You guys are exactly right on many counts and I don't take the comments as sarcastic or offensive. This type of exchange is exactly why military pilots should join the much discussed professional association in other parts of this site.
Fully Articulated will agree I am sure when I say that decreasing experience is a major concern for us. As for where to train pilots, our helicopter pilots must have a common base because whether they fly a Sea King or a Griffon, they could easily operate over water or in high mountains. Even scarier to think about, I remember guys getting posted to Labs in Comox and going on a SAR in the mountains and neither guy had a formal mountain flying course, just a unit check out. The mountain flying course is a much cherished plum that is often used as a carrot to get guys to progress in other areas of their careers when it should be mandatory for all helo pilots in the CF, that's another matter......
There is much the military can learn still but as noted before a lot is $$$ driven, or rather not driven due to lack of $$$.
We (line pilots) absolutely agree that helo drivers should learn on a Jet Ranger like machine before moving up. As for cutting out the Harvard II, that will never happen because that phase is where we teach instrument flying and it serves as a selection process for us to decide if students will go on to fighters, helos or multi. Remember it is still a 50/50 chance for pilots as to where they will go. Just because you join after getting your multi IFR as Seneca college and after having flown a couple thousand hours with some charter outfit on Navahos or a similar type, it does not mean you will go multi-engine, you could very easily find yourself in a Sea King.
That issue alone is one of our big problems, guys get sent to a community they want nothing to do with because that is where we need pilots at the time. Then the grown ups are surprised when these kids split as soon as their 9 year commitment is up :wacko:
You think you guys are confused, try it from our end when you are flying with a young pilot who hates the machine, hates the job, hates where he lives, hates everything about his professional life and is counting down to his release and getting back into a plank aircraft.
There is no easy answer, well there is to you and I but not to the grown ups and the bean counters. We have for years asked for a way to attract, recruit and train pilots directly into a community and keep them there. Taking pilots directly into seperate streams would be significantly more infrastructure and overhead, that means more money, that means it'll never happen.
All of this is why I am such a strong believer in HELICOP, a program I strongly supported and promoted while I was a Reservist out west. We had pilots walk in with a helicopter licence wanting to fly helicopters, not the CF18 or the C130. We trained them ourselves at the squadron, they got their wings with us, we then trained them on the Griffon and several have deployed to Bosnia and gone on to great jobs plus continue their association with the Reserves. We got highly motivated pilots, they got a 412 endorsement and instrument rating, I feel it is a win/win. Why this cannot be used similarly for multi-engine fixed wing I'll never understand. Why not take some King Air charter guy and train him or her as a Reserve C130 driver. The CF needs more programs like that with understanding and supportive units which allow the pilots the flexibility to serve as a Reservist and to fly commercially.
I think that is the way ahead for us but hey I'm a heratic, always trying to use common sense, geeezzz :blink:
Thanks for all your inputs guys. I really hope the contract in Portage gets renewed and that the Jet Ranger is still part of the equation but don't be surprised to see 412s start doing autos to touchdown near Portage with students with 10 hours of helo time and an instructor.
I give that foolish idea less than a year before they ball up an airplane.
Oh and Winnie, you give me enough heads up, no promises but if there is any way I could work out permission to take you or anyone else for a spin I'll do it. We are not allowed to let folks take the pole in the hover but in forward flight no problem, you can jump up front and try the beast out. I'll get you a flip with Fully Articulated, he knows the beast 1000 times better than most drivers out here 😉