Too late for 2022?
 

Hi Gents,

Smashed out a couple hundred hours over the east coast during lockdown after finishing my CPL and trying my luck in Darwin. Have sent resumes to all my contacts but haven't had an offer worth taking yet.. Just wondering if it's too late to head up and knock on some doors for the coming season. Hoping to get in and out asap.

Cheers
FF

Hey mate in a similar boat having just got up here last month. I’ve had a chat to a few of the guys who have been up here for a few months and they’re seen some decent movement and joy.

Apparently a few people have had some success after doing one of the ga ready courses. So that may be a useful option.

I imagine with all the airlines hiring at the moment things should only improve.

Just get up there and give it a crack mate. There’s no timing involved it’s 75% just walking through the right door on the right day and knowing your stuff.
If your inclination is to do a GA course that may open a couple doors within the group of companies that offers the course, just make sure you do it in Darwin if you do (vs the courses offered down south).

I would be interested to hear what is contained in a “GA ready course”. Thanks.

you have to live in a shipping container and eat rice for a month

and fly clapped out cessnas that may be older than your parents

GA Ready
 

'GA Ready' means several things. The main meaning is that a pilot is ready to start operating the next day without having to be re-trained to be able to be a commercial pilot.
These days the flight schools, in particular the sausage factories, get a pilot to CPL stage but few take it to a point where the new CPL holder is really ready for CPL work. There is an expectation that the new employer will do all that but at his expense. One or two firms offer GA Ready courses. What does that mean?
having time in an aircraft that is the type that GA Charter firms operate. Having a Dangerous Goods Awareness Certificate. Having done a water course with a life jacket on regardless if you are at Alice Springs (get some photos to show that you got wet!). Maybe having a First Aid course under your belt and a certificate to show that. Do you have a small bus drivers ticket such that you can drive the customers from their motel to the ready aircraft and drive them back afterwards. Being able to turn up for work in a clean pressed shirt and shiny boots even if they will be dusty before the day is out.
Having done some time in a workshop and able to change the engine oil and filter - and sign that off on the MR!. Turning up for work so that the flight gets away at XX time and not a half hour late. Have a smile on your face when you greet the customers, the people who will be paying your salary. Being able to convince the customers that you as a pilot will get them there and back in one piece and on time. Do you have time landing at dirt and grass strips? Do you have an awareness of what to be careful with landing at one of those strips. Can you do a trim sheet quick smart? Being able to have enough fuel for the flight and a reserve but not always departing on full tanks. A real worry for rookies. Can you fly on charts as well as an ipad or glass screen for navigation. Do you have a plan B on paper or in mind in case there is an issue. Can you look after an aircraft and no expect the next pilot to clean it and top the oil and fuel up. Do you know how to tie an aircraft down properly? Do you have a NVFR ticket and night time flying in case you get back on dusk/after dark? Do you know the last light at the destination for the day? Can you operate independently and not expect to be spoon fed? An operations manager can only do so much and that does not include wiping your nether regions. Are you familiar with the aircraft type that you will be operating? Knowing the usable fuel capacity. Not over or under filling the oil. Is the machine 12 or 24 volts? Having a mobile phone that will operate in that area. having remote area experience. Able to refill from a 200 litre drum. No pump? How do you get around that? having a few very basic tools of your own in the aircraft.
Having enough experience to be able to fly commercially. That is simple but not always the case with new CPL holders.
The list could go on.
Not having an attitude that now you have a CPL that a charter operator owes you a job!
Commercial operators please add to the above.

If the above needs to be taught in a "GA Ready" course after you've completed CPL training I think you're a little beyond aviation employment. Probably best looking for other work.

A bit tough there, tossbag, IMO.

Does the average flying school arrange for its students to get a small bus licence? I doubt it, but I reckon it’s a very useful qualification for many ‘outback’ GA commercial pilots to have.

What about doing an oil and oil filter change? I reckon it’s a very useful competence for many ‘outback’ GA commercial pilots to have, but also reckon there are many pilots who shouldn’t be let loose with any tool much pointier than a pencil!

Yeah, maybe so but:

If you need an additional course after a CPL to learn the above....................

How ever did we do it in the old days :rolleyes::ugh:

In the old days we had employers who had come up the hard way themselves. They told us or taught us what was needed. Most also had the decency to cover our costs if they required some extra approval, like changing spark plugs or tyres, and had the commonsense to send us out on our first one or two trips with a supervisory pilot. Anyone who did not scrub up was not invited to stay.
Seems to me these ‘GA Ready’ wankathons are more about spoon feeding operators who are incapable of running basic induction. Is proper induction not an operator responsibility in aviation? It sure as hell is in most industries these days.

Bloody hell. There has never been a better time to be a newby pilot looking for a first job in the last 25 years. Probably 30.

if you need help getting a first / junior job now, from what I’m hearing from within industry and seeing advertised about the place, I’d respectfully say you might need to reassess things.

Looks like another way of extracting money by dangling the proverbial ‘you won’t work for us without doing this course.’

Generally, you would just get checked out by the boss then spend a week with another pilot while you got your bearings.

Yep, I left all of that stuff out of my reply. Bus ticket, first aid, dangerous goods...............where does it end with this stuff?

Many of the points above, criticising GA Ready courses, are quite valid - but they rely on the notion that newly minted CPLs are trained by experienced Instructors, rather than last year’s graduates who are simply chasing hours…

Let me assure you, as one who runs these courses, that I wish I did not have to…

Let me also assure you, that a city kid who is the product of a so-called airline academy / sausage factory, who has learnt to fly in a Diamond or similar from a kid who hasn’t flown anywhere other than the Jandakot circuit, is absolutely not ready for work in GA.

Whatever happened to schools teaching the right attitudes for the workplace?

Mostly gone… hence GA Ready - our mechanism to try and keep our charter operations from being exploited by the grossly underprepared.

Does your GA Ready course include a session on understanding Award pay rates?

The employer?

we generally find the young ones are well versed in those already - entitlements more so than obligations…

But to address your point - absolutely. We are fairly strong in our advice that junior pilots should not work for less than entitled conditions and explain some of the “tricks” that are commonly used - some legal, others not…

However, at the same time we advocate that they should give above themselves as they see fit - because they need to establish their own professional reputation / credibility and secure a recommendation for the next step in their career. The first flying job should be seen by the junior pilot as an investment in their future - put in the hard yards, reap the rewards of that when they are seen as an attractive proposition by the next bigger operator. May not seem fair, but that’s the reality - let’s face it, it’s not just some small GA operators that exploit the labour market…

The idea of building credibility is something very valuable that is not an Award entitlement.

If you can't weed out "grossly underprepared" pilots during an interview/check flight and instead direct them to your flight training business that's a bit dubious.

When your companies require the paid course before employment that's downright shady.