54 replies to this topic

[RagMan]

Skyline Helicopters in Las Vegas is hiring Part 91 tour pilots, Butters. Suck up the $12 an hour and build your time. And you get to give tours over the strip like youve always wanted.

https://www.indeed.c...=1&fromage=last

[TomPPL]

WOWZA..! $12 an hour?? Seriously? What does McDonald's currently pay its staff Stateside?

[Fred0311]

Do it butters! You can put me as a reference.

[r22butters]

Well gee wiz fellas I was going to follow up on the SPIFR offer I got a couple days ago from REACH, but $12 bucks an hour, that's awfully tempting,...after all its almost half what I make as a truck driver, plus who really needs benefits anyway,...and 401k's are for suckers!

You know I was just in Vegas for the Expo, didn't see these guys anywhere,...saw Novictor though.


I suppose I could sleep in my car in one of the Casino parking lots (did it when I had a seasonal job in Tahoe) and maybe moonlight as a blackjack dealer?

Hmmm, what to do?

,...pretty sure my dream job involved lingerie models though

[Wally]

Lottsa dancers in Vegas.  And wannabe dancers.  With your natural charm and being a real live working helicopter pilot, you should be able to find a different bed every night for years..

 

Heck, that's why I don't go to Vegas anymore*, too many beautiful girls pawing me like I'm meat.  Geeez, I have a mind!

 

But you'll have to pull your pants up, Butters.  Weenie waggers draw from the wrong team.... Not that there's anything wrong with that.

 

 

 

 

*I don't go to Las Vegas any less either.  Never been, got no inclination to go, I don't gamble.

Edited by Wally, 17 March 2018 - 14:53.

[r22butters]

WOWZA..! $12 an hour?? Seriously? What does McDonald's currently pay its staff Stateside?

Don't know what they pay, but they just sent me a coupon for a free medium fry with purchase of a Shamrock Shake.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day,....wooo hooo!

[r22butters]

,...and to think, Freddy told me I couldn't take the doors off because it scares the passengers!



Hurray, I just made three bucks!

,...oh and yes, the fries and shake were yummy!

[Boatpix]

We pay $20/hour but we fly hours at a time. With tours you might get someone that can only afford a $20  ride which is 3 minutes and it's slow to build time.  I own www.HeliRides.com fyi.  I actually have a CFI shortage right now and need R22 SFAR 73 and RHC school cfi's in  Houston, Chicago, Puerto Rico.

[Boatpix]

 

 

You all realize that when oil prices drop dramatically that oil companies don't have much reason to use helicopters to explore for it and that pushes demand for pilots and helo pilot wages down, right? This happened a few years ago. And when oil is cheap airline ticket prices can go down and more people fly to more places and more airline pilots get hired because of the demand? Around 2009 when the economy was bad and the price of oil was high it was a good time to be a helicopter pilot and a bad time to be an airline pilot. This is known as "market forces" and "supply and demand." When I started flying in 1986 there was a guy at the helo flight school that had 3000 hours and living on peanuts. One day he said that an airline showed an interest in him and I never saw him again. Maybe this is why an add on commercial is only 50 hours if you already have the other commercial rating?

 

[Fred0311]

Unless you're offering non cfi butters a job you're off topic!

[avbug]

 

  When I started flying in 1986 there was a guy at the helo flight school that had 3000 hours and living on peanuts. One day he said that an airline showed an interest in him and I never saw him again. Maybe this is why an add on commercial is only 50 hours if you already have the other commercial rating?

 

 

 

 

No, the FAA did not craft regulation for the convenience of aspiring airline wannabe's.  

 

Do you photograph many boats on the Las Vegas strip?

[overtorque]

You know I kinda like boatpix coming in and having his posts be half ads for his own business and the other half being regular talk.

[Bonzo828]

He never misses a beat / chance for shameless self promotion.

[r22butters]

There's another tour operator in Vegas with an ad out. Its for a shuttle bus driver,...they get $14 bucks an hour.

I'm not sure what to do with that,...cry,...or go back to the school where I got my commercial and demand a refund!

The really sad part is that this $12 an hour flying gig probably got a ton of resumes. In fact I'll bet anyone a thousand bucks that I could apply to this position and never get any response from the operator, no email, no phone call, no interview, nothing!

,...any takers?

[Eric Hunt]

Butters, our cleaners get $22 an hour, and never have to worry about the weather, running out of fuel, staying current, or having to get into an R22.

[avbug]

It's not only pathetic that there are takers or employers who would offer such a ridiculous wage, but more so that there are employers who put "employees" in the seat of the aircraft, on a commercial, revenue-generating operation, and charge the "employee" for the use of the aircraft.  

 

It doesn't get much lower than that, folks.

[LJS1993]

How about the pilots begin to unionize and start pushing for some type of organized movement?

[Hand_Grenade_Pilot]

How about the pilots begin to unionize and start pushing for some type of organized movement?

There are some companies with unions. For example, in the offshore oil and gas sector, PHI and Bristow. The HEMS sector as well. Their effectiveness is debatable. Some argue they laid the foundation for many of the benefits in place now, and non-union companies had to follow suit to retain pilots. In recent times though, I have not seen anything worthwhile come from the unions. Unlike the airline unions, helicopter unions seem to never go on strike, so their isnt much to use for demanding better pay and benefits.

But to be honest, Im not sure that the economics of O&G at present could support a union demanding more, other than raises to keep up with inflation. O&G is a cut-throat business; if a company shuts down due to a strike (or begins charging significantly more for their services), they could very easily lose contracts to a competitor. Then, instead of better benefits, the pilots would be dealing with layoffs. Im assuming that the PHI and Bristow unions are biding their time until oil prices rise higher and there is more demand; in my mind, that would put them in a better position to negotiate good terms rather than settling for a small increase now.

[Nearly Retired]

Well, H-G-P, there's a reason helicopter pilots don't go on strike.  The last one backfired BIG TIME.  

 

It was PHI.  The first contract was hard to get; the company negotiated fiercely.  I was on the Negotiating Committee.  The company argued over the silliest of things.  I mean, really, it was stupid.  The fact that we even got a contract at all was a major feat. 

 

The were two guys (long-time employees) on the Negotiating Committee who teamed up and got elected as President and Vice-President of the Local.  They had an agenda - one that was different from mine.  I wanted to foster a good working relationship with the company moving forward.  They were intent on getting back at PHI for past injustices.  As expected, relations between the company and the union during that first contract were not good.

 

After the term of the first contract, when it came time to renegotiate, things did not go well.  Basically, the Executive Board of the union rejected the company's final offer.  A strike vote was taken, and it passed.  Unfortunately, idiotically, the union did not call for an immediate walkout.  They waited three months. 

 

But PHI had a contingency plan.  When the strike was no immediately called, the company worked with their customers (who were all interested in keeping unions *out* of the Gulf of Mexico).  PHI arranged with Sikorsky/Flight Safety for strike-breaking scabs to come work for the company as temporary contractors.  They arranged for Air Log to land at PHI bases and cover flights.

 

When the strike was finally called, it had little to no impact on PHI's operations.  As I said, idiots!  

 

On top of that, many pilots who went out on strike caved when the company called and said, "Come back to work or you'll be permanently replaced."  Guess what happened!  You see, companies only have to give a striking employee his job back IF IT HASN'T BEEN FILLED.  If the strike ends and there are no slots for returnees, well, sorry Charlie.  Some good friends of mine lost their jobs.

 

Bottom line: Forget a national union.  Don't count on helicopter pilots to stick together for the greater good.  It's just not going to happen.  There is NO solidarity among helicopter pilots.

[TomPPL]

Bottom line: Forget a national union.  Don't count on helicopter pilots to stick together for the greater good.  It's just not going to happen.  There is NO solidarity among helicopter pilots.

 

In my experience this is true not only for helicopter pilots but a lot of other completely unrelated industries. I suppose it boils down to basic human nature and not job types..