To find the solution, you must first fully understand the perceived problem. Is there a problem with the current pool of pilots or is that your perception? According to the information I located online, helicopter accidents are actually on the decline and have been lower in the past few years than any other time in history. This is quite an accomplishment considering the dramatic increase of helicopter traffic over the past ten years. http://www.griffin-helicopters.co.uk/accidentstatsmonthyear.asp Is the industry attracting qualified candidates? Surprisingly, yes. Even with high training costs, low pay, lack of jobs and undesirable locations…People still have a drive to fly helicopters. Like you said, the pool has no shortage of 1,000-hour pilots. The pilots that are not truly dedicated to this profession will be naturally weeded out. In general, I feel new pilots are required to be more dedicated than their predecessors. We are in an unusually industry. In no other profession will you find the "new guys" instructing the "new guys" and this will always be a hurdle for our line of work. It is not the responsibility of the FAA or flight schools to hand your company qualified pilots. Each license and rating is just a minimum competency requirement. If flight schools ever train pilots up to your operations expectations, your expectations are too low. Tickets & ratings are just a "license to learn" and it is up to individuals (with employer) to polish their pilot skills for the given mission. No employer in any line of work is interested in bettering employees for possible employment elsewhere. Are your expectations too high for the quality of your operation? If you are not happy with your operation's current and prospective pilot pool, you should look inward first. Quality pilots are out there and they are attracted to quality compensation & quality working conditions. If your operation cannot offer this, you need to surrender to the fact that you will be a training ground for lower caliber pilots looking to better themselves in order to move on. Why did you wait to see a problem before you "tightened up your interview process, strengthened your training program, and added a higher level of scrutiny on our 135 check rides"? Is there an issue in your organization due to a lacked of training or scrutiny in the past? Is your operation willing to spend the additional money in training to better your staff or will you let go of any pilot not meeting your new "higher level of scrutiny"? Strong statements? Yes. Sure there will always be employees that are less desirable in any profession, but you are painting with a very broad brush…It cost approximately 80K of a pilot's own money to get trained. Many new pilots struggle and are lucky to make close to the same wage as a shift manager at McDonalds. There are still pilots willing to "Beg, Borrow, but not steal" to find any fly job that actually pays the bills. You think things are bad now, just wait until the pendulum swings and there isn't even a surplus of 1,000-hour pilots. I think you mean well, but I suggest you don't expect anything for free, hire the best pilots your operation can afford and supply the training needed to keep everyone safe. Thats all any operator can do.
