Did anyone pay for their JAR IR(H)?

[lynx247]

I'm just wondering if anyone currently working for one of the major UK offshore operators paid for their own IR(H)?

If you did, how much did it cost and where did you do it?

Or, did anyone manage to get the operator to pay for it, and did they bond you in on return of service?

[rotorfossil]

One of the guys who got his CPL/H here last year paid for his IR/H and did it with Bristows at Norwich, now works for CHC. I have heard the going rate is £27,000. If the companies get in a bit of a panic for pilots (not the current situation), they pay for the IR/H and all the rest, but then you are bonded, generally for six years.

[lynx247]

Rotorfossil - have you any idea how many hours the pilot had when he was taken on?

Or do you know if the offshore operators are more interested in whether you've got your IR(H) than 1000+hrs?

The spending never seems to end...!

[rotorfossil]

Hours are not very relevant as it the cost of qualifications and the training required that the companies are trying to avoid. ie, someone with ATPL/H IR/H and a relevent twin type is the most attractive inevitably. But in the end it is all down to how badly the companies need pilots, which is quite unpredictable. Late last year, I think five left us with CPL/H's, one of whom payed for his instrument rating and walked into a job. Two walked into jobs with the big companies with no other qualifications, one ex military went into police service. Now it is different. Any advice therefore tends to be out of date before it is written.

[lynx247]

Thanks for the feedback Rotorfossil... is the unpredictable recruiting related to the big companies having a high pilot turnover? If so, have you any idea where are these pilots are going, and why are they leaving? If it's because flying to rigs and the early starts becomes too much, then why would they spend so much to get the job in the first place?

[rotorfossil]

The reasons for the unpredictability of pilot requirements are several. Some pilots do leave the North Sea and other oil support because the life doesn't meet their expectations. After all, you are just an airborne bus driver, if fairly well paid. People lose their medicals, retire etc, but the real problem that management have is that the oil business is also unpredictable and the bean counters don't like to have surplus pilots around. All helicopter oil support is done by contracts, which are increasingly of a short term nature and when contracts are won or lost, pilot requirements inevitably vary. A general rise in exploration activity which is not always predicted, also generates a sudden requirement for qualified pilots. Crystal balls would be handy, but mine seemed to be permanently cloudy. Arguments like "we should be training pilots in the quiet periods" fell on stony ground when I was in the sponsored training business.

[Brilliant Stuff]

During my 6 years we were never pilot heavy, the beancounters thought we were and made them redundand paying them off with big money only to rehire them the following Monday.

Career advancement is also one of the reasons why people are leaving.