Hello!
I'm looking for some information on the wage and work conditions on working for the Ontario MNR. Are pilots paid year round, or only during working months? Is there a rotation schedule? Are pilots required to live in a specific town or region?
Thanks?
Ontario MNR questions.
Moderators: sky's the limit, sepia, Sulako, North Shore
Re: Ontario MNR questions.
I don't work there, but have some information.
Yes
10 on, 4 off
You have to be where you're based when on call unless they deploy you elsewhere. Some people just park a trailer somewhere for the summer.
Re: Ontario MNR questions.
The pay rates are in the collective agreement. There is pilot 1-5 with aboot 7 steps per. Chopper’s and Twin otters are P4 415 co-jo is P3 even if they were a P4 first. Beavers are P2.
Flying on the 415 is about 100h a year. No one gets much past 200. Some years are sub 50h with the record being like 16h.
Only the 415 is a compressed work year. It’s technically 9am-2100 starting April 1 and running until October 31. There are a few permanent Twin otter jobs and you will fly the beaver too. The Beaver is all contract. There are a few twin otter contact jobs too. The contracts are 6 or 9 month. You do not get paid during your time off as a contractor. After 2 years you own your contract and it’s basically like a permanent job.
Fixed wing bases are Sudbury Timmins and Dryden. They just opened a Thunder Bay 415 base. 415s are 2 in YSB with 3 FO 3 Capt. The rest are Dryden. If T bay sticks around it’s the same as YSB, 2 planes 3 crews. There are a bunch of out bases, Sudbury does Chapleau and you stay in a nasty motel.
The western ones mostly have bunk houses and they feel like minimum security jails, especially YGQ. Pickle lake is the best location on the lake.
Good luck going home on your 4 off, especially if YHD based. No flight passes and the pay is not good enough for you to burn that kind of cash for what will be only 2 days at home. You have to make the base your home. Don’t expect a base transfer as there are no industry standards or really any standard to base and equipment swaps or upgrades. The mangers just do what they want and give what they want to who they like best at that moment. You have to interview for everything even once you are in. They don’t care of your type rated or have done a position, a guy who was a firefighter on the ground when he was a teenager can beat a guy with a type rating and years on type. You get ranked and if they don’t like you they will score your interview accordingly. The interview is a bunch of canned questions that are rather basic. Such as what is an LWIS or can you enter controlled airspace without a clearance. There is also how have you created an inclusive environment or what is SMS.
Flying on the 415 is about 100h a year. No one gets much past 200. Some years are sub 50h with the record being like 16h.
Only the 415 is a compressed work year. It’s technically 9am-2100 starting April 1 and running until October 31. There are a few permanent Twin otter jobs and you will fly the beaver too. The Beaver is all contract. There are a few twin otter contact jobs too. The contracts are 6 or 9 month. You do not get paid during your time off as a contractor. After 2 years you own your contract and it’s basically like a permanent job.
Fixed wing bases are Sudbury Timmins and Dryden. They just opened a Thunder Bay 415 base. 415s are 2 in YSB with 3 FO 3 Capt. The rest are Dryden. If T bay sticks around it’s the same as YSB, 2 planes 3 crews. There are a bunch of out bases, Sudbury does Chapleau and you stay in a nasty motel.
The western ones mostly have bunk houses and they feel like minimum security jails, especially YGQ. Pickle lake is the best location on the lake.
Good luck going home on your 4 off, especially if YHD based. No flight passes and the pay is not good enough for you to burn that kind of cash for what will be only 2 days at home. You have to make the base your home. Don’t expect a base transfer as there are no industry standards or really any standard to base and equipment swaps or upgrades. The mangers just do what they want and give what they want to who they like best at that moment. You have to interview for everything even once you are in. They don’t care of your type rated or have done a position, a guy who was a firefighter on the ground when he was a teenager can beat a guy with a type rating and years on type. You get ranked and if they don’t like you they will score your interview accordingly. The interview is a bunch of canned questions that are rather basic. Such as what is an LWIS or can you enter controlled airspace without a clearance. There is also how have you created an inclusive environment or what is SMS.
