Are helicopters busy and well paying for ames

[Crossthreaded]

The title is the question. I want a good schedule and good pay, I hear rotary guys make bank but are always gone is that true?

[Bug_Stomper_01]

Stay away from helicopters. You will get nothing you are wanting in this area of Canada aviation

[SeptRepair]

An endorsed guy with minimum 10 yrs exp on a heavy or medium can make between 120k - 180k a year doing tours of either 2 weeks on/off or 30 days on/off. Can make more if you give up your soul and always work. The trend I'm seeing now are guys just working as much as they can through the spring, summer, fall and float through the winter. I know of over a dozen who do. Per diems are 75/day, travel and accommodations are paid for. Contract rate.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

An endorsed guy with minimum 10 yrs exp on a heavy or medium can make between 120k - 180k a year doing tours of either 2 weeks on/off or 30 days on/off. Can make more if you give up your soul and always work. The trend I'm seeing now are guys just working as much as they can through the spring, summer, fall and float through the winter. I know of over a dozen who do. Per diems are 75/day, travel and accommodations are paid for. Contract rate.

What’s flight pay like on 212 / 412 fleet in Canada these days. What are the daily/hourly rates like? 75/day perdiem is still below federal recommended rates. Is the pay including flight pay or before?

[SeptRepair]

What’s flight pay like on 212 / 412 fleet in Canada these days. What are the daily/hourly rates like? 75/day perdiem is still below federal recommended rates. Is the pay including flight pay or before?

To be honest I only know of what I hear guys talking about in the medium world. Guy fully endorsed working on 412's air ambulance was saying its over 600/day. Never got into flight pay etc. I doubt flight pay applies. Didn't get to bump into any guys on fires this summer I knew on 212's, so I couldn't get the hourly rate.

I do know in the heavy world one of the bigger companies was paying 650/day and 120 hourly. The hourly got halved if you had another type endorsed guy with you. If you had an apprentice, then you kept the lions share of the flight pay. So its fair to say this summer on fires, two endorsed guys based on a 8 hr flying day could each make 1130.00$ a day.

So my comment stands. A guy can make 120k a year if all he has to do is wash and stare at a machine in the field, or go into the hanger( 10 hr day) and catch up on maintenance. If a guy is flat out and machine is flying lots, lets say flies 1000hr a year, then add 60K to the 120. To be honest flying 1000hrs on a machine a year is hard to come by, although not impossible. That is why operators, to avoid bleeding anymore talent like they have the last couple of years, are now going heavier on day rate and less on hourly. Guys now are pretty much guaranteed 120k/yr. Engineers are no longer taking the risk in their wage if the operator cant find work.

I know guys down in the states were making 1000/day USD on the heavy's with experience, type endorsement and an A&P license ( yes i know just an A&P will do). The American market sounds enticing, but getting the Visa and dealing with the travel and bullshit Covid rules, doesn't make it sound like its worth it to me.

[Bug_Stomper_01]

What’s flight pay like on 212 / 412 fleet in Canada these days. What are the daily/hourly rates like? 75/day perdiem is still below federal recommended rates. Is the pay including flight pay or before?

To be honest I only know of what I hear guys talking about in the medium world. Guy fully endorsed working on 412's air ambulance was saying its over 600/day. Never got into flight pay etc. I doubt flight pay applies. Didn't get to bump into any guys on fires this summer I knew on 212's, so I couldn't get the hourly rate.

I do know in the heavy world one of the bigger companies was paying 650/day and 120 hourly. The hourly got halved if you had another type endorsed guy with you. If you had an apprentice, then you kept the lions share of the flight pay. So its fair to say this summer on fires, two endorsed guys based on a 8 hr flying day could each make 1130.00$ a day.

So my comment stands. A guy can make 120k a year if all he has to do is wash and stare at a machine in the field, or go into the hanger( 10 hr day) and catch up on maintenance. If a guy is flat out and machine is flying lots, lets say flies 1000hr a year, then add 60K to the 120. To be honest flying 1000hrs on a machine a year is hard to come by, although not impossible. That is why operators, to avoid bleeding anymore talent like they have the last couple of years, are now going heavier on day rate and less on hourly. Guys now are pretty much guaranteed 120k/yr. Engineers are no longer taking the risk in their wage if the operator cant find work.

I know guys down in the states were making 1000/day USD on the heavy's with experience, type endorsement and an A&P license ( yes i know just an A&P will do). The American market sounds enticing, but getting the Visa and dealing with the travel and bullshit Covid rules, doesn't make it sound like its worth it to me.

I travel back and forth once a month maximum and the rates that aren’t advertised is where guys are making bank (as with Canada as well). Personally, I think 120k/ year working all year on a medium or heavy is grossly low. I could haul that in over a summer back when things weren’t so horrible on a 212 sitting on mins ffs. The whole forestry game has changed and there’s more helicopters than work since ‘08. I help out in Canada every few months here and there and it’s really sad to see what’s happened since I departed full time… as for the daily rate, I shut things down after 8 hours as I have well been versed on what operators do when you’re roped into that deal!