Australia's Pilot Shortage

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I recently read a poster say that in 2008, Australia awarded 20 new ATPs...in the WHOLE year! Flying is vital to Australia, so the gov't decided to do something about it:

As a contrast, here in Australia I am the beneficiary of an uncharacteristically sensible recent move by the federal government to forestall the looming pilot shortage with a government backed loans scheme for training. I am doing a degree and 200 hours of flying and the tuition and training component is covered by a loan that I start paying back through my tax when I hit $43k pa. I will pay $12 to $15k during the process for testing, flying paraphernalia etc. Given the rhetoric I often hear coming out of the US, this probably sounds like socialism but it has created a flood of new training. Enrollments in my degree have basically quadrupled in the last few years. Clearly even closer to Marxism is our system of minimum wages for pilots which sees a C206 pilot on a living wage of around 30k and a Dash 8 first officer earning over 50k to start. While thats no more than I am earning while studying, it means that I know I will be able to survive while getting my hours up.
While not the whole answer, I reckon our system is pulling in the new pilots in a way that yours is not. Maybe the political and economic climate over there will preclude serious change until you are desperate - which is normally how things work here.

http://www.flyingmag.com/blogs/flying-lessons/why-dont-more-young-eagles-become-pilots

cliff
LFW

 

[Lynxman]

How hard is it to find gigs in Australia for people like us already rated?

 

[OCP]

Very! Australia wants you to do all of your ratings again. Take the tests and fly the airplanes. Not ad easy as Europe or Canada. Plus you Ned to have the right to work there.

 

[CX880]

Yea I heard they have a completely different and more complicated system down there. Plus you can't understand what they're saying.

 

[Lynxman]

Sounds like they are shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[Kenny]

Very! Australia wants you to do all of your ratings again. Take the tests and fly the airplanes. Not ad easy as Europe or Canada. Plus you Ned to have the right to work there.

While you have to have the right to live and work in Oz to be able to interview with any airline here, there is a conversion process to transfer an FAA ATP to a CASA ATPL, unlike the EU. You're only required to do 3 exams instead of 9 and a single flight test. Also, like all things Australian, for a small fee ALL your ratings can be transfered to your CASA license without any need to do a sim/flight test.

Flying here is very different. For example, the airspace is not user-friendly for 121 ops and you're constantly having to make sure your're not about to ******************** up by flying into uncontrolled airspace. Also, anal dosen't even begin to explain the RT procedures here. Miss a single word on a read back and the controllers will make a point of correcting you.

 

[Jetjockey]

No wonder they are short pilots, who in their right mind wants to put up with all that BS!?!? Take the Landrover to the outback.

 

[Kenny]

No wonder they are short pilots, who in their right mind wants to put up with all that BS!?!? Take the Landrover to the outback.

3 reasons (for me personally)..............

Job security.
Pay, (2nd year 73 FO is AU$140k)
Folks aren't getting any younger.

Oh and I got very tired of the constant, daily bull******************** I had to put up with at a Regional. It was either move or leave flying.

Like all things aviation, it is what it is. Weigh up the pro's and con's and make a desicion that suits you.

 

[SPDBRD747400]

3 reasons (for me personally)..............

Job security.
Pay, (2nd year 73 FO is AU$140k)
Folks aren't getting any younger.

Oh and I got very tired of the constant, daily bull******************** I had to put up with at a Regional.

Like all things aviation, it is what it is. Weigh up the pro's and con's and make a desicion that suits you.

Kenny, I have a British passport that should make it a little easier right? Who over there is hiring these days?

 

[Kenny]

Kenny, I have a British passport that should make it a little easier right? Who over there is hiring these days?

Possibly, it used to be the case that you still gained extra points for your immigration, if you were a pilot. If you look back about 20 years, there was a "Little" strike here and the Australian aviation industry ground to a halt. Until a certain US Airline brought it's aircraft and pilots over to fly the struck work, that is. So that's the reason for the extra points.

Anyway, currently VB and Jet* are both hiring. But like I said on Cliffs post on the "other" website, we have guys lining up down the street for jobs, so I don't really see a shortage at the moment.