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Wolfhunter

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Wolfhunter last won the day on November 9 2023

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  1. This is a harsh environment for FBW. Salt is an ever present enemy and corrosion control protocols are pretty stringent. Even at rest, the aircraft is constantly moving in a hanger perpetually in motion. I know nothing of FBW but I wonder about shielding and the effects of salt encrustation on it over long duration. I could pose any number of questions but wonder if powerful surface search radars can induce stray voltages leading to control hard overs if sheilding is compromised by salt deterioration? I have no idea. People often faulted the Seaking, and in truth there was no need to go to the sim to practice emergencies. On the other hand though, it was pretty tough and always got you home even if home was a tin can adrift in the North Atlantic. A low altitude, salt water environment is home court for maritime helicopters and there is no escaping it. Rough and tough are admirable qualities in a world where pretty is as pretty does and your only as good as your last evolution.
  2. More like cabin area and volume... especially for SAR/EVAC if you have to stack cord wood. It needs to do ASW today, SSSC tomorrow, HDS the following and SAR the next. We don't have the luxury of specialist platforms in that environment. For whatever it may be worth, I would also point out that HS operations are tough on helicopters. The salt environment requires extensive corrosion control protocols and even resting in the hanger the poor beasts are constantly in motion. The deck landings (DDLs) take their toll as well.... pretty is as pretty does in tough environments, and biggest bang for the buck is the very definition of functional and operational compromise.
  3. The little ones hurt too.
  4. LOL, glad I'm retired.... and so are the pigeons. BZ to fast air and and all those who serve in CSAR. Cheers
  5. I’m not a fighter guy by any means…. but, for me to agree with your position, I would have to be willing to part with intercept, airborne interdiction, close air support, tactical support of maritime operations, NORAD participation and an FOB presence in arctic sovereignty. I’m just not there yet. I have a brake line flange kit I haven't used in years but I needed it last week. The navy thought the days of shore bombardment were all over until Libya. The Air Force thought the days of heavy lift helicopters were over until Afghanistan and the army said the same thing about tanks until they had to rent them from Germany. If you have no shore bombardment, no CAS, no attack helicopter support, no AC130s (send me an angel) and no armed drones all at the same time, you might as well confiscate the satcom radio too, who would I call? Knowing there is a pair of fighters on alert 5 and being able to talk to them can be comforting. On the plus side, I could just eat the pigeons.
  6. That's exactly what is happening, hence the title of the thread. Perversely, as DEFCON has observed above, some operators are now actually paying more for what they are getting than what they are getting is worth when compared to what they previously got at the same price... cool eh? That's the nature of the spiral, no doubt these operators believe they have effectively been raising pilot wages by paying the same salary for less experience. But beware the vortex, that’s exactly the mindset that got us here in the first place and stands as the reason others have taken your advice and moved on. You end up eliminating the very people you need as a short term stop loss effort.... they go truck driving. If the RCAF model holds true, what starts as a FO supply side problem quickly becomes a Capt retention problem as mentors become a thing of value across the board (as experience levels plummet) and operators who previously scoffed at the idea compete for their affections. The noose begins to tighten as soon as the retention side falters (by pilfering or demographics) and you find yourself with low experience FOs that you can't use because none of them are upgradeable. All of your experience is then thrown into operations and this causes the supply side crash at the exact time you thought you had too many FOs (that you couldn't use anyway). At that point, you can't out train the deficit. I wasn't sure I would get to watch it a second time but I think it's coming.
  7. Nurses are paid for the entire shift whether you see them or not; if they were only paid when they had surgical gloves on, they would be working at the vets office. How easy is this, a child in grade 4 with a hand held calculator can figure it out... Take a red seal welder who moves to Alberta and offer him apprentice wages, you will find him driving haul trucks for more money. Good Lord, where did the MBA crew get their MBAs, people act as if a pilot shortage is mysterious in some way, there was no other possible outcome. Same with the RCAF who actually are experiencing a shortage that they can't out train, the civilian world will get there pretty quick too. You are already poaching instructors for operational flying and need to look at other options like retirees. I have a class4 instructor rating but it's simply not worth the bother to renew it.... the reason I stop is the same reason I don't start which begs a simple MBA question, is lock point sustainable? Raise the nose and you stall, lower the nose and and you crash. MBA physics question... in the aerodynamic lock point scenario (from above), If the ground rises faster than wages what do you think will happen? Ya, I know, your first thought was blasting crews ahead of the flight path right? In practice, your scenario looks something like this but arrival at the crash site will take a bit longer...
  8. Cool, DEC will work just fine then; how will they feel about Ramjet doing that? But since you asked, yes, that's my premiss. Bottom of the pay scale means doing something else.... and that's just A OK with me now. If the industry is happy, who am I to mess with happy campers. BTW, Red Seal tradesmen mostly think we're crazy... none that I have run this by would go back to apprentice wages or suggest it as a reasonable idea in the event of a move. They would do something else if it paid better.... and just like that, poof, we're short of experienced multi ticket welders because they're driving Haul Trucks.
  9. From my perspective, you are taking it a bit further than need be. I certainly can't speak for expats but submit many just feel too young to retire and are willing to start at the bottom of the seniority list but not at the bottom of the pay scale.That is the issue... at least it stands as my issue anyway. I get the seniority thing and that's not where I (personally) have a quarrel with the present system. Losing these guys to dump trucks and excavators seems unreasonable to me from an industry perspective, especially now.
  10. I don’t see that as an issue. In terms of experienced drivers though, more than a few go to waste at the very time they might be of value as operators and mentors. Retired RCAF pilots at the age of 55 ish, expats returning from long term over seas jobs, and others who have found their circumstances require a change sometimes move on to other jobs and discover operating an excavator is actually fun and pays better than starting over. It doesn't seem like good value or wise use of a resource, in fact, it seems like a net loss to an industry that might stand to benefit from grey hair for a few years as it sorts itself out. It’s not a seniority issue (at least for me) it’s simply a pay issue. Not sour grapes either, I wouldn't go back now but know others who would (or might). Some are just too young to want retirement and too old to want to start over at apprenticeship wages... all are a loss to the industry. Always fun explaining this to tradesmen at a job site over lunch....
  11. As always, I am willing to support the wishes of the majority and only ask that they have the courtesy to continue to want what they say they want after they get what they want… a tall order because simple choices do not imply easy and interoperability with allies is worthy of consideration here as well lest you end up with a fleet of paper weights. There are lots of capabilities that could meet your level of scrutiny. ASW is a perishable skill to be sure, do we need to absorb the cost of maintaining that? Ya, separate thread, less costly, but no less topical IMO as it has fleet replacement overtones and navel implications as well. As would the loss of tactical support in maritime operations. In any case, I will vote against you and the chips will fall where they may. Cheers
  12. Although a bit dated now and not a fighter guy, it seems to me that the Liberals changed the daily availability requirements to demand meeting both NORAD and NATO commitments at the same time . Presto… instant capability deficit requiring “immediate action.” Then they used that requirement to delay the acquisition of new aircraft via the need for a capability bridging effort. Like the gun debate statistics, it was totally manufactured IMO. Regardless, the costs involved with bridging a short term capability gap almost always exceeds its own value in the context of military procurement as does incremental updates to existing equipment over extended periods.They didn't understand that aspect of it nor did they get the full impact of the manpower situation. The pilot shortage is a separate but contributing issue here and it was largely self inflicted. The RCAF can no longer train itself out of the pilot deficit which IMO is the real definition of a pilot shortage. Lunacy is exactly the right word. The next step in lunacy is coming to the conclusion that an air force doesn't need fighters. After that everything gets easy because armies don't need guns and navies don't need ships and divers can just be trained to hold their breath.Remember when we didn't need tanks and we didn't need Chinooks? When I first joined the infantry, we had to shout bang bang, during small section tactics and CQB due to a shortage of blank rounds. Lunacy tends to be circular and easily repeatable.
  13. My definition of a pilot shortage has remained unchanged,....it exists when you lack the resources to train yourself out of the deficit and operational tempo suffers as a result. Mostly, at least in military circles, it boils down to simple arithmetic and time appreciation. I don't imagine the civilian world is much different.... maybe bigger and more costly to fix but just as easy to predict as is the quest for solutions through automation. It's simply become one of those self inflicted "what did you think was going to happen" scenarios IMO with no other possible outcome. Rich - Agreed, I don't think we are quite there yet either and for the same reason. It seems your Canadian experience here mirrors my own. Had I been willing to pay for my own type rating, the jobs would have been there.... and thats both in the Helo and FW world with helicopter type ratings being the most costly. I attribute much of it to the easy access to TFWs, this served only to render my experience less valuable than the type rating itself. A long time ago, I used to say hey, I meet the minimum requirements, I have a type rating, I’m young and keen and I’ll do a good job for you. The response was always the same…. hey, I can get guys with 10,000 hours. Fast forward to now and I'm saying hey, I have 10,000 hours and just need a type rating. The response is, I can get young keen guys with a type rating that meet the minimum requirements or bring in a TFW. The government is complicit here as well, as an operator, you only need to place a bogus ad requiring the type rating... presto, no qualified Canadian pilots. Your dump truck and a hearty "welcome back" from Revenue Canada awaits.
  14. I thought about dusting off my Instructor rating but that’s my issue as well. The RCAF is further along the (no one to teach) trail than the commercial industry and there are lessons here that I'm sure will go unheeded. I have long maintained that a shortage doesn’t really exist yet… I’ve been waiting for a point when instructors are viewed as experienced pilots and snapped up in a vain effort to meet operational requirements. When this happens you will know a shortage exists and wages alone simply won't fix it. The looming retirement demographic awaits... The thought of MBA guys dancing naked on roof tops praying for a down turn should scare all of us.
  15. "He says it's not a money issue, because the pilots who left Air North had to take pay cuts with their new jobs." Those online MBA programs aren't helping either...
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