]

Darwin's 4th Dash is Broome's 3rd actually, but otherwise yeah, what he said. Also Broome is the base that is most in need of captains (that's why Darwin is crewing the 3rd Dash.)

[YSSY sider]

What about Observers? I see they are recruiting again. I assuming Cairns base would be on seniority too, same as pilots. Would a newbee be sent staright to Broome???

[gav_20022002]

u can say your preferences for bases and give reasons and they are pretty good with that. I dont know why everyone screams for cairns. yeah they get some good trips that are always being taken by the denior check and trainers and thats pretty much how it works, if you want to have fun in your job and enjoy the people you work with come to darwin, its got the best morale of any of the bases. i dont really see how transfers work on a seniority thing. it just seems that if you join the company you need to do a year where u are and then can move to another base. SAPL holds courses about every 3 months so the tend to keep advertising on the net and papers.

[YSSY sider]

Thanks gav. Only prefer Cairns as I think it would be better for the missus.
Does anybody know what sort of $$ Observers are on being all electronic now??

Thanks

YSSY

[Whiskey Oscar Golf]

Roster stability related to "intel" from ACS! Whoever makes calls like that is listeninng to good old REG in ADL. Tell him he's dreaming, rostering stability comes from having the right amount staff to fly the contracted hours. Until they recruit the right amount of people and pay market rates the rosters will be all over the place. Good luck though and it's good fun with good crews. Groundhog 1 Groundhog 2 all aboard.

[Double Wasp]

Thanks to all for the replies.
DW