Iceman Posted March 13, 2022 Report Share Posted March 13, 2022 27 years in and ready to move on. The absolute worst thing about being a helicopter pilot is the lack of home life (like being home every night). Don't get me wrong, the experience from High Arctic to Sunny Tropics has been amazing. But then we get old and possibly lonely and I even wonder if it was worth it. Would never do it again if I could start over. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shakey Posted March 13, 2022 Report Share Posted March 13, 2022 22 minutes ago, Iceman said: 27 years in and ready to move on. The absolute worst thing about being a helicopter pilot is the lack of home life (like being home every night). Don't get me wrong, the experience from High Arctic to Sunny Tropics has been amazing. But then we get old and possibly lonely and I even wonder if it was worth it. Would never do it again if I could start over. Yup! The nicest view in the machine with the lowest pay. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CM119 Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 8 hours ago, Iceman said: 27 years in and ready to move on. The absolute worst thing about being a helicopter pilot is the lack of home life (like being home every night). Don't get me wrong, the experience from High Arctic to Sunny Tropics has been amazing. But then we get old and possibly lonely and I even wonder if it was worth it. Would never do it again if I could start over. You’re speaking for the majority I think. Canada puts up with the worst of pay / schedule / lifestyle of any other country. It’s not worth it here anymore 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CM119 Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 On 3/3/2022 at 8:58 AM, Saifan Pilot said: Check out also the statistics of the number of commercial helicopter pilots in Canada: https://tc.canada.ca/en/aviation/licensing-pilots-personnel/aviation-personnel-licensing-statistics#toc2 TC hasn't release the numbers for 2021 yet, the number of commercialy licensed helicopter pilots seems to be declining especially since 2015. That’s because there’s no more work, seems to have dried up around the time the presiding government took office. That’s about the time I started working outside Canada for way more money for way less work. Helicopters in Canada have always thrived on disaster support, namely wildfires and floods. The other large work has been exploration / mining which is all but completely gone in Canada since 2015 (realistically never recovered from economic downturn of 2008). All of the larger players that were publicly owned have since re-privatized or have outright defunct. More companies than I have ever seen in Canada are throwing in the towel, four major ones I can think of off the top of my head in the last two years. There is more road access to most of Canada where helicopters used to be required as well as drones taking over for much of the wildlife and pipeline surveillance work for less than a fraction of the cost. Coast guard and EMS operators are full within the last five years likely due to people seeing work drying up. Other than that there’s a little pocket of hydro work here and there and very VERY few corporate positions. As for agriculture work (spraying and seeding) that seems to be dying off slowly in Canada too. I can’t imagine the attrition will right itself for working pilots any time soon if ever. This is now a hobby career IMO. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bee3 Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 1 hour ago, CM119 said: That’s because there’s no more work, seems to have dried up around the time the presiding government took office. That’s about the time I started working outside Canada for way more money for way less work. Helicopters in Canada have always thrived on disaster support, namely wildfires and floods. The other large work has been exploration / mining which is all but completely gone in Canada since 2015 (realistically never recovered from economic downturn of 2008). All of the larger players that were publicly owned have since re-privatized or have outright defunct. More companies than I have ever seen in Canada are throwing in the towel, four major ones I can think of off the top of my head in the last two years. There is more road access to most of Canada where helicopters used to be required as well as drones taking over for much of the wildlife and pipeline surveillance work for less than a fraction of the cost. Coast guard and EMS operators are full within the last five years likely due to people seeing work drying up. Other than that there’s a little pocket of hydro work here and there and very VERY few corporate positions. As for agriculture work (spraying and seeding) that seems to be dying off slowly in Canada too. I can’t imagine the attrition will right itself for working pilots any time soon if ever. This is now a hobby career IMO. Where do you work may I ask? Grass sounds very green?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CM119 Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 On 3/14/2022 at 3:09 AM, Bee3 said: Where do you work may I ask? Grass sounds very green?! 🇺🇸….. I haven’t seen green grass in Canada in years. Look at the pay scale down there compared to here for just an A&P, and they get paid hourly and they are for the most part HOME EVERY NIGHT. You talk day rates down there they look at you like you have a third arm. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJP Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 7 hours ago, CM119 said: That’s because there’s no more work, seems to have dried up around the time the presiding government took office. That’s about the time I started working outside Canada for way more money for way less work. Helicopters in Canada have always thrived on disaster support, namely wildfires and floods. The other large work has been exploration / mining which is all but completely gone in Canada since 2015 (realistically never recovered from economic downturn of 2008). All of the larger players that were publicly owned have since re-privatized or have outright defunct. More companies than I have ever seen in Canada are throwing in the towel, four major ones I can think of off the top of my head in the last two years. There is more road access to most of Canada where helicopters used to be required as well as drones taking over for much of the wildlife and pipeline surveillance work for less than a fraction of the cost. Coast guard and EMS operators are full within the last five years likely due to people seeing work drying up. Other than that there’s a little pocket of hydro work here and there and very VERY few corporate positions. As for agriculture work (spraying and seeding) that seems to be dying off slowly in Canada too. I can’t imagine the attrition will right itself for working pilots any time soon if ever. This is now a hobby career IMO. It is unfortunate, but I agree. I switched to US work a couple of years ago. I was reading just last night that Heli-ski is on the cusp of dying out too, most of Europe has since killed all Heliski work due to Carbon emissions. Thanks Greta! But then again, with the crisis in Ukraine, work in the oil patch may increase, as CM119 said, thriving on Disaster. There was a time the Canadian Helo licence was a world-wide ticket. Those days are gone. Now even Africa postings requires EASA. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CM119 Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 30 minutes ago, BJP said: It is unfortunate, but I agree. I switched to US work a couple of years ago. I was reading just last night that Heli-ski is on the cusp of dying out too, most of Europe has since killed all Heliski work due to Carbon emissions. Thanks Greta! But then again, with the crisis in Ukraine, work in the oil patch may increase, as CM119 said, thriving on Disaster. There was a time the Canadian Helo licence was a world-wide ticket. Those days are gone. Now even Africa postings requires EASA. Africa is one of the harder nuts to crack these days, they’re protecting what little they have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chopterlol Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 On 3/12/2022 at 6:35 AM, RonnyRotor said: Alot of the management types are too much to take anymore. Unfourtunatly this is everywhere. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitestone Posted March 14, 2022 Report Share Posted March 14, 2022 1 hour ago, chopterlol said: Unfortunately this is everywhere. Everywhere except Canada it seems, G'day mate, ya, ya, ya... FM! Do you think i could go one summer without hearing that? 2 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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