Canada: Training & Employment prospects
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Better yet, try www.caaviation.com
500 hrs won't get you much work, perhaps up north in BC in the onshore Oil and gas fields.
I'm not exactly who "approves" mountain courses, but you'd be looking at a minimum of 20-25 hours at a reputable school. ie BC Helicopters, Chinook, Valley, VIH (or whatever they call themselves now), CHC, etc, etc
500 hrs won't get you much work, perhaps up north in BC in the onshore Oil and gas fields.
I'm not exactly who "approves" mountain courses, but you'd be looking at a minimum of 20-25 hours at a reputable school. ie BC Helicopters, Chinook, Valley, VIH (or whatever they call themselves now), CHC, etc, etc
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Chances are slim to ahh none.. though a few companys pick the odd low time guy, usually someone they know or who has been hounding them for years... It can be a meat grinder just to talk with the CP.... for example: I am young, hungry, have several thousand hours, mostly utility, mtn, sling, alaska time, astar-500-206L , lic and legal to work in the US /Canada and only in the last 3 months did I get past the secretary/screener at 407D's company, after a couple of years of trying... oh and I tried...and keep trying....
The coast can be a challenging enviroment... steep, ****ty wx, demanding customers who dont want to fly with low time guys, oh and big trees, did I mention bad wx and high winds this time of year... Some of the things you need to be able to do on the coast is not 500 hr guy stuff. I know you got to learn somewhere.
As for the mtn course, what they are looking for is something approved by BC forestry.. Most operators do it in house.
Try some of the other prov or up north in the territorys...
good luck
rb
407D: may do one more contract shift up north before AK... and may drive so I can do a little skiing. Kicking Horse is # one on list for next month... up for having luch with me if your not sucking pastry's at the lodge?
RB
The coast can be a challenging enviroment... steep, ****ty wx, demanding customers who dont want to fly with low time guys, oh and big trees, did I mention bad wx and high winds this time of year... Some of the things you need to be able to do on the coast is not 500 hr guy stuff. I know you got to learn somewhere.
As for the mtn course, what they are looking for is something approved by BC forestry.. Most operators do it in house.
Try some of the other prov or up north in the territorys...
good luck
rb
407D: may do one more contract shift up north before AK... and may drive so I can do a little skiing. Kicking Horse is # one on list for next month... up for having luch with me if your not sucking pastry's at the lodge?
RB
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oh and big trees, did I mention bad wx and high winds this time of year... Some of the things you need to be able to do on the coast is not 500 hr guy stuff.
Firstly, what does big trees have to do with flying?
Secondly, I was simply looking for advice not someone to tell me that I can't handle certain weather conditions and big trees, all because I only have 500hrs.
Also what were you doing when you had 500hrs... looking for some friendly advice perhaps on how to move up in the industry?
If had the same amount of hours as yourself would that make it alright for me to fly a AS350/500/206 in crap weather?
I'm just curious...
Thanks guys for all your replies, very kind. HH
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Lunch it is RB 
, give me a call when you're heading out this way....
Haggis, Big trees = big problems,
I'd bet that you'd have no problems in descending your aircraft into any regular confined area...now imagine that same confined area when the trees are 200+ feet tall. The problems increase. The bottom is dark, what looked like a bit of brush on the forest floor during your initial recce turns into good sized re-gen, and that smooth flat forest floor now is too steep to land on.....
Try delivering a net load of gear to someone down there on a 200'+ line, don't be dragging their valuble load through the branches as you thread the line down, and try and estimate height as you peer down at then in the darkness below the forest canopy.
...got the load to them OK??, now you have to get back to camp with that same 200'+ line dangling around behind you ...in coastal crap Wx and fog layers.
My hat is off to any of the coastal boys, I have it easy in the rockpile. Our trees only get to 140 ft tall max, and there isn't any trees at all in the way when we operate over 7200 ft ASL.
RB may be cutting straight to the point without any sugar-coating, but he is completely correct !
, give me a call when you're heading out this way....Haggis, Big trees = big problems,
I'd bet that you'd have no problems in descending your aircraft into any regular confined area...now imagine that same confined area when the trees are 200+ feet tall. The problems increase. The bottom is dark, what looked like a bit of brush on the forest floor during your initial recce turns into good sized re-gen, and that smooth flat forest floor now is too steep to land on.....
Try delivering a net load of gear to someone down there on a 200'+ line, don't be dragging their valuble load through the branches as you thread the line down, and try and estimate height as you peer down at then in the darkness below the forest canopy.
...got the load to them OK??, now you have to get back to camp with that same 200'+ line dangling around behind you ...in coastal crap Wx and fog layers.
My hat is off to any of the coastal boys, I have it easy in the rockpile. Our trees only get to 140 ft tall max, and there isn't any trees at all in the way when we operate over 7200 ft ASL.
RB may be cutting straight to the point without any sugar-coating, but he is completely correct !
Last edited by 407 Driver; 31st Jan 2005 at 21:53.
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I started out in the Oil and Gas fields of northern BC and Alberta at 100 hours TT. Easy work, nothing to bump into, big landing areas at well sites....just couldn't navigate over those flat muskegs.
Crazy Scandihooligan
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Rose Coloured Spectacles
ecnalumba
If you actually met the guy and knew how many decades of experience he had, then you would never have made such a comment 
(Sorry about the decades bit 407D). They never had helicopters in the day of the May flower..!! I think Leonardo was just inventing them, then 
NO I was infact 300 years out.. DOH!
Haggis Hunter
You are going to need more than 500 hours TT to work at Alpine Helicopters my friend. Try thousands and thousands. Good luck with your hunt in the interior.
I guess that a job at Alpine is a Gucci job eh? Top of the line and very expensive to hire, BUT almost hard to beat !!)
407 Driver
Well said, and if i had as much experience i would be dancing with the trees like you. Safe flying and thanks for the meet back in Dec.
Ground Effect
I guess if you are going to get noticed in B.C. Then you are going to have to do the Canadian Helicopters Course (Full 75 Hours @ 75,000 CAD$) at Penticton. I think people might take you seriously after that, but that is no disrespect to the other courses .i.e ViH etc...
MD
I think that 407 driver came over on the mayflower
(Sorry about the decades bit 407D). They never had helicopters in the day of the May flower..!! I think Leonardo was just inventing them, then NO I was infact 300 years out.. DOH!Haggis Hunter
You are going to need more than 500 hours TT to work at Alpine Helicopters my friend. Try thousands and thousands. Good luck with your hunt in the interior.
I guess that a job at Alpine is a Gucci job eh? Top of the line and very expensive to hire, BUT almost hard to beat !!)407 Driver
Well said, and if i had as much experience i would be dancing with the trees like you. Safe flying and thanks for the meet back in Dec.
Ground Effect
I guess if you are going to get noticed in B.C. Then you are going to have to do the Canadian Helicopters Course (Full 75 Hours @ 75,000 CAD$) at Penticton. I think people might take you seriously after that, but that is no disrespect to the other courses .i.e ViH etc...
MD
Last edited by MD900 Explorer; 1st Feb 2005 at 02:05.
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Hey MD900, thanks. Ecnalubma is an old friend, and regularily pokes fun at me. I don't kow why, as I NEVER slag him publically. ..but there was this one time I backed into his new car and sort of wrecked it bad...I told him I was sorry 
Oh, nice handle, but I figured you out in about 5 seconds !
MD900, shame we picked the foggiest day to take you for a spin in the Rockies. How have you been doing over there on the RH side of the pond?
..but there was this one time I backed into his new car and sort of wrecked it bad...I told him I was sorry Oh, nice handle, but I figured you out in about 5 seconds !
MD900, shame we picked the foggiest day to take you for a spin in the Rockies. How have you been doing over there on the RH side of the pond?
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Know I feel bad, I have flown many times with 407 driver and on a couple of occasions I even opened my eyes. The unfortunate thing is that we both have been doing our prospective jobs for about as many years.
407 driver
I should have been a little more clever with picking my name this time.
Hope to see you this summer on my regular swing through your neck of the woods trying to convince Dr. Death to find the key to his ball and chain and do a little golfing.
Regards
ecnalubma
407 driver
I should have been a little more clever with picking my name this time.
Hope to see you this summer on my regular swing through your neck of the woods trying to convince Dr. Death to find the key to his ball and chain and do a little golfing.
Regards
ecnalubma
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407 Driver,
Could you give some more information on the work you did on the oil and gas fields, I am just looking for work to build up my experience and also am planing on moving to BC, so any other information would be well appreciated! I wasn't looking at Alpine, just trying to get an overall idea of what's happening over "the other side of the pond".
Thanks, HH
Could you give some more information on the work you did on the oil and gas fields, I am just looking for work to build up my experience and also am planing on moving to BC, so any other information would be well appreciated! I wasn't looking at Alpine, just trying to get an overall idea of what's happening over "the other side of the pond".
Thanks, HH
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As ecnalubma says, it was long ago when I had 500 hours.
Not sure what they may do now, but if it's like any other industry, things are probably similar?
We'd take pipeline crews out to various stations, they'd do what pipeline guys do, fiddle with valves, let sour (poison) gas vent and try and kill you.
We'd take surveyors out and move them around all day
( read...sit at -30 C and fly a 0.2 ever 2 hours).
We'd do crew changes to the big drill rigs, ( read....drunken 20 year old rig-pigs, with 0 brains, and several fingers missing).
Generally, we'd do anything that they would normally use a truck for, but the roads were impassible or non-existant.
Generally easy flying, and always good landing sites, as a standard oil or gas well lease site was about 200' x 200', smooth and flat.
The navigation was difficult, but I was there before GPS, so we did the compass and watch thing...fly 263 degrees for an hour, check the odd geographic landmark whenever possible ( a lake, a creek bend?) and viola, a rig would generally appear in the windscreen out of the 2 miles in light snow. If it didn't, you better decide quickly if it may be L or R, still ahead, or behind you !
Today, just punch in the coordinates, and you're there......until the GPS fails (??)
Summers in the BC - AB north were great, lots of tree planting and forest fires. Planting consisted of flying 20- 30 planters in, then sling boxes of trees all day, hundreds of hours of work every year. Most roads were winter only, so they'd log all winter, and use helcicopters to do all of the silviculture work in the summers. It may mean landing in weedy swampy overgrown spots, but after a bit of practice and experience, you'd be blown away where a 206 on high gear can land. You'd always hope for 2 things...a french-canadian group of female treeplanters and a hot day. They'd give you quite a show, as they stripped down to stay cool !
(hey, I was 20 back then !)
Not sure what they may do now, but if it's like any other industry, things are probably similar?
We'd take pipeline crews out to various stations, they'd do what pipeline guys do, fiddle with valves, let sour (poison) gas vent and try and kill you.
We'd take surveyors out and move them around all day
( read...sit at -30 C and fly a 0.2 ever 2 hours).
We'd do crew changes to the big drill rigs, ( read....drunken 20 year old rig-pigs, with 0 brains, and several fingers missing).
Generally, we'd do anything that they would normally use a truck for, but the roads were impassible or non-existant.
Generally easy flying, and always good landing sites, as a standard oil or gas well lease site was about 200' x 200', smooth and flat.
The navigation was difficult, but I was there before GPS, so we did the compass and watch thing...fly 263 degrees for an hour, check the odd geographic landmark whenever possible ( a lake, a creek bend?) and viola, a rig would generally appear in the windscreen out of the 2 miles in light snow. If it didn't, you better decide quickly if it may be L or R, still ahead, or behind you !
Today, just punch in the coordinates, and you're there......until the GPS fails (??)
Summers in the BC - AB north were great, lots of tree planting and forest fires. Planting consisted of flying 20- 30 planters in, then sling boxes of trees all day, hundreds of hours of work every year. Most roads were winter only, so they'd log all winter, and use helcicopters to do all of the silviculture work in the summers. It may mean landing in weedy swampy overgrown spots, but after a bit of practice and experience, you'd be blown away where a 206 on high gear can land. You'd always hope for 2 things...a french-canadian group of female treeplanters and a hot day. They'd give you quite a show, as they stripped down to stay cool !
(hey, I was 20 back then !)
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Hey guys, I've been lurking around these parts for a while now and since this is a BC job thread I thought I would ask a training question. I've decided to finally take the plunge into the heli business but I'm having trouble picking a school, should I choose mainly based on the equipment they use or the instructors? BC Helicopters seems to have a good reputation and they use 300cbi's as the trainers, or should I just do the Canadian Helicopters course? Also, besides the Mountain course, is there anything I could do to give me a leg up on any other low time guys?
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407 TOO, Never based in Hinton, sorry. I'm an old Okie guy, so if you fly DLA, you KNOW me !
Haggis, the players are:
Bailey - FSJ
Qwest - Ft Nelson
Highland - Everywhere
Delta - Alberta
Yellowhead- BC and AB
CHL - BC and AB
VIH - BC
Great Slave - AB and Territories.
Airbone Energy - AB
to name a few....
Haggis, the players are:
Bailey - FSJ
Qwest - Ft Nelson
Highland - Everywhere
Delta - Alberta
Yellowhead- BC and AB
CHL - BC and AB
VIH - BC
Great Slave - AB and Territories.
Airbone Energy - AB
to name a few....