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What Happened To Heli-Inter Thread?


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Point well taken! I've considered wage roll backs, still not sure. It is still a very debatable scene in our industry (the Calgary Construction Industry). I haven't flown the 407 to the office pad in a while for reasons you have stated. But......when things were great a few years back, me taking clients for a spin and getting all their work, I wasn't the villain then. My employees were naming their wages to me (the tail was wagging the dog). I just wanted to add, there are two sides to the story. I'm not here picking sides. I've been on both. Right now, the "dog is wagging the tail" but I haven't abused my privilege. I just didn't like the start of this thread with the "mean" owners selling out. PS: I have talked to many new potential pilots and have conveyed my experience with the 'aviation' industry. I don't candy coat anything. I have told my own kids, get an education. If you want to be a pilot, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons, whether it be for employment or for recreation.

 

It sounds like you have a holistic views of things Mr. Thunder, which is what I've always tried to achieve, although to what measure of success I am not sure. I have been the guy signing the front of the cheque as well as the back and there are benefits and drawbacks to both. Faced with cost cutting measures a sympathetic and decent management team will spend their Christmas holidays attempting to move bricks from hole to hole with a mind to find the least painful measures for the greatest number of people, in a sort of Benthamite approach. Unfortunately people tend to have a narrow focus that doesn't really involve others when personal pain is felt (a completely natural reaction) and the messenger is a fairly easy target for opprobrium. The fact you don't take the 407 to work to avoid the optics of spending on yourself while your employees suffer (to varying degrees I am sure) is a testament to the fact you pay attention and care. I have seen the people with the $$ insist on single mothers being downsized and then purchase international long haul First Class tickets for a greater sum than the poor girl's annual salary.. a true and sad story but it's not hard (if you've been in management) to jump in the other shoes and find justifications. We always come down to the old adage of not judging people 'til you've walked a mile in their moccasins...

 

This downturn is going to last another year or two, although a fire season could disguise it and make us all feel things are better. I am just hopeful that things are steady enough soon to keep that **** wolf from the door and provide for all the families affected. It's not easy for anyone, that is a fact, and everyone shares some measure of the pain... And there are no easy solutions as some would have you believe... I'm just thinking of the people that always fall back on "we just need to bid higher and pay more"... whether fantasy or inarguable fact, these thoughts are not in touch with reality in the market we find ourselves facing in early 2016.

 

All the best for the next year and I hope my pessimism is wrong!

 

HV

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Well if you're honest that's a start. It's a lost art. Especially among the rich. I've been in Construction as well. It isn't easy unless you have bonding.

 

With all that being said I'm sure you will cut your guys wages before you give up flying your famous friends around.

 

All the best in 2016.

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With all that being said I'm sure you will cut your guys wages before you give up flying your famous friends around.

 

 

I'll take the tone of this with a grain of salt. Short answer to the above statement is "quite likely". I'm not sure on your business or marketing experience, but ironically, one has to do even more marketing when times are bad than they do when times are good-whether that be lunches, dinners, golf or heaven forbid, a helicopter ride. Famous or not, a client is still a client. You may recognize them for their talents, I appreciate them for their revenue and companionship as well.

 

To ad more, the wages in the Alberta Construction Industry increased 49% in the last 10 years while the rest of the country experienced a 29% increase. It's a "Market correction", happens in all businesses sooner or later. No one complained even once when wages were rising sharply-if you didn't give in to the demands, they left their post with the equipment still idling.

 

If a business isn't sustainable, both owners and employees will feel it sooner or later. So yes, I'll continue to fly for as long as the repo man doesn't show. You can't run my business or most other business from a quarter page ad in a magazine. Matt

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Thunder don't engage with guys like Freck. They have no clue what it takes to run a successful business. All they can think about is poor me and if I suffer then everyone should suffer.

 

I for one agree with you. Over the years i have seen people jump ship for less the 1% wage increase. The markets are in a correction through out the world. Some people just don't get it. They feel you should pay the highest wages until you go broke. I guarantee you could sell the 407 and be going broke paying high wages and guys like Freck won't give you the $5 it cost them to buy their beer. The may sit there sipping their beer going there was a great guy to bad he is now eating out of a trash can. Personally its non of their business what you have our how you got it. I for one still shave every day and have no issue looking at myself in the mirror unlike some i know.

 

End of rant

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Thunder don't engage with guys like Freck. They have no clue what it takes to run a successful business. All they can think about is poor me and if I suffer then everyone should suffer.

 

I for one agree with you. Over the years i have seen people jump ship for less the 1% wage increase. The markets are in a correction through out the world. Some people just don't get it. They feel you should pay the highest wages until you go broke. I guarantee you could sell the 407 and be going broke paying high wages and guys like Freck won't give you the $5 it cost them to buy their beer. The may sit there sipping their beer going there was a great guy to bad he is now eating out of a trash can. Personally its non of their business what you have our how you got it. I for one still shave every day and have no issue looking at myself in the mirror unlike some i know.

 

End of rant

 

That was a great rant! It reads like you said it in one breath!

 

HH

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Thunder don't engage with guys like Freck. They have no clue what it takes to run a successful business. All they can think about is poor me and if I suffer then everyone should suffer.

 

I for one agree with you. Over the years i have seen people jump ship for less the 1% wage increase. The markets are in a correction through out the world. Some people just don't get it. They feel you should pay the highest wages until you go broke. I guarantee you could sell the 407 and be going broke paying high wages and guys like Freck won't give you the $5 it cost them to buy their beer. The may sit there sipping their beer going there was a great guy to bad he is now eating out of a trash can. Personally its non of their business what you have our how you got it. I for one still shave every day and have no issue looking at myself in the mirror unlike some i know.

 

End of rant

Thanks for that "rant" JL. It's appreciated. I don't think Freck speaks for the moral majority on this forum.

 

Business are like government, you can't cater to just one sector. Money in has got to equal or exceed money out. It's pretty simple.

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Thunder don't engage with guys like Freck. They have no clue what it takes to run a successful business. All they can think about is poor me and if I suffer then everyone should suffer.

 

I for one agree with you. Over the years i have seen people jump ship for less the 1% wage increase. The markets are in a correction through out the world. Some people just don't get it. They feel you should pay the highest wages until you go broke. I guarantee you could sell the 407 and be going broke paying high wages and guys like Freck won't give you the $5 it cost them to buy their beer. The may sit there sipping their beer going there was a great guy to bad he is now eating out of a trash can. Personally its non of their business what you have our how you got it. I for one still shave every day and have no issue looking at myself in the mirror unlike some i know.

 

End of rant

Yup! You nailed it dopey.

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Money in has got to equal or exceed money out. It's pretty simple.

Apparently not at Heli-Inter. Or are other commercial operators able to operate an AS350 BA+ At $748.00 per hour and still have some $$$ left over?

 

I can't see how...even if you don't have bank payments, the direct and indirect operating costs associated with commercially operating this aircraft are more.

 

I think the thread got slightly sidetracked. Then you brought it full circle BT.

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Good reading, thanks for some thoughtful posts HV and BT. Good rant too JL. Here's hoping those of us still working keep working and those looking find it soon. Could be a rough year or two. Hope the rumour ain't true.

 

Hey Roo, did JTH have to cancel the day skiing? Cloud rolled in pretty good after a beautiful morning.

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