Justin44

I accidentally hit enter so it submitted the post and I had to edit my comment in

I didn't want automatic job placement, I wanted honesty. I didn't want to be told I was one of four students because they couldn't find anyone, really didn't want to show up a week after that conversation and a down payment to see a class of 13 sitting there. I especially didn't want to hear the story of the phones ringing off the hook every day looking for young pilots (no not ground crew, pilots) but I fell for it. I should have done more research obviously, guess I deserve it for trusting in people. But hey, I paid for training and a licence and in the end that's what I got so who am I to complain.

I graduated with 10 or so guys. Two or three are waiting for the call to jump back in their fuel trucks for the winter most of us did a few road trips and went back to our old jobs.

I'm hoping it isn't but does one of the outfits rhyme with "Smashmific Smesthern Shmelicopters"

Funny how Global News seemed to have somehow missed it

Yeah I wasn't referencing this specific job, If it came down to it I'd be out drying cherries with a hair dryer rather than strapping into a rig like that haha. To explain a little bit better I just meant that whole sentiment in aviation in general about the race to the bottom, there's not much of it here but on avcanada it's huge with the plank drivers. I have had pilots at companies I've worked for tell me I shouldn't be there, doing that particular job for that pay and for the amount of time the company wanted because of that mindset though. That's definitely not me, I wish I was in a position to be able to work for free, know guys that have though and nothing really came of it. I'm not bitter about having done my licence but I do have some regrets, I should have waited until I was more stable financially instead of jumping into it 2 years out of highschool. But it was a goal I had set and I don't regret that I followed through with it and proved to myself that I could do it and I think a lot of guys are the same way. Just unfortunate that there isn't as much work as the flight school sales pitch led a bunch of us to believe.

I had to find a way to fund all of these road trips so I jumped into Heavy Machinery, no tickets required whatsoever other than your basic oil and gas certs that most people have anyway. Figured it'd also be a good backup in case I manage to ever find an aviation gig and things slowed down again. Not much of a learning curve after handling a helicopter the sensitivity of a machine that usually throws guys for a loop was easy to adjust to. Good pay too, some of the guys I worked with that had being doing it for only a year or two were bringing home 600-1000$ daily, 20 days a month or more and you're set.

I get that it's a mickey mouse job but I've heard a few people say things like that and I just don't understand the logic behind it, Young guys like myself with 10's of hours of experience are supposed to stick it to companies that do things like that for the good of the industry? The same industry that doesn't know we even exist? Are you expecting all the pilots out there with fresh licences slugging it out in the patch to pay for student loans to rally behind the cause of preserving something they're not even a part of? I'm sure this is going to come across as bitter but it's pretty much the truth for most guys

I worked a ground job that was seasonal for 2 months, went on days off and never did get called back. I spent about $62,000 on training

I just finished my licence with MVH in January, if you think that's the way to go you can go up for a half hour fam flight which actually counts towards your licence if you decide to keep going with training. Initially I chose Mountainview because of the option to start off with R22 time before moving into the 44 to keep cost down. I went into it with a Glider pilots licence and a fixed wing PPL and I was impressed with the experience of the instructors and really enjoyed my time there. I have no knowledge of LR so I can't comment on that but I'd say go check both out.