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Pilot Opinion Survey Re: Changes To Fdt Regulations


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Jimmy, I feel and know your passion for something you love......Kevin, you of all people know you should never wait for a poker hand to play out.

Paul, you said it last, and for that I will be critical! "Wait".....for what? Someone else to speak for your beliefs? Are we so beaten down that we will "wait", for someone else to grab the "bull by the horns"?

Most owner/operators were born from deregulation that happened in the mid 80's.......Massive growth brought oversupply, cut-throat rates, poor business models, and Transport Canada uncertainty on how to deal with it all. Not being overly critical, just an observation.....our industry is still at global leader, but still immature !

Want to question that.....look at how CHC/CHL ( Okie), grew outside domestic markets. Do you think for one second that CHC would be a world leader if they stayed here????

I have always wanted to believe, that our Canadian helicopter industry flight crews could (and should), be a pinnacle of professionalism, education, and leaders, that have a distinct voice to represent themselves, and have an impact on contentious issues such as flight duty time. I would love to think that our flight crews here in Canada, could set a benchmark for representation..... one that has an impact in any political arena!

Okay....I'm stepping off my soapbox now. :)

 

Next? Fred, step up dude....speak your mind!!!!??!

 

And keep up the good work Corey :)

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I'm not saying wait Bob, I'm saying speak up. I've done it for a while now on the phone and via email. Just showing support for an idea that actually might stand a chance of being more than a desperate grasp. I'm all for gathering info, as in Fred's surveys, but Corey's idea is actually a complete plan culminating in a delivery of information to the people that need to hear our opinion.

 

I've never been the type to be the last to place my bet on the table and I don't think many in this industry are. We all assess risk on a daily basis and make decisions on our own in a rapid fashion, decisions that can have an impact on many people. All I was saying earlier was to be part of the decision making process now, and not to take a back seat.

 

Kevin McCormick

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  • 4 weeks later...

Jimmy, I feel and know your passion for something you love......Kevin, you of all people know you should never wait for a poker hand to play out. Paul, you said it last, and for that I will be critical! "Wait".....for what? Someone else to speak for your beliefs? Are we so beaten down that we will "wait", for someone else to grab the "bull by the horns"? Most owner/operators were born from deregulation that happened in the mid 80's.......Massive growth brought oversupply, cut-throat rates, poor business models, and Transport Canada uncertainty on how to deal with it all. Not being overly critical, just an observation.....our industry is still at global leader, but still immature ! Want to question that.....look at how CHC/CHL ( Okie), grew outside domestic markets. Do you think for one second that CHC would be a world leader if they stayed here???? I have always wanted to believe, that our Canadian helicopter industry flight crews could (and should), be a pinnacle of professionalism, education, and leaders, that have a distinct voice to represent themselves, and have an impact on contentious issues such as flight duty time. I would love to think that our flight crews here in Canada, could set a benchmark for representation..... one that has an impact in any political arena! Okay....I'm stepping off my soapbox now. :) Next? Fred, step up dude....speak your mind!!!!??! And keep up the good work Corey :)

The more I read the opinions stated, I wonder why it took so long (since dereg 1987) to start acting on your own behalf. From day one of deregulation (1987) the owners club started looking after their own interest and could care less about Pilots and Engineers. The association of the Helicopter Industry with Fixed Wing into the "Air Taxi", was the stupidest thing that ever happened in the industry and should have been questioned at the time, by HAC. The president of HAC at the time had his own interest and the association interests with TC to look after.

 

HAC has not changed to date, other than hire a Lawyer as President and try to change everything with his gobble gook.

 

The simplest answer of all to the conundrum is to have the Helicopter Industry as a separate body with it's own set of regulations governing the Pilots and Engineers and HAC.

 

The Pilots and Engineers do not have the same interest's as HAC and should their own representative's.

 

Minister Of Transport:

 

Elected to look after the party in power, not the people who voted for him/her, and takes advice from people below him and actually knows nothing or very little about his portfolio.

 

Director General of Aviation:

 

Takes advice from people below him and actually knows nothing or very little about his portfolio. Learns by mistakes and on the job training.

 

The Public Servant:

 

The actual person who writes the BS as provided by the Minister and the DG.

 

The PS writes the answers to any inquiry sent to the department.

 

The PS could actually care less what he writes as long as it pleases the powers above him.

 

The PS does not sign anything himself, his only job is to protect himself and his pension and make the department look good on the Minister's behalf.

 

My personal recommendation is to send your petition to the Minister as a courtesy and advise him that you are going to Federal Court to have this looked at, as it should have been in 1987.

 

My reasoning on the Federal Court is that TC has already advised you to get an association.

 

Don McDougall

 

PS:My POST is read by TC, you can rest assured.

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The more I read the opinions stated, I wonder why it took so long (since dereg 1987) to start acting on your own behalf. From day one of deregulation (1987) the owners club started looking after their own interest and could care less about Pilots and Engineers. The association of the Helicopter Industry with Fixed Wing into the "Air Taxi", was the stupidest thing that ever happened in the industry and should have been questioned at the time, by HAC. The president of HAC at the time had his own interest and the association interests with TC to look after.

 

HAC has not changed to date, other than hire a Lawyer as President and try to change everything with his gobble gook.

 

The simplest answer of all to the conundrum is to have the Helicopter Industry as a separate body with it's own set of regulations governing the Pilots and Engineers and HAC.

 

The Pilots and Engineers do not have the same interest's as HAC and should their own representative's.

 

Minister Of Transport:

 

Elected to look after the party in power, not the people who voted for him/her, and takes advice from people below him and actually knows nothing or very little about his portfolio.

 

Director General of Aviation:

 

Takes advice from people below him and actually knows nothing or very little about his portfolio. Learns by mistakes and on the job training.

 

The Public Servant:

 

The actual person who writes the BS as provided by the Minister and the DG.

 

The PS writes the answers to any inquiry sent to the department.

 

The PS could actually care less what he writes as long as it pleases the powers above him.

 

The PS does not sign anything himself, his only job is to protect himself and his pension and make the department look good on the Minister's behalf.

 

My personal recommendation is to send your petition to the Minister as a courtesy and advise him that you are going to Federal Court to have this looked at, as it should have been in 1987.

 

My reasoning on the Federal Court is that TC has already advised you to get an association.

 

Don McDougall

 

PS:My POST is read by TC, you can rest assured.

What a heart warming interpretation of Canadian governing standards Don! Although a lot of what you say is true it really boils down to human nature and the interactions of various personality types. Some Ministers study their portfolio and want to be the best there ever was. Some, as you stated, are only concerned with their next step up the ladder and have zero interest in "Ministering" unless there are newsworthy events in play. Either way, we are depending on the virtues of individual humans instead of making the system more robust and less "human foible sensitive".

 

I have to take exception with your estimation of the Director General because, while I certainly do not agree with all the decisions he has made, this is a fellow who started out banging rivets and has worked his way through almost everything you can possibly do in aviation. He knows (at least the fixed wing side) aviation in Canada very well and by all accounts (save yours) is a dedicated and well-meaning individual.

 

I just have to defend HAC briefly here. While I understand the point of view that it is dominated by "owners" this simply isn't the way it works in reality. I own nothing but believe that HAC does a lot of good right across the broad spectrum of Canadian Industry. The various committees are made up of pilots and engineers, many of which are not holding management positions. Are you going to take the ultra-negative view that management has sanctioned their participation and therefore they are simply the puppets of the "owners"? That's a pretty Marxist viewpoint if ever there was one! One thing that seems to be not well understood, or at least recognized, is that the owners are all competing with each other so it's not like HAC is some kind of secret society where they put their differences aside and collude to oppress pilots and engineers! I had a chuckle picturing some of these fellows (who would like to kill each other I suspect) gathering around the table to plot their latest anti-labour moves.

 

Anyway, outside individual companies and TC themselves, the only forces for change are clients and HAC that I can see. And HAC is completely volunteer. Board members are not paid and there is a lot of work involved. Committee members are not paid and there is even more work involved. If HAC is just the tool of the "owners club" then why are the committees producing documents that are being adopted by industry, becoming standard practices for clients and possibly even entering regulation? Those committees producing those documents are not gagged in any way by HAC and full minutes are kept. You would know this Don if you ever had participated. I can't speak for what HAC was like back in the 1990's but the way it has been for the last 10 years has been overwhelmingly positive in my opinion. Just one guy's opinion I realize, but the opinion of somebody who grabs the bull by the tail ought to be worth more than the guy who watched and complained about it later! Sorry, I kind of stole that off Mark twain...

 

HV

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HV,

I wish you well in your endeavor, but you seem to forget I spent a few years with the FEDS and was effective in changing many ways in which they operated and if some of the old boys were still around at TC, you would have a different scenario. Neil MacGregor was a very good friend of mine and believed in the industry as did Cap and quite a few others who are RIP. The latest proponents are very could at slinging the BS, but will not get anywhere.

 

HEPAC was the only way you could talk to TC (power to the people), but you and every body signing the petition will get no where unless you go to COURT.

 

Happy New Year to you and every body in the industry, from somebody who cares.

 

Don McDougall

 

PS: The question that has to be answered in 2013: Why has there been so many DG's of Aviation in the past ten years?????

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I have to question whether the survey will do good or not. We are certainly damned if we don't do anything so if Cory and the Professor on our behalf (or who ever is going to take the survey to the Working Group) is able to intervene and get the voice of the pilots heard (the only one that the Working Group seems to want to acknowledge) then that is more than we have now.

 

Am i wrong in thinking that HAC was trying to handle this on their own and excluding the pilots (perhaps a bit of a self serving gesture?...) but only brought us in and formulated the survey as a last ditch attempt after their efforts were thwarted by the Working Group.

 

Though we all want something that works both physically and financially, it's most of the owners who would have us working all summer without a break if we could keep our sanity and our eyes open. I wonder if there will be a question on the survey about what length of tour we would lke to see?

 

I wish to take this opportunity to wish all of you a happy Christmas season and a safe and prosperous 2013.

 

Whitestone.

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I cannot respond to this survey as the form used in question #7 does not allow for the accurate collection of statistical information.

 

As I am opposed to the changes as proposed, there is NO WAY I'd be comfortable contributing to any body of information that may be used contrary to my position.

 

K. Worsnop

 

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