RFDS vs RPT
 

G'day there,

I am just trying to work out which career path to take. Flying for the RFDS in a PC12/B200 or flying for a Regional in something like a Saab or Dash 8.

I am interested in the pro's and con's of each and what other pilots prefer (in particular those who have done both types of flying).

Like, in general, which is the better job/career path to take ?

Thanks.

John,

Having flown B200 for the NTAMS (Northern Territory Aerial Medical Service) which is much the same as RFDS and RPT Dash8, my take would be ....

Aeromedical can give one a great sense of community service. Some places are interesting, others demoralising. My shifts, almost all on-call, in the early 90's were something like, 5days 0600-1800, 2days off, 5 nights 1800-0600, 3 or 4 days off, start all over again.

Some times one wouldn't fly for two weeks, other times one was shagged. Overall, I though it a great lifestyle for a family person, as signifficant time home was available to spend with partner/kids, though it could be a little uncertain.

The down sides are, being on-call for night shift, where the phone inevitably goes just after you get into bed. I recall one night where I did 3 separate retrievals, each one being phoned through after returning to bed from the previous sortie.

By the time I left in June '95 I was quite saddened that much of our work was as a result of alcohol abuse.

Now, DH8 RPT. That was most enjoyable. The Dash is a great machine with no vices that come to mind, save it being a prick-of-a-thing to land smoothly.

All depends on what lifestyle you want.
I am with NTAMS,(see above) now. I have kids and a life outside aviation. The work is challenging, Black hole approaches, bad weather....... but very enjoyable.
Never know where you will fly next and often changes mid flight.
The hours can be long and call outs can sometimes make life difficult but there are shifts where the hardest thing you will do is carry your mobile around.
Never done set RPT ops. My GUESS is after medivac work, RPT can either be a welcome break or down right boring.

The experience requirements for regionals and medivac are similar so just give it a go and see what happens. If you want to be a medivac pilot then you will want to live in the boonies. The city bases are usually very hard to get if not impossible (ie Perth for RFDS Western). Some of the more romantic places you could be sent to as a medivac pilot are, Gove, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Port Augusta, Mount Isa, Derby, Port Hedland, Meekatharra, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Charlaville, (spell?) etc etc. Eastern section RFDS is in the city but the most of it is in the boonies.

If you want city living then stick with the regionals.

John
What hours do you have, Iam with a RFDS unit at the moment and after flying RPT, I prefer the RFDS side, every day is different, true about shift work, but you get used to it.
RFDS pay is ok and they give you some allowances as well, it is all up to you

Never had any desire to fly RPT, so my opinion is a little biased. RFDS was the most rewarding flying I have done to date, although the lifestyle as mentioned above can be a little unusual/irregular.

If you can sleep well and soundly anywhere anytime, that helps enormously in coping with the varied lifestyle (particulalry if you're on night shift from home and you don't know whether you're going to get a callout).

Fantastic flying, and very rewarding. The look on people's faces when you pull up at the end of a kero lit strip in the middle of nowhere at 0330 makes it all worth while.

As for a career path, well nowdays you can very easily do both.

CS

hello cs how.s it going up there

Save yourself the expense of having to purchase an endorsement with a regional (and the crap pay) and go fly for the RFDS. If you are looking to the majors for future employment, they look at both jobs as a very favourable background.

Good luck ! ;)

Good luck to you if you EVER get the chance of one of them being offered to you let alone both of them at the same time for you to ever have to make the choice!

But good luck just the same.