Flying Along the 30/70 Line
When we talk about the 71 percenters – those CPL qualified pilots who leave the industry, it confuses people. How can there be a pilot shortage when 71% of qualified pilots can’t get a job? It all boils down to being able to secure that first job in New Zealand. Our country is simply too small to be able to provide a first flying role for every pilot. Throw in conscious and unconscious bias and we end up with a pilot workforce that is waaay out of balance with the general workforce – in gender and ethnicity.
But the grief sometimes doesn’t stop when a job is secured. The treatment of some pilots and favouritism for others can make a flying life miserable. I’m curious to know if the establishments written about in this article can identify themselves and justify their behaviour.
Today, a remarkable young kiwi has chosen to tell their story about having to fly very carefully along the 30/70 percent line to keep their career dream alive. It has taken more than a decade to get an ‘secure’ airline position. Usually, we much prefer to identify our contributors but there are certain articles when anonymity is essential – this is one of them.
I have always loved flying - when I was young it was a way for me to see family on the other island, and as I grew older it remained something I was drawn to.
In high school I joined the Air Training Corps, and was invited several times to visit Ohakea to see the aircraft, including one memorable chance to sit in an Australian F-111! I had my first flying lesson for my 15th birthday and was able to pay for lessons once a month from a paper run. It was certainly a lot cheaper then!
When I was 16, I was incredibly fortunate to be awarded a Rotary scholarship to attend the Walsh Memorial Scout Flying School, where I was able to go solo. It was an incredible experience that I’d heartily recommend to anyone. The following year I was able to attend the cadet forces equivalent, held at Woodbourne.
I finished Y13 high school at 17 and tried a semester of engineering at uni, before deciding it was not for me. By this time, I had turned 18, and was able to apply to attend IAANZ in Christchurch. There, I completed my CPL, and Instrument Rating using the student loan system. I had nearly completed my training when the first of the Christchurch Earthquakes struck. In fact, I sat my CPL flight test with an examiner who told me that he had lost his home only a few weeks prior!
Ok, CPL done, now what?
The day following my flight test, I received a call inviting me to do my instructor rating with IAANZ, and not knowing what else to do, I accepted. There were a handful of us on the course, being taught by C-Cats. Looking back now, it really does feel like the blind leading the blind. There was a lot of reciting the training material, but building understanding of it was something that came much later.
I finished my C-Cat and now it was time to get my first flying job! Road trip time!
My first attempt I went to a few aero clubs and also up to Tekapo, to try to talk to people, and drop off my CV. I must thank Tekapo Air Safaris, as while they didn’t have any work available for someone with my hours, they invited me to jumpseat a flight later that afternoon.
A few weeks later, I went on a much longer tour of the South Island, still being met with polite rejection. One company, I spoke to the club president who offered me a position as secretary for his vintage car club, on the off chance that something might become available later on.
Still nothing. Time to try the North Island.
The day before the second Christchurch earthquake, I drove up the coast, and caught the ferry to Wellington, where I stayed with some friends. The next few weeks were derailed entirely by the Earthquake, but I was able to continue the job search afterwards. One company was at least honest - they’d only hire people if they had a job elsewhere to support themselves, as flying would not pay the bills.
Nowadays I would not recommend people go on a road trip to meet employers, as they don’t like people just turning up, however at the time that was the advice I was given. “Go meet people, so they have a face to put to the name - you’re not one of hundreds who have just sent an email from their couch! It shows enthusiasm!” Yeah... Don’t do that.
Finally - success! I landed my first flying job as an instructor.
I was a junior C-Cat at a fairly prestigious aero club, which shall remain unnamed, earning $20 per flight hour. Unfortunately, those flight hours were few and far between, and I needed a second job working evenings at a local fast food restaurant to support myself, despite the fact I was crashing on my best friend's couch. Literally. I spent several months on a couch, until I was able to find a place to stay, once I had my second job.
So those were my days for nearly a year - we were expected to be at the aeroclub for full time hours, in the event a walk-in might occur, but not paid for it. During this time, we were expected to be useful, doing things like manning the desk, cleaning the toilets etc. I was also expected to run the Young Eagles program, without any support. The club was also shifting its premises, and we were asked to do things like painting, sanding, demolition etc. If we were lucky, they would sometimes buy us lunch as a thank you for all our work. In the evenings, I would work from 6pm till 10 or 11pm to earn an actual income. I think my best week at the aero club, I earned around $300.
In my 10 months at that aero club, I earned a total of $4,500. No, that was not a typo.
As time went on, I also noticed that I was starting to be treated differently to my male co-workers. Nothing too overt, just something easily explained away. For example, bookings were made on a paper sheet in the office. My name was erased from several flights, and given to other instructors, while I was given the shorter TIFs they had been originally booked for. I was never able to fly with those students again.
Sometimes the excuse was “that instructor is more senior, and we’re trying to get them to B-Cat.” Or “We’re trying to get the more junior instructor out of direct supervision.”
I was ‘allowed’ to keep the ‘less desirable’ students though.
Once we were given the task of demolishing a shed - with great glee we headed out to deal out destruction. Only, when we got there, all the other (male) instructors were tasked with smashing. I was told to clean up the debris.
This particular incident takes the cake though: we were often asked to ferry the aircraft to another aerodrome, and were to then find our own way back home, and they would reimburse the expenses. One week, I was asked to do this. Before leaving, it was impressed on me that I was to get a receipt - despite my co-worker announcing that the previous week he had handed over his ticket stub, and been reimbursed. So, I duly get the receipt, and handed it in, only to be told after inquiring about it, that I was not going to be reimbursed because it was the wrong type of receipt.
I protested this, and very shortly ended up with our CFI standing over me, screaming at me, about how this was not acceptable. I was 20/21 years old at the time, and he was a much larger man. It was incredibly intimidating.
That was the beginning of the end, and things became much more blatant, including one very unwieldy exclusion from a club flyaway until one day I was called into the office and was “made redundant.”
It hurt a lot at the time, but looking back, it was one of the best things that could’ve happened.
Unions got involved and I worked a lot more hours at fast food, and with the settlement I received from the aero club, I was able to build up enough savings to look for work in Australia.
I transferred my licence across but was unable to bring my instrument rating as it was no longer current. I couldn’t afford to keep it current while at the aero club, and there was no way they’d pay for it - even keeping my instructor rating current was very begrudging.
I had seen a lot of ads for the China Southern Western Australia Flying College, and while the frequency of said ads was a bit concerning, I figured it was work, they paid, and it would let me keep flying.
So, in late 2012, I moved to Perth, and applied to CSWAFC. A month of pure freedom, before I caught the train to Merredin - a place I would call home for nearly 2 years, where I would fly the Grob (G115)
I settled in there, and there are some aspects of that time I still miss today. Game of Thrones was still big back then, and once a week we would gather at one of the houses for a rotisserie spit, and roast veges, before watching the latest episode of GOT.
Walking across the road was about the perfect commute time.
The students were interesting too - a lot wanted to share their food and culture with us, and there were definitely a few moments when there were barriers to overcome. In every toilet there was a sign instructing people not to stand on the seats.
One newly assigned student said to me “When I was in China, I prayed I would get a female instructor, as they are very rare and expensive over there”
How does one even respond to that? Later on, he was one of my favourite students. I loved the rapport we would develop with the students, and seeing them grow as people, and how they became much more confident during their time with us. We certainly learned not to ask “do you understand?” as the answer would be “yes” regardless of whether they did or not!
As a kiwi, the heat took a bit of getting used to. I arrived in the spring, when temperatures were still civilized, but over summer there was at least one week where it was 45C each day! Those numbers just did not compute! The Grobs max operating temperature was 38C, and there was a parade of people to the thermometer for a go/no go decision. But if it was 37.9C we were still expected to fly. Storms also looked very different to those in NZ, with dramatic build up, also the rain only lasts 10 minutes before we go back to bright sunshine!
Smoke is also a significant concern, with it often being trapped under an inversion, and causing poor visibility. Heavy smoke would go well below VMC too.
It wasn’t all plain sailing though, in Feb 2013 we were all required to take several weeks unpaid leave. Management also tried to sell a pay cut as a pay rise when they altered the reward system. It used to be $10 per hour flown on top of salary, then it was changed to $80 per hour once you had reached a certain threshold, I think about 70 hours flown in a month. No one had the student numbers needed to achieve this, and the only person who managed it achieved it by doing all the simulator sessions for other instructors.
At one point a student taxied into a fuel truck at Jandakot - it was clear Something Had To Be Done. This resulted in SOPs that changed on a regular basis, leading to confusion, and reluctance on the part of Merredin instructors to fly to Jandakot - any concerns raised were simply bulldozed over.
Another issue was maintenance releases - these were to be completed at the end of each day's flying, and the procedure for correcting errors changed multiple times. This led to me being grounded for 3 days because 6 months prior I had fixed a MR using the procedures of the day, only for them to be deemed incorrect later on.
I met my partner while working in Merredin, a fellow instructor, and I fell pregnant quickly -despite efforts otherwise!
Less than a week later I sat my G2 instructor upgrade. One of the symptoms I experienced that day was a dry mouth - certainly made delivering a brief much more difficult!
I decided to continue the pregnancy, and flew up to around 30 weeks, where I then conducted ground duties. (Usually manning the platform that recorded all take offs and landings.)
In Australia a woman can fly while pregnant until the end of her 30th week of pregnancy, provided she remains fit to fly. In New Zealand, you are grounded in your first and third trimesters - some women won’t even know they’re pregnant in the first trimester! (I’ve even read multiple stories of women not knowing they were pregnant until they were halfway through labour too!)
In August 2014 I had my son, and my partner had a job offer in another capital city, so I moved across the country with him.
When my son was a year old, I was ready to return to paid employment, and applied to the company my partner worked for. “But what about childcare?” Was the response.
Undeterred I tried again and was invited for an interview for a ground based role instead - I *might* be able to move into flying later. I remember very specifically being asked how I was going to handle being a mum and working.
I didn’t get offered the position.
There was another flight school in that city, owned by the other school - I applied there too, only to hear crickets.
Very unimpressed
During this time, there was a transition to requiring all instructors hold a Cert IV in Training and Assessment. My partner was heavily supported during his training (they literally had pages circulating with all the answers) while I did mine as part of an online course.
After 2 years, my partner had his IFTA and his META, and was one of the multi instructors, and he was ready for a change. He applied for, and got a job with Cobham Special Mission, which required us to move to Broome.
Broome and Special Mission didn’t work out for us, and we moved to Perth in early 2017. My partner started a new job flying Dash-8s, and I was able to renew my G2 instructor rating and land a casual instructing position at Jandakot.
Unfortunately, time was marching on, and to not have too big a gap between the kids, we decided it was time to have our second child. This pregnancy was not smooth sailing however, and I couldn’t fly through it - firstly due to the hyperemesis (big time vomiting) for the first half, and then it really did a number on my mental health in the second half of the pregnancy.
I was diagnosed with antenatal depression, and started antidepressants in the last few weeks of my pregnancy.
With the help of a supportive DAME I was able to regain my medical, and when my daughter was 5 months old, I returned to work full time at CSWAFC. They had been shut down for the previous couple of years and were in the process of reopening.
While interviewing with them, I had made it clear that I could work fulltime, but due to childcare, I needed normal business hours, which, at the time, is what they were doing: 9-5.
Later, they wanted to expand their hours, and all other G1s had said no to starting at an earlier time so they forced me to change my hours. Because I didn’t have anything in writing from when I did my interviews, I was left without a leg to stand on. Luckily my partner’s work was able to accommodate this for a while.
When I restarted at CSWAFC, I was a Grade 2, but did my G1 upgrade, primarily so I could supervise the junior instructors.
I did my best to mentor the juniors where I could - that has been something I have noticed has been lacking at every company I have worked for thus far.
I did find some of the attitudes I encountered troubling - I was often doing the pre-licence for the CPLs, and there was an attitude from instructors and management alike of “They’re never going to fly in Australia again, so what does it matter?”
Well that’s a bad attitude!
We owed it to those students to give them the best possible training - something that was certainly made much more difficult by a lack of things like training materials. Or students waiting on the ground for weeks while we waited for the Head of Operations to write that part of the syllabus.
Then COVID hit and CSWAFC was no longer able to import more students. We continued training the students we did have, but West Australia’s hard border remained impenetrable. Also the Australian-Chinese political situation was worsening, and in December 2020, the week before Christmas, we were all made redundant as the school went into liquidation.
Fortunately, the school was able to pay out all of our leave, so I had a nice little nest egg to tide us over the next few months - we had bought a house only a few months before CSWAFC closed down.
At the time, there was no work in WA, so we decided I’d stay home with the kids, to save on daycare costs. I started my ATPLs in late 2021. In 2022, my Dad was diagnosed with an incredibly aggressive form of cancer, and he passed only a couple of months later. I went back to NZ to help, and that was the week from hell. My Dad died, my daughter arrived in NZ, only to test positive for COVID, my partner then tested positive, so I had to miss my Dad’s funeral, we had to isolate with two very energetic children only to fly home again as soon as they were clear. -100/10 experience, do not recommend.
Never again!
I would like to just take a moment here to talk about mental health. Right now, the way the industry treats mental health is atrocious. People are too scared to put their hands up and ask for it, feeling like they need to choose between career/providing for their families, and getting the help they need.
I was on antidepressants and if I wanted to change my dose, I would be grounded for a month each time. Makes it well nigh impossible to wean off them - I took the opportunity of COVID to stop, but I’d probably still be taking them today, years later if not for that. I still have an added expense for my medical - every year I need a written report from my GP or a psych to be sent to CASA.
Returning back to Perth, I finally redid my instrument rating in late 2022, 10 years after I arrived in Australia.
I was offered a position with my partner’s company, as a FO on the mighty Dash 8. There were a couple of catches though - I needed an MCC, so if either me, or my partner left, we were expected to pay back an additional bond. As it transpires, my sim partner also needed an MCC, but his was only if he left the company within 2 years.
The second part was that I was required to join as a casual. I was still bonded for the full $25,000 for a type rating, and expected 2 years return on service, but given how short they were on pilots, I didn’t think this would be too much of an issue.
The reason I was to be casual, is because they didn’t want my partner to go casual, given he was a DHC-8 training captain, and one of only 2 full time captains. Our only request had been that we be put on opposite rosters - if my partner had an 0430 sign on, I could work the afternoon shift. Or vice versa. We could both work the odd hours, just not simultaneously. Given how they did all rostering in-house, and they had a decent split between flights, we did not think this was too onerous a request.
Spoiler alert: It totally was.
Anyway, full of excitement I started in January 2023, completing the ground school, and then heading to Melbourne for a month of simulator training. Given how uncurrent I was, I did need an extra sim to rebuild my instrument scan, but otherwise completed it without issue.
I returned to Perth, where I waited for 5 weeks to begin line training. The training schedule was somewhat erratic - some weeks I’d fly 4 times, other times I’d fly once in a fortnight.
I loved the Dash, however, she was a beautiful aircraft to fly.
While I was in the sim however, my partner had gotten cheesed off at the company one too many times and applied to Network. He resigned, and within a few weeks of his last day, all of my training stopped. The CEO of the company then demanded the MCC bond be paid in full, immediately, and would not accept it being taken from wages etc.
At the time we paid it, we assumed that once it was paid my training would continue. But it was not to be.
For 6 months I was told that my training would continue, that they simply didn’t have enough training captains at the moment, and to keep sending them my casual availability. For 6 months, I waited, unpaid with the bond hanging over my neck. This was absolutely meant to punish my partner, and the cost to me was irrelevant.
The cruelty was the point. If I tried contacting the fleet manager, or the training manager, I wouldn’t get a reply, or only a ‘be patient’ email from HR.
Additionally, while the roster was published several weeks in advance on a rolling basis, it could change up to 1630 the day prior. This meant that I needed to check Every. Single. Day whether I was scheduled for a flight tomorrow.
That sort of roster instability has its own effects, whether or not you are flying too. You can’t make plans, can’t book appointments in advance etc, because you never know what you are going to end up doing on a particular day.
I started applying to new jobs late last year.
Eventually in January this year, I received a letter terminating me from the company, but letting me know they weren’t coming after the bond. When I questioned some of it, I received an abusive email from the CEO essentially informing me that there had never been any intention of restarting my training this entire time.
I was also accused of being so unsafe that all the training captains refused to fly with me, (funny how that was the first I heard about that!) and that they never should’ve hired me in the first place. I’m going be honest here - the whole experience left me an absolute mess, and it took me quite some time to pull myself back together.
Are you serious?????!!!!
I’ve been applying to lots of jobs, and while the DHC-8 rating gets me interviews, the not completing line training sets off alarm bells. Fortunately, I am on active hold with one large Australian company, and as of the time of writing, I’m awaiting interview results from another.
Some musings now - looking back at my career so far: hindsight is very 20|20. I made a lot of decisions that may not have been the best, but has anyone gone through their entire life never making a poor choice? I made the best choices I could with the facts I had available to me at the time. Maybe the mid 20’s wasn’t the best time to have kids, but what makes the 30’s any better? It’s something every woman who decides to have kids is going to need to consider.
I definitely have a lot less trust in management, and will never work casual again if I can help it - it earns more per hour, but you are much more vulnerable. Also, any agreements, or variations to conditions etc - get them in writing.
Companies are great at promising the world - stay with us for a year, and we’ll get you onto nights. Or, if you get your instrument rating, we might look at getting you onto the twins. Do X and we’ll give you Y. Yet, somehow Y either never happened, took significantly longer than promised, or there was a catch involved.
I love flying, but it is not an industry that is particularly kind to those coming through - there is very much an attitude of ‘we all have to put in the hard yards’ which has allowed some really toxic management systems to flourish. Not only that - if someone has commitments outside of work - whether it be family, or volunteering, or something, and they aren’t available 24/7 there is very much an attitude of “what did you expect going into aviation?”
During this time, I also had to repay my student loan. Initially I would save up, and send back a big lump sum through a currency conversion site. This did often lead to the IRD chasing me (still learning how to adult?) as I would often put it off. I’ve since learned, going through this, that if you contact the IRD directly, they can set you up with a BPay. This is where you don’t pay currency fees, and it’s whatever the rate is on the day they collect the money from the account. Thanks to interest, I started with a loan of a little over $100,000 - I’ve repaid $60,000 and still have around $73,000 to go! Little bits often is way better than a big lump sum once or twice a year.
How much?!
Also, it is vital to build a supportive community and support system for when the hard knocks come. Moving as we are so often required to do to progress our careers, it’s hard to make new friends, especially when the thought lurks in the back of your head - how long am I going to stay here for? All my family is back in NZ, and my partner's family live on the opposite side of Australia. I volunteer with the emergency services and was able to lean on them and access support after my Dad died.
I have been fortunate in that my partner has supported me in one way or another the entire time, whether it be financially, or emotionally, or helping me when I was doing my exams.
One last thing. I hope that you found my story infuriating. It’s 2024 after all - shouldn’t this be a thing of the past?
When I did my DHC8 rating in Melbourne, I was chatting with my sim instructor during lunch. He was convinced that discrimination was a thing of the past, and sure, there are laws against it and it’s not so in your face these days, but that just means it's more subtle: Ostracizing the male student with long hair. Bullying an FO out of a company because he claimed workers comp after injuring his back throwing bags. Giving the socially awkward student a hard time. Applying the rules strictly to certain people while others gain more leeway. Hiring the young gun who’s going to move on ASAP over someone who is looking to balance work and family.
Companies are not usually foolish enough to put things in writing - you were unsuccessful is the full extent of the feedback you’ll get from an interview.
Often, penalties are minor to companies with deep pockets. Following the loss of my DHC8 position, we looked at whether unjust termination due to discrimination was a possible thing, and discovered that even if we succeeded in ALL of the steps and took it to court, AND won it was only worth several weeks wages.
So, I ask you, whether you be a seasoned professional, or a new student just starting out - speak up when you see wrong done, and help make aviation the industry we wish it was, rather than just accepting the way things are.
Post Script - we are very happy to report that since providing this article, our contributor has been accepted for a FO position in a large jet fleet operator.
