Just Curious

[Hornblower]

... just curious Just Curious, I take it from the ads that KBA is not interested in employees that do not either live in Calgary or are willing to move there for the term of their employment. Why, have they had bad exprience(s) with out-of-towners or commuters? Or am I reading too much into the ads?

[Sam300]

I am also curious

[just curious]

Good question. I would say it is a blend of all of the above. Bearing in mind that I am just a driver, and I haven't had any coffee... here is my take on it. Ironically, I would really like to do the posted Sim Instructor job, but my wife can't manage Toronto traffic. Instead I live 7 minutes from the hangar I normally fly out of. Not Calgary. If the base closes, I will have to move.

We have had people living in a wide variety of places. A pilot living in a gateway city to the North Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary, or in the nearby vicinity would normally fly to the appropriate Arctic base. If the base they flew to was dead in the winter, it becomes more expensive to transport them. We have hired people over the years from Conception Bay South, Miramichi, Chibougamou, and the like and discovered that you can't get there by air, or at least in a way that makes any economic sense. Or worse, a place that takes several days to travel to your job site.

When the company was 40 pilots, almost all of them lived in Calgary. One or two lived as far away as Cochrane. For a brief time, at the 250 pilot mark, we had practically nobody living in Calgary, and nobody seemed to manage connections.

KBA is a largely charter company. True we have scheduled service, but the majority of my flying has been charter. The main thrust of the location item in the advertisement is that you should be mentally prepared when hired to live in reasonably close proximity to a place where we can fly you to work, and for training.

For some of the pilots hired, the job will be in Calgary. For some it will be largely places with Inuit place names. Or places with the names of famous dead British explorers and ships. Pilots flying the Basler for instance on skis in Antarctica have a little more leeway in there they spend on their off times since their on times are usually a fair bit longer.

If it helps, it isn't simply entry level pilots who may end up living in the YYC area when hired. The top drivers in the company had to move there when they became CP's and Ops Managers.

Since I am down on the Ice, I have no idea what the current hiring needs are. I expect that you would know better if you applied.

Hope this helps. I'm off to work.

Cheers,
JC

[Hornblower]

Thanks for the info. Not applying myself, but know someone who would like the work and the schedule, and doesn't want to be a pain in the ass applying for something that he can't have, because he isn't moving to Calgary. Now you mentioned Ottawa ... ?? Anyways, just wondering, thanks.

[just curious]

No worries. In my experience, KBA works in a North-South direction, whereas almost everybody else works east-west. So a Jazz pilot could commute YYC-YYZ with only minor pain, a KBA pilot who has to leave Victoria (or worse, some obscure part of Vancouver Island) to go to work in Iqaluit is going to lose a lot of time at home just geting to work.

[Rudy]

I'm sure those of us that live overseas wouldn't expect the company to pay for their commuting costs back to Canada. Kudos to them for paying for commutes within Canada. I can't help but wonder if part of the reason they need you to live in Calgary is so they can call you in quickly while you're on your scheduled days off? Does this happen?

[just curious]

Sometimes, but the company is mainly focused on Arctic/Antarctic and international bases. On the Otter side of things, when there are machines that need a driver, it is the one day test flight sort of thing. With training being increasingly simulator based, less call-ins seem likely.

Having said that, since the company is largely charter-driven, the company isn't likely to say "Oh, you were gonna go to Sundridge Mall and hang around the food court? Well, we'll just cancel that Vancouver trip!"

I would think that these day the big driver in having people in Calgary is the volume of training now versus the olden days. In the past, 704 operators did comparatively little training. Now there is a training course for almost everything. Some SMS-drive, some client-driven. Some courses are now in existence, and taught in person by humans because people don't willingly complete on-line trainng courses. I dimly recall having groundschool, recurrent training and a ride on the same day. I really don't know how often I am in for training these days. Lots.

[WileyCoyote]

Hey JC, will Borek rotate guys out of any cities down each, or has that stopped these days?

[just curious]

Any? No. Some? Likely. Calgary? You bet.

[av8tor_assrope]

Don’t take this as the gospel because I don’t currently work for Borek but I have in the past. When I was a fresh 250 hr guy, I was rotating to the Maldives and they would fly me back on my time off (6 months on, 1 month off) to any major Canadian City (ie. YVR, YXE, YYZ ect). It use to be if you were doing the international stuff (more than a month or two away) they would let you live wherever you wanted if you were a new hire. The rest of the low time guys in my ground school that were going to be rotating up north were told they had to live in YYC for 6 month to a year before they were allowed to live anywhere they wanted. For new hires it’s usually a matter of what you can bring to the table. If you’re like a 10 000 hr off strip Captain there’s a pretty good chance they’ll let you fly out from wherever you want...within reason of course.

It’s not too shabby though if you have to live in YYC for 6 months to a year if you’re a low time guy......better then Moosonee or Sioux Lookout! The company will keep you pretty busy if you ask them too...which is great when you’re trying to build flight time. You’re well taken care of when you’re rotating up north. A lot of guys would get a place together in YYC on their time off if they had to live there for 6 months to a year.

It’s an awesome company and if I was doing it all over again I would no doubt be knocking on KBAL’s door. Hands down working for KBAL was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. You’ll get some great experience and if you come in with the right attitude you’ll get to see the world...literally. Plus you’ll get the opportunity to fly and learn from some great pilot’s like Just Curious.

Good Luck.

[klund]

I read that KBA has mins for f/o being 500tt and 250 pic. I was wondering if they hire guys with lower times then that to work the ramp/dispatch positions with the prospect of eventually getting on to the f/o position? If they do, would those workers also be on a rotational schedule of 3 in 3 out?

Thanks

[magic wand]

Yes, as it is hard to get ramp rats in BF NW, Borek is now rotating ramp rats. Not sure of the rotation schedule, but you should apply.

[just curious]

We have a great many people who have arrived with 206.6 hours. They work in dispatch.

[Mr. North]

Has anyone heard back from Borek yet?

[just curious]

As the posting just closed, I would expect to see successful applicants contacted over the next week for the Beech side of things, and the week after for the Otter/Basler side of things.

Beechs first because the Aircraft are in-country, so it is easier to have training and check captains at hand, and make the sim bookings.
Otters and Basler later, because most of them are still on the Ice, along with the training captains.

[Mr. North]

...a couple weeks later. Anyone hear anything?

[gabo]

A friend of mine just got a job as a -6 Co-Jo, think they called him sometime last week

[just curious]

Calls went out to successful applicants. Training and Rides are done. For this go-around.
Thanks for all who applied!

[just curious]

As it turns out, I was wrong there is another class to be trained, but they have all been selected.

[BTyyj]

Are the dispatch jobs for low-time pilots in YYC? Are the jobs hard to get, or are they not too competitive? Would you recommend someone send their resume in through email, or actually visiting the office and handing it in in person?

Do you know if they hire people on a part-time basis while they complete their flight training?

Generally, how long is the wait time until the low-time pilot is moved to flight crew?

[just curious]

Yes, they are YYC-based, but periodically they are rotated to the northern bases, where housing and transport are provided.
I don't know how easy they are to get, as some were 205 hour hires and some left instructing or other company's ground positions to get here.
If you happened to be in YYC, I would walk in and visit. You would want to talk to the people you would be working with.
Flight following involves 12 hour shifts. That'd really cut down on the available time for pursuing flight time. I haven't heard of anyone starting with their training still in progress.

While some have started sooner, the contract calls for training on an aircraft after one year, and it seems to have gone just like that. The guy who just did his ride was exactly 365 days.

JC

[just curious]

There are two slots opening up shortly, according to the training schedule...

[BTyyj]

Thanks for the help JC.

[just curious]

So, were any of the posters here in the last Groundschool besides Mr North? Be nice to be able to put a face to a name
JC