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I want to be a professional (non-airline) pilot when I grow up

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Back in the day, most of the offshore stuff was single engine, single pilot. Nowadays, it is mainly multi-engine, multi-pilot. Good news for us as it means more pilots. A few of the other rules were that single engine could not take off until after sunrise and had to be on deck 30 minutes prior to sunset. Gotta get up early!

Bread and butter of the GOM Oil & Gas is still Day VFR Bell 407/206L4's. Entry pay is around $50K for a 7/7 schedule with $300 per day for days flown over schedule.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
I've no idea how CBP will get 5,000 new agents, or even 500, as long as the current hiring process and poly are in place.
Can someone expound on why the poly is a barrier - are they asking really incriminating questions during the poly or if you simply have ever embezzled $10,000 dollars from a former employer?
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
I think that's a bit of a loaded statement. I seem to have read that in the last year, that may be the case, and that over the last <small period of time>, the industry's record hasn't been stellar, but I think the actual facts are a bit more complicated. Things like a VFR operator versus an IFR operator come into play.

One could say that for FY14, F-18s are the most deadliest gig in Naval Aviation (7 Class As). But obviously there's more to the story than just that (5 H-60 Class As).
Dangerous - from the sheer number of vectors of opportunity that can create a chain of events leading to mishap. How its billed as part 135 still amazes me - the level of controls and systemic safety governance mechanisms are laughable. Its a profitable game - and thanks to Medicare and Insurance regs, an effective money maker for the operators.

Now it is also fun, demanding flying. NVG's are helping but the core issue is still operations to destinations that lack weather reporting or TAF/prognostics. You go in to this job swearing you will never be "that guy" who presses into weather and does a real estate deal as a result of CFIT. But it still happens. Ops cultures at all major players (Air Methods, PHI, etc) punish pilots for doing the right thing when encountering marginal VFR / inadvertent IMC.

Its great flying, awesome flying. Pay is still rather poor and management cultures draconian. But boy is the flying awesome.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Bread and butter of the GOM Oil & Gas is still Day VFR Bell 407/206L4's. Entry pay is around $50K for a 7/7 schedule with $300 per day for days flown over schedule.

Entry pay right now is zero, since no one appears to be hiring. GOM seems like a great gig, but for now, it appears to not be a gig at all.

Ops cultures at all major players (Air Methods, PHI, etc) punish pilots for doing the right thing when encountering marginal VFR / inadvertent IMC.

I can't speak to Air Methods (they dropped off my list pretty quick), but after talking with current employees at other "majors" (including PHI), your statement seems to be 180 out from the current environment.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
You can be this girl for $215 per duty day + $70 per hour flown on hobbes. 14 days per month.

 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
Bread and butter of the GOM Oil & Gas is still Day VFR Bell 407/206L4's. Entry pay is around $50K for a 7/7 schedule with $300 per day for days flown over schedule.


Not anymore. 407's and L-4's fly the shelf. The shelf is dead. Everything is deep water which means S-76's, AW-139's and S-92's.

Actually, there have been multiple furloughs for oil and gas. Unfortunately, I don't know anyone in the GOM who is hiring. With the shale revolution, I don't see this changing.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
So whats happening to these hundreds of 407's and 206L's?

Good question. I would assume parked if they think the contracts will come back, sold if they think the situation is permanent. There are a couple of websites devoted to offshore flying that could probably answer your question better. I do know the three big GOM companies do not have near the amount of pilots they had 5 years ago.

GOM oil is more expensive than either shale or Middle Eastern oil - they really need oil to go up a little bit. As for natural gas, once the infrastructure builds out in the Bakken and Permian basins, it will provide brutal competition to the GOM.
 

Gatordev

Well-Known Member
pilot
Site Admin
Contributor
Good question. I would assume parked if they think the contracts will come back, sold if they think the situation is permanent.

It seems like PHI has pivoted a bit towards a little more Air Ambulance than in the past. Since they do their own work, I would think it would be a "less expensive" option for them to mod their 407s for AA. But that's a guess.
 

samb

Active Member
You can be this girl for $215 per duty day + $70 per hour flown on hobbes. 14 days per month.


That's where I'm hoping to head in a few months. I've started making contacts there and as soon as I have a predictable exit from the Army I'll be putting in applications. It seems like a nice gig to fly and be home every night.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
That's where I'm hoping to head in a few months. I've started making contacts there and as soon as I have a predictable exit from the Army I'll be putting in applications. It seems like a nice gig to fly and be home every night.
They are making roughly $60K per year - if you can piggy back on some Guard/Reserve time, thats not a bad gig.
 

Randy Daytona

Cold War Relic
pilot
Super Moderator
How directly does the price per barrel affect pilot pay in the gulf?

You have oil and natural gas, you have drilling and production. Basically, oil and natural gas are more expensive offshore for a variety of reasons than on-shore oil and gas, especially with the development of hydraulic fracturing (oil sands are a different story - bloody expensive). When the price falls dramatically as it has, it can cost more to produce the hydrocarbons then you can make selling them - so some wells are shut-in until they become profitable.

Now and for the foreseeable future, on shore shale is plentiful and cheap so unless you have a huge field off-shore, it is cheaper to stay on-shore. It is not so much that off-shore helicopter pilot pay has dropped as the jobs have all disappeared. Bristow laid off 2/3's of its pilots over the last several years, I would assume ERA and PHI have lost substantial amounts of pilots as well.

On a related subject, you may like. http://zeihan.com/presentation-clips/
(Top left video, The Reality of Shale)
 
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