Australia
 

Not too long ago I was hearing pilots were a hot commodity in The Land of Oz. Anyone hear anything lately? I see on the official Aussie website it's quite a simple and straightforward process for a foreign pilot to obtain a work visa. I did some minimal searching on the internet w/o much success.

Not anymore.......

Just like everywhere else the AUS$ has taken a dump and the airlines are feeling the results. Virgin Blue is talking about layoffs and Qantas has stopped all recruitment.

BTW the only work visa foreign pilots can get to specifically work in Oz as a pilot is the 457, which is company sponsored.

Well that sucks...but just out of curiosity...I'm an Australian citizen, and I have all of my FAA ratings. How difficult is it to get them converted to the CAA? Is it just a matter of paperwork, or do you actually have to go through and re-test?

To convert your FAA certs to an Australian CASA license, isn't that time consuming if your going FAA ATP to CASA ATPL (3 exams and 1 flight test are required). Certainly nowhere as insane as converting to a JAA license but if you haven't flown there it takes a bit of getting used to. They have some really ******ed up regs and procedures that don't make any sense unless you've grown up in the petri dish of Australian Aviation.

Bear in mind that now they have a surplus of pilots, a converted license simply won't cut the mustard. The airlines will look down on it with disdain and you won't even get an interview.

JetStar is the only company, that I know of, that is sponsoring the 457 Visa. Jetstar Recruitment: Attention

If you have your FAA ATP (which I recommend) it will take you "sitting" 2 exams. The IREX (Instrument Rating Exam), and the Australian Law Conversion Exam. Then, you will have to pay for your Airbus A320 endorsement, or have them pay for you, and then pro-rate the costs from your salary. When you take your type-ride on the A320, you will take your CASA ATPL check ride at the same time. This is not a cheap endeavor, but if it is your only way to a job, I guess, "Ya gotta do what'cha gotta do."

As for me, I'm hoping that QantasLink will get the 10 Q400’s they had on order, starting next spring. This will open more opportunities for work in AU, because they won't have enough upgradeable FO's, and then they will have to outsource and bring on Street Captains, or FO's with the intention of upgrading them in a few months. Keep your eyes pealed on Climbto350.com.

Just some fun facts on Qlink:
TRAINING First Officer Pays $46,147AUD – as of 01/07/2009
DHC-100/200/300 Year 1 Captain Pays $86,334AUD – as of 01/07/2009
DHC-100/200/300 Year 1 First Officer Pays $54,290AUD – as of 01/07/2009
DHC-Q400 Year 1 Captain pays $92,377AUD – as of 01/07/2009
DHC-Q400 Year 1 First Officer pays $58,090AUD – as of 01/07/2009

If anyone is interested, here is Qlink’s contract. EAA Pty. Ltd. Enterprise Agreement 2007

Cheers!

"2 Exams"....Negative ghostrider.

CPL Air Law, then when that's passed, ATPL Air Law. Both of which are relatively painless. The CPL exam deals with the regs needed to fly within Australia, wheras the ATPL exam deals with international and extended over-water ops.

You get lulled into a false sense of security with the first 2 exams, because then they'll hit you with the IREX, which is a complete b!tch of an exam. 70% fail the first attempt.

Hey Laxrox, good luck trying to live in Oz on those wages. The only reason they continue to be so low is because there are foreigners that are desperate enough to work for the cr@p they're offering.

I know the AUD is about .70 USD (give or take a few pennies)... but my question is: Is is generally expensive to live in Australia? Obviously some places are more expensive than others but would 50,000 AUD/year be livable?

Thanks

Australia is one of the most highly taxed countries in the world and the cost of living over the last 10 years has skyrocketed. The average price of groceries increased by some 200% over the last 3 years and people were so outraged that a parliamentary enquiry was held.

The thing you have to understand is that Australia has historically been a very small market for pilots. Supply has pretty much always outstripped demand. Why do you think there are so many Australian expat pilots flying out side of Australia? Flying in Australia is the very definition of "Paying your dues". You typically have to spend a couple of years instructing, followed by a few more years flying a C206 out in the bush or New Guinea before even coming close to getting the dream shot at QF or VB.

Australian pilots have worked damn hard to secure decent wages and contracts and management has always found a way to screw them. There's the infamous Ansett strike of '89 when Ansett management hit upon the bright idea of getting America West to bring a few of their 73's along with the pilots to fly the struck work. Qantas management created the alter ego Jet* which is now flying QF routes with QF aircraft and the pilots not only pay for their training, they get paid 2/3's of their peers at QF.

Earlier this year we saw Qantaslink unable to find enough pilots to fly the Dash 8's because so many of their pilots were leaving for QF and VB. Why were they unable to find pilots? Not because there weren't enough guys with the qualifications but because they offer sh!t money and you have to pay AU$12k for a Dash 8 type. (Both CA's and FO's are required to be typed). As an example, a mate of mine flies a 206 in Northern Queensland and gets paid AU$80k and that's the norm. So Qantaslink hit upon the bright idea of bringing in South African and Zimbabwean pilots that were only too glad to get out of their respective coutries for a bit of safety. Guys that wouldn't complain about the money.

It makes me sick when guys say "Ya gotta do what'cha gotta do". because what you're actually doing is screwing Australian pilots and saying that it's alright to not only pay for your training but accept the cr@p wages, that ultimately would be increased if it weren't for the foreign pilots accepting them.

The funny thing is that these guys don't realise that you'll probably end up only ever flying a Dash for QF link. Your converted license will not be accepted by Virgin Blue and the chances of you ever getting a job with QF are slim, at best. There's no flow through, in fact, QF has in the past stayed away from hiring QF Link pilots because they don't want to impact the Link ops.

Hello! Any updates to hiring in the land of Oz? I'm currently living in the states, but looking at a possible move to Brisbane. I saw the laundry list of items involving "sitting" exams and a flight test or two. Any word on hiring info regarding the likes of Jetstar, Virgin Australia or any of the regionals? Thanks!