Who Will Train New Pilots?

[mnewbery]

Reference is made to this article

 

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/aviation/lift-off-for-helicopter-association/story-e6frg95x-1226411299509

 

"In particular, the transfer of army and navy helicopter pilot training to a civilian contractor, scheduled to start around early 2016, will drain the 30 Australian flying schools of highly experienced staff," he said. "The lack of night, instrument and night-vision-goggle instructors even now is becoming critical."

 

In the same article the author noted that Multi turbine helo ops would triple in the next seven years.

 

Also a similar story appears in aviator magazine from a few years ago:

 

http://www.aviatormag.com.au/stories/Jan10_The_Harsh_Reality.html

 

I now ask the forum:

 

1. Based on the articles above, with all the decent helo pilots working rigs and HEMS, all the fixed wing instructors moved into helo instruction or the airlines, who is left to fill the void?

 

2.Will the mustering pilots all go to the coast or mines and will we see mustering by UAV in 2016?

 

3. Who will train the ab-initio fixed wing pilots, if they bother to turn up?

 

4. Who is going to pay $50k (?) for a Robbo type rating and a commercial licence when to earn a decent living you need hundreds of hours of turbine time? Or will we see pilots go directly from simulators to turbines?

 

5. When all the pilots willing to pay for their own training dries up, will the industry start clamouring for internationally trained pilots like the airlines or help people off the street to enter the industry?

 

 

[Studentbiggles]

Hi Mnewbery.................excellent read and very thought provoking........I've met a few of these pilots (both male and female) that fly both heli's and fixed wing........In those flying opp's and that level, definitely a "Single" persons life style, no Life/Work balance and living out of a suitcase...............................Alley

 

 

[bas]

Interesting article, that's the first time I have heard of there being a (potential) shortage of flying instructors!

 

What are the military guys that do the training now going to do?

 

The whole industry is changing; people are going to have to realise that if you have the license and endorsement or type rating, you can fly the freakin' aircraft. Not after flying that same aircraft for some other operator for a few years. You can fly it now. Especially if you are doing multi-crew ops with someone that has more experience in judging situations and weather.

 

 

[TAA Student Pilot]

I now ask the forum:

1. Based on the articles above, with all the decent helo pilots working rigs and HEMS, all the fixed wing instructors moved into helo instruction or the airlines, who is left to fill the void?

The same folks who were instructing in the military and the usual suspects

 

2.Will the mustering pilots all go to the coast or mines and will we see mustering by UAV in 2016?

UAV's are still hobby type stuff, even the military stuff worth buzzillions of dollars is limited.

 

3. Who will train the ab-initio fixed wing pilots, if they bother to turn up?

Same people that train a lot now, instructors who have just got their licence

 

4. Who is going to pay $50k (?) for a Robbo type rating and a commercial licence when to earn a decent living you need hundreds of hours of turbine time? Or will we see pilots go directly from simulators to turbines?

Not all Heli pilots come from mustering backgrounds, funnily enough the "Must work for peanuts 14 hours a day make a man outer yoo sunny" attitude of most mustering outfits isn't held in high regard in some circles.

 

5. When all the pilots willing to pay for their own training dries up, will the industry start clamouring for internationally trained pilots like the airlines or help people off the street to enter the industry?

It won't dry up, while ever mummy and daddy are willing to pay big bucks for little Jimmy to become a "Captain". With the way things have been progressing in GA the period working for nothing or actually paying to work to get experience is getting right up to feeder airlines with people (Or their folks) paying to crew there won't be any shortage of patsy's. Only thing is in a few years there will be a pimply faced kid sitting in the left seat as well as the right. It's a wonder we haven't heard of the "Skill shortage" from major airline players with talk of imported labour (Read cheaper to employ) to cover the shortfall like the mining sector.

It's unbelievable that somebody sitting in the right seat (Or left seat of the likes of a Dash 8) is only on much the same money as a capital city cab driver.

 

 

[bas]

I don't think they majors could get away with cheaper, foreign labour. Just look at the QF unions' opposition to even the notion of a foreign QF-subsidiary flying into Australia, as was planned with "Red Q".

 

 

[mnewbery]

Or Senator Xenophon's opposition...

 

 

[sixtiesrelic]

The coming shortage has been over the horizon since I started learning to fly in 1960.

 

There was a bit of a shortage in 1961 from memory. One bloke got into TAA with a bit more than a bare Commercial. He flew DC-3s for a fair while. Not quite as slippery as a modern airliner and the captains then had heaps of experience as there wasn't a shortage when they somehow got in after the war.