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Averaged Mins


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yes, truth to that.....

 

Maybe pay would be better structured as straight salary. In south america, a long line 350 pilot makes 600 to 700 US. a day, based on 180 to 200 days a year

 

The downside is you are working for a South American Helicopter company, which can have a lot of issues in my opinion, and sometimes they take 2 months to pay, however I never heard of them not paying.

 

Never the less, a Latino pilot is making around $115,000 US a year. And from what I have seen, maybe 2 pilots I have seen in 5 years of working in south america can work a long line at the level of a Canadian pilot. They just do not have the training we have.

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There's no new world order, there's just the same kiddie-car industry screwing itself as hard and fast as it can, the motto being 'How low can we go?' For every effort by a maturing organization to use some sensible business practices, there are a couple dozen clueless ones fighting for nickles and dimes.

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This is precisely the sort of thing that the College of Professional Pilots of Canada may be able to address. I do not think it has any unionization aspirations. They want to elevate commercial pilots to the status of professionals. Join.

 

Joining this is a 2 edged sword. On one edge you have a collective group that is suppose to stand hand in hand much like a union. To do this you must trust that everyone will stand for the same issues. The other side of the sword is once you sign you no longer have a voice. Whom ever is heading up this group has become your voice. You can go try and talk to your boss and they will tell you exactly what a union company will say. If you don't like it go talk to your representative. For all those that wish to join i wish you nothing but the best. I think i will just continue to fight my own fight.

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In my simple little mind there are a couple ways to look at averaged mins.

The company is saying that they need me to go work on a job for them....say, for 20 days....and they are saying no matter what, we will guarantee you 3 hours of revenue per day, averaged over my 20 day tour....whether we fly it or not!...wow that's a good deal....even though its averaged over my tour they are guaranteeing me 60 hours that tour....no matter what the weather does, the client does, the helicopter serviceability does...lotsa daylight....little daylight...no matter what....you will get 60 hours. Seems like a fair commitment to me. But then I get out there and fly my *** off for 10 days... and the weather comes, or the rocket breaks, or the client logistics are all messed up....now I see lost potential and earning ability cause i'm up on my mins....dammit...averaging sucks!!!

But if I'm weathered in the whole tour....sure is nice to have mins...even averaged! I still go home with 60 hours that I didn't even fly!!!

People ***** about averaged mins when they see potential to over fly them...they never ***** when they come up short and get flight pay for hours they didn't fly.

There can be a potential safety issues with averaged mins...if you fly your mins early in your tour...there can be potential for a pilot to try too hard to get more...depending on the individual it can set a scenario where one will push weather or other things to get more $$$$....unaveraged daily mins can help mitigate this to some extent. That perceived need to fly today may be lessened, as I get my 3 or 4 hours today even if I don't fly. A very valid point in my mind when discussing mins.

At the end of the day, union or not...are you being compensated fairly for the job you are doing? Is the guarantee your employer is giving you enough for your tour? What a Latino pilot is making is really not your concern...his or hers skill set is not really your concern....the fact that you are a highly skilled famous Canadian pilot that is not getting compensated enough IS your concern....and I would present my case to my supervisor.

Or go work for the other operator where the Latino guys are working....sounds like a helluva a place to work. Probably way better!

There is no doubt daily mins are better than averaged mins for the employee...but dealing with averaged mins is really a mental thing that can be tough...I always go into it looking at the 'guarantee'...and if I fly lots at the beginning...I need to keep that in perspective....which can be tough to do when you're at your mins with half your tour to go and the flying comes to an end!!!

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Good points from oil pressure. The thing to keep in mind is the guarantee, X number of hours no matter what.

 

As with investing, it is the long-term return that counts. Besides, we are in industry with lots of uncontrolled variables. Take a few good books on your tour and enjoy the guarantee! Do you get paid to read or watch TV at home?

Overall, averaged minimums are probably more beneficial than not in terms of total income.

The other concept to work on, is pilot minimums, paid by the customer if the helicopter minimums are very low. The customer still gets the helicopter for a low total dollar, the pilot is happy with a better minimum pay, probably in an off-season situation to boot, and the customer's cost to fund that is negligible - everyone wins.

Cheers…

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