Would you train for ATPL(H) in 2020/21?
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Would you train for ATPL(H) in 2020/21?
I am happy & lucky with FW, but always curious of the other side of the fence:
If somebody had the nerve to go for helo flying this year or next, would you feel the urge to tie the man to a chair? Will there literally be no hiring whatsoever, or just fewer jobs and a weeding out of operators? I get that the industry has suicidal tendencies in terms of underbidding, but if the entire lot will go so far as to have zero new pilots getting any chance whatsoever, then that would effectively mean a generational cutoff of skilled labour wouldn’t it. Of course the bankruptcies hit exactly the operators who used to display at least some support of new pilots (Bristow...) but can you really sustain having no generational renewal at all, like some predict for the next decade or so?
If somebody had the nerve to go for helo flying this year or next, would you feel the urge to tie the man to a chair? Will there literally be no hiring whatsoever, or just fewer jobs and a weeding out of operators? I get that the industry has suicidal tendencies in terms of underbidding, but if the entire lot will go so far as to have zero new pilots getting any chance whatsoever, then that would effectively mean a generational cutoff of skilled labour wouldn’t it. Of course the bankruptcies hit exactly the operators who used to display at least some support of new pilots (Bristow...) but can you really sustain having no generational renewal at all, like some predict for the next decade or so?
The industry continues to perplex me
They want fresh faced p2s, keeping costs low relies on have a cheap FO in the other seat
However to comply with OGP they need 500 hours etc etc
It's a catch 22, normally they would become a FI and hour build, very few opportunities there. How does a fresh CPL IR gain the experience demanded?
Self fulfilling prophecy
Until operators commit to a proper ab initio course the industry is going to be in trouble in the mid to long term
They want fresh faced p2s, keeping costs low relies on have a cheap FO in the other seat
However to comply with OGP they need 500 hours etc etc
It's a catch 22, normally they would become a FI and hour build, very few opportunities there. How does a fresh CPL IR gain the experience demanded?
Self fulfilling prophecy
Until operators commit to a proper ab initio course the industry is going to be in trouble in the mid to long term
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Not even sure it would need ab initio...I did parts of ground school with two RW guys, who where ok paying for the license (not everybody is ever gonna be <30 hyper competitive selection material), but not with being basically unemployable upon graduation. I think integrating lowtimers would already do the trick. But with Babcock looking like the prevailing operator...they don’t do newbies, do they?
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I started in RW at the end of the last century initially as an AFI(H) and then moved up to CPL(H) and ATPL(H) and have got a lot of money out of RW over the years and still continue to do so now.
but for someone new now there is no way I could recommend RW as a career option, the costs are too high, the career options too low, and it simply makes no sense at all to take that much risk unless you have a small fortune to start with.
in cash terms an FI(H) now makes no more than 20 years ago and inflation has eaten at least 50% of the real value of that.
IMO RW is a hopeless industry, and I would 100% go FW if I was new (obviously when things are looking like picking up again there of course)
but for someone new now there is no way I could recommend RW as a career option, the costs are too high, the career options too low, and it simply makes no sense at all to take that much risk unless you have a small fortune to start with.
in cash terms an FI(H) now makes no more than 20 years ago and inflation has eaten at least 50% of the real value of that.
IMO RW is a hopeless industry, and I would 100% go FW if I was new (obviously when things are looking like picking up again there of course)
I do a bit of both, there definitely seem to be a lot more rotary jobs popping up now than there are fixed wing.
The only way I'd get into it now would be head to the US and get a flight instructor job for a few years then come back with a load of hours (plus a set of fixed wing certificates) You can become a CFI with less than 50 hours so it's a hell of a lot more cost effective to start on that side of the pond.
The only way I'd get into it now would be head to the US and get a flight instructor job for a few years then come back with a load of hours (plus a set of fixed wing certificates) You can become a CFI with less than 50 hours so it's a hell of a lot more cost effective to start on that side of the pond.
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It’s not just the duration of the visa. In order to work as a CFI people needed the OPT (OTP?!) option that graduates could get right upon finishing whatever degree/license they obtained. And I think that this option is under fire from the Trump administration because it basically got a lot of foreigners a foot in the door to get employer-sponsored for a real work visa aka „stealing jobs“. I don’t know how much this affects flight schools though. You are surely allowed to come over and spend Dads remortgage on a US flight school business, but work...?
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that’s exactly what I am saying; for people with TR it’s ok, for newbies it’s almost hopeless right now unfortunately ☹️