Australia: Training, Licence Conversion, Job Prospects

[Bell47Boy]

Originally Posted by HELOFAN

The Beckers thing never dies does it ?

And why should it? Becker has both Ripped Off and Pissed Off a lot of people over a lot of years and it has now come back to haunt him! What goes around comes around........

[Heliringer]

Bell Boy, Can you tell me what he has Actually done to some of the people? By PM if descretion is needed. I only ask because like most people I have read this stuff on the net but never having been involved with Beckers I dont know anything about them. Also what is coming around?
Cheers.

[540DEGREE TorqueTurn]

what's happened here

after talking to a couple of people and looking at ink on paper that was published in the q.l.d country life ,i am now going to look into mic b operation more closely.

Here are some figures , 2003 he published that he has 647 successful students / funny how 3 yrs later he published 532 successful , thats 115 less .what's going on here

say he has put through 532 student's ,and remember he has only been in operation for 10 years .
Thats 105 hrs min mutiply 532 students = 55 860 hours
Now divide that by 3 machines (1 b47 , 2 h300 that he has crashed and written off in the last 3 yrs )
55 860 Divided by 3 = 18 620 hrs each in 10 years

That's alot of rebuilds ........ 1862hrs a year per machine

anyone else like to comment .... or any people ever worked for the man , please write to us and lets us know what's going on

[Bell47Boy]

Heliringer,
Becker is nothing but an out and out liar and a crook! Everthing that I stated in my previous posts is true, there is nothing on these posts that did not happen.
He enticed me to Australia with the promise that I could work in Australia after one of his magcial courses! I still retain the email from his wife (CEO Jan Becker) where she answers me categorically that I can work on Oz after I do their course!
They are prepared to go to any lengths in the pursuit of cash irrespective of whether if messes up a students life or not, that is the way they are - money first!!
You ask what I mean by "What goes around comes around", I simply mean that if you treat people like **** it will come back to you and you will be treated accordingly!!

[aus2learn]

Seen it first hand mate...

I went to mic b's to have a look at learning there, apparently to fund his own cpl, a lot of door to door selling was done when speaking to other schools and also experienced pilots, my own reservations were confirmed.

To quote one pilot (aus) non school affiliated " a holiday camp with helicopters"

After meeting ' the man' and talking to him yup he lives up a cloud of his own a**e smoke.

Did a trial flight as well, was appalled to see the chief instructor get out of the helo with the rotors running and leave a newbie sitting in the cockpit wondering what the f**k to do, funny there was a rotors running incident later the same year, similar configuration !

Hey i'm not knocking the people working there but slick b**sh1t by the skin of yer teeth was what i thought.

And for all the doubters who see its my first post, so... go have a look for yourself.

[Boost Pump]

Training Newcastle

Hi All looking for a school in Newcastle Nsw, a friend of mine lives there and he is wanting to do his CPLH any reccomendations?..i did hear on the grapevine a new school was starting in the CBD shortly, not too sure who it was though.

thanks

[Ascend Charlie]

Talk to Ivor Durham at Newcastle Helicopters at Williamtown, runs a good operation and the better graduates might get the chance to do some charter work. He is based at the joint civil/military airfield there, so students get ATC procedures early in the training.

Somebody starting in the CBD? Everything would involve a transit, as there is nowhere even to practice hovering at Hannell Street or even at the Regional heliport.

[LABBS]

New Newcastle Helicopter Training School

I heard on the grapevine it was SB!

[50cal]

Back to job prospects... Am only new here. Go easy.
How are things looking for helicopter pilot employment at present?
Is there any word on the Customs tender in Gove? Likely contenders, etc..
Interested to see how that will affect the operation at Horn Island.

[sammy76]

Newcastle huh?
All I can say is avoid Neville Crawford!! He's a grade 1 instructor with grade 1 intelligence. He flew for us a while back, I've seen student pilots with 10 hours who have more idea than him. He had a couple hundred hours in jettys and was giving endorsements in it, but he didn't know how to grease it or where the chip plugs where. apparently he'd only dailyed it afew times in his experience.
Seriously... avoid him and the airspace he flys in!!!!

[Boost Pump]

Thanks for the replies,

apparently he'd only dailyed it afew times in his experience

makes you wonder then what type of training you will receive if the instructor doesnt even know his machine .....ill pass the info onto my friend and he can investigate options anyway

[Boost Pump]

Thanks all for your replys, and sammy 76

My mate found a school which is commencing ops in late November in Newcastle CBD, quite a reputable mob with experienced instructors x 2 both with over 4500 hrs of instructor time. and a wide range of experience from rescue services through to remote survey ops etc etc


thanks for all you comments and advice.....i have passed it onto my mate and he believes he has made the right choice

[Gbird]

Damn useful

Ladies and gents of the forum,

Just wanted to say that I stumbled across this site and forum this morning and have spent the last couple of hours soaking up as much information as possible.

As an Aussie in London shortly to be coming back to Brisvegas and thinking about pursuing a rotary wing flying career I have been trawling the net for any and all information I can get on exactly what the hell I am getting myself into for months and come up with not much factual information at all. This website and forum has been my pot of gold at the end of the information rainbow, especially the updates by Robsrich - seemingly factual and unbiased which is what I need to hear.

Thanks to all that contribute and please keep at it, whether it be cynical or positive - as I am sure others starting out will get as much out of it as I have.

Cheers

Greg Bird

[robsrich]

Thanks

Greg,

Thanks for the feedback. I stopped putting all the job and market research findings here due to the bottom feeders snapping away at anything half sensible.

Maybe I will get to work and update the Oz and NZ info again.

I enjoy sharing this, as I hope it helps the younger find that elusive dream!

[540DEGREE TorqueTurn]

charter boat , WHAT charter boat

BOOST PUMP did you hear this on the so called GRAPE VINE as well
COME ON , what are you selling

I bet you work there

Originally Posted by Boost Pump

Thanks all for your replys, and sammy 76
My mate found a school which is commencing ops in late November in Newcastle CBD, quite a reputable mob with experienced instructors x 2 both with over 4500 hrs of instructor time. and a wide range of experience from rescue services through to remote survey ops etc etc
thanks for all you comments and advice.....i have passed it onto my mate and he believes he has made the right choice

[A2002flyboy]

Originally Posted by 540DEGREE TorqueTurn

september 2006 ,page 42 in a quality news on the australian helicopter industry magazine says quote : Fully accredited and WITH 532 SUCCESSFUL STUDENTS

If my math is still good that is 50 students who are being graduated each year.

That is one every week.

That is a lie.

Also on his website still he is saying "We absolutely guarantee your instructors have over 1000 hours for all advanced flight training - no juniors, no learning on your time and money!" But he has now one instructor with much less hours, and his photo is not on the website but is still a photo of another instructor who doesn't work there for more than 1 year!

[50cal]

Job Prospects

G'day all.

Has been a while since anything was discussed on job prospects in Australia (and region). Wondering if there was anyone who would like to add their two bobs worth?

As for me I am keen to learn of job prospects and how the industry is looking not only at the moment but in the near future.

Cheers.

[DutchMark]

Training in Australia

Hi everybody,

i'm from the Netherlands.
Next year i want to do a CPL-H course in Australia.
Being this far away it's pretty hard to get a good idea what school is best to train at.
Looking around on the internet i found 2 schools that stood out:
- Becker Helicopters
- PHS
I wrote both schools an email, explaining that i was interested in enrolling in their course.
Got a very nice and informative mail back from Becker, and a somewhat shorter mail from PHS.
Fact is that PHS is alot cheaper for overseas students then PHS.
What i'm curious about is what the difference in training and career prospects after graduation is at both schools.

Also found Chopperline, Blue Tongue, Helicopter group and Bankstown Helicopters thanks to the search engine of the forum.
Gonna look into them next.
But anyone who has an opinion about the schools mentioned above, please write something down.
Because of the Visa i have to make a decision on where to go before i get in the plane, so i can't visit the schools and make a choice based upon my own experience.

Thanks in advance for your trouble!

[Friendly Black Dog]

Try here mate.

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthr...light=training

Just before it starts all over again.

FBD

[CopterD]

Be careful with licences from Auz. They're just not valid in Europe (if that's what you want). It's better to train at a school wich isues JAA licenses. Check out HAI in Florida.

CopterD
(Fellow dutchie)