Too late for 2022?
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Australia
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My first VFR job in GA involved a quick chat with the boss that went like this. (things were a bit different back in 1973)
If you decide to depart with paying passengers and don't make the destination due weather you are fired, however if you decide not to depart in the first place that is all ok!!
Had the due effect about assessing en route wx very carefully.
If you decide to depart with paying passengers and don't make the destination due weather you are fired, however if you decide not to depart in the first place that is all ok!!
Had the due effect about assessing en route wx very carefully.
A practice I remember this GA Ready mob did... they had their GA Ready students manning their front desk and running around like headless chooks during the day trying to look as hard working as possible to try and score a gig after their $4k had been taken. They weren't being paid for their work - they were paying for the privilege of learning "customer service skills".
My first VFR job in GA involved a quick chat with the boss that went like this. (things were a bit different back in 1973)
If you decide to depart with paying passengers and don't make the destination due weather you are fired, however if you decide not to depart in the first place that is all ok!!
If you decide to depart with paying passengers and don't make the destination due weather you are fired, however if you decide not to depart in the first place that is all ok!!
Reminds me of when I first started flying DC3s to the Shetlands. After a minimal training period (6 sectors) I was turned loose with a low time F/O. I had no experience of North Sea flying conditions, and got caught out by sea fog at Sumburgh and had to turn back. Next day, same thing, missed approach and back to Aberdeen, yet a couple of French chicks in a Falcon jet had landed just ahead of me. But not a word of criticism from the Chief Pilot - presumably because sea fog in those parts back then was not accurately forecast. When I finally did scrape in, I heard that the French lady Captain had crossed herself fervently and went for her rosary beads when the fog cleared enough for her to see just how gnarly the terrain around the airport was. She had never been there before, whereas I at least had seen the place during those initial six sectors and was suitably fearful of going more than a couple of hundred feet below minima (I know, naughty naughty, but that's what we did back then) while she must have drilled down almost to the runway without seeing a thing.
In answer to the original question:
A GA Ready course ? You'll get that at your job as soon as you finish the induction paperwork - they won't send you anywhere until they're happy you can handle all the weird stuff that will happen. People above have mentioned fuel drums, pax handling, oil changes, yeah, all that. However even if your GA Ready course gives you one extra little factoid that a company may later miss, that may pay off later and it should be worth it. How much are you paying ?
What you should be getting in any course or in your company is having your head stuffed full of information hard-won by others, a good set of your own hand scrawled notes, your hands on as much as can fit into hours in the day, and physically hammered to acclimatise to flying in the bush because to do it properly you need to do it at a pace that I call 'airborne labouring'. At the end of each day of your course, be it GA-R or post company induction, you need to be full and ready for a big feed and a snooze, and that needs to go on for 1-2 weeks. If you finish the day clean and relaxed, then you're not getting what you need.
Too late for 2022?
No, it's too late for 2021 but not for 2022. You won't get a job here unless you come here and stay here and keep in contact with the operators here and as many people as you can.A GA Ready course ? You'll get that at your job as soon as you finish the induction paperwork - they won't send you anywhere until they're happy you can handle all the weird stuff that will happen. People above have mentioned fuel drums, pax handling, oil changes, yeah, all that. However even if your GA Ready course gives you one extra little factoid that a company may later miss, that may pay off later and it should be worth it. How much are you paying ?
What you should be getting in any course or in your company is having your head stuffed full of information hard-won by others, a good set of your own hand scrawled notes, your hands on as much as can fit into hours in the day, and physically hammered to acclimatise to flying in the bush because to do it properly you need to do it at a pace that I call 'airborne labouring'. At the end of each day of your course, be it GA-R or post company induction, you need to be full and ready for a big feed and a snooze, and that needs to go on for 1-2 weeks. If you finish the day clean and relaxed, then you're not getting what you need.
Definitely not too late to try get a job at a certain Jabiru based operator, just heard they've lost a few pilots very recently, although I won't say why. Would love to hear Flying Bear's thoughts on this one 
Last edited by IO520L; 20th May 2022 at 19:07.
I'm hearing 5 pilots quit last week over a "safety incident". Senior Base and CP included in those five.
Even the CP?! Hopefully that will finally make CASA put some effort into looking into all the illegal practices that a certain person there forces on employees. Oh sorry, did I say illegal practices, oops, I meant tEaMwOrK. Regardless, it's clearly a reflection of the company, or certain people within its disregard for employees to have so many leave. But I guess it's only a matter of time before some more courses can be pumped out. I hear that they've already pushed a couple through a lot faster than normal, so would be interesting to see the quality of product there now.
