Foreign Pilots

[Heliduck]

Come on over! They’re talking about RPT fixed wing in the article but I don’t think they’ll differentiate between aircraft classes. Unfortunately it’s more than a sense of humour that Australians & Canadians have in common, we also share a reliance on resources so when those industries tank we’re all in the same sinking ship. The difference between the land masses is that a lot of Australia can be accessed by truck/ bulldozer etc which reduces the reliance on helicopters. The muskeg & the mountains have led to a reliance on helicopters & created more pilot jobs in Canada than could be possible in Australia.

We don’t operate mediums but I have been told that Australia still needs VFR Canadian pilots due to the lack of experienced medium utility pilots, particularly when the place burns but in the last few years we’ve been dragging ourselves out of the dark ages & getting more of these aircraft in the fleet so no doubt that requirement will diminish in years to come as Australians get a chance to upskill. A lot of Australian medium pilots were trained on mediums in Canada thanks to the boom in the late 2000’s. Oil & gas in Oz has tanked hard, hence the previously mentioned comments from pprune & we’ve had offshore flying for decades so we have an experienced workforce, shouldn’t need assistance until it booms again. LOT’s of New Zealanders flying here, if it wasn’t for the Trans Tasman agreement we could use hundreds of Canadians to fill seats.

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/foreign-pilots-to-plug-australian-shortage/news-story/29d52729ccee7c3c6a143e4dc309c293