Heli-Tour Ripoff?

[Trigger]

I thought this link was kind of amusing.

 

http://www.ripoffreport.com/directory/icefield-helicopter-tours.aspx

[Heliian]

That's hillarious, sounds like someone who got shitcanned and isn't too happy about it. I take personal offence to the age of the a/c remarks. Some of the best machines i've flown in were 30+ years old. I'm impressed by the fact that they use weigh scales and keep it at the limit instead of just overloading it. Maybe i'll check them out next time i'm in the area. No such thing as bad press I guess.

[shakey]

Well helian I've heard it from more than 1 person about Icefields and the report sounds accurate. Next time your in the area go add to the problem by supporting someone who keeps wages below min wage.

 

Maybe one day you can work for someone that awesome.

[Ryan]

A company flying leased aircraft.... never!

 

Flights timed with a stop watch? Such cruelty lol

 

Having to fly on windy days... absurd.

 

What is our industry coming to?

[Swissmatt]

baaaaahahahah .. Ryan, priceless ...

[Daz]

Curious read - I wonder what this person's backstory and true motivations were.

 

I worked a summer as a sightseeing tour pilot - but not for that operation.

 

It's interesting that this person was surprised to learn that the pilots were new. We were - I would imagine that many sightseeing operations in Canada employ low-timers, no? We need to start somewhere!

 

We also worked "dawn to dusk", but it's hard to call what we did work. Sure, we washed the machine every day,kept it immaculate inside and out, and we spent lots of time doing work other than flying, but to me it was an opportunity to hang out with people who became great friends, PLUS I got to fly a helicopter every day. Another really cool aspect was our clientele - almost everyone was thrilled to be there, and once in a while I had passengers who had never been off the ground - I thought it was pretty awesome that I got to be their first pilot. Our wages weren't huge, but they were fair, and my food and rent was taken care of. So, I never once felt like "abused slave labour". Quite the contrary - I felt pretty lucky.

 

We occasionally used weigh scales - to keep us legal. Once in a blue moon we needed to (discreetly) determine if a passenger was within the max seat weight capacity. Notably, I once had to tell a close family friend that I couldn't take him flying with me

 

We used a stopwatch, too. Prominently attached to the dash, in fact. I always thought of it as showing the passengers that they got what they paid for (our flights were 5 or 10 minutes depending on what they chose). A five minute flight might seem much shorter to an excited passenger, so I always saw it as "proof" to them that they got their money's worth. We all got pretty sharp and efficient, but we NEVER rushed nor pushed things for 'revenue'. Rarely, I'd misjudge headwinds or something, but I wouldn't "cut corners or push max speeds"; that flight would end up a few seconds longer. I never had anyone complain to me that they didn't get what they paid for. On the contrary, most folks were thrilled.

 

We didn't have an AME on site, but they weren't far away. We (and our base managers) were always respected by the head office if we decided not to fly due to weather or any other issues. Nothing was pushed in terms of weather/visibility or otherwise.

 

I didn't fly in the mountains, but we sure did get wind out on the Prairies. I came to like it as I think I learned a lot from windy days. Wind happens. If it was too windy and foul, we didn't fly.

 

I wonder what this person expected of their sightseeing tour. They might be very surprised to know that lowtimers fly sometimes older, sometimes leased machines, work other tasks besides flying, do weight-and-balance checks with (gasp!) a scale, earn a modest wage, and *don't* feel like slaves.

 

- Darren

[Amphibious]

i was offered a job there right out of flight school. drove all night to Nordeg so I could be there at opening to check it out. 2hrs later I was fire-walling it to Calgary. "interesting" operation to say the least.

 

"and that's all i gots to say about that"

[flingwinger]

For a paying customer they seem to know too much as to how the company operates... My guess is some "employee" got burned.

 

I was encouraged to apply there out of school, It sounded promising until i received the pre-fabbed letter that went directly to the auto sort.

[shakey]

Hey Daz, I hear they are hiring drop them off a resume let us all know how delightfull your experience is in 6 months.

[212wrench]

Here we go again. Someone wake me up when its over.