Global instability and oil price hike create helicopter job opportunities
Increased global instability and soaring oil prices are likely to mean more employment opportunities in the helicopter industry.
Oil companies, the military and peacekeeping organisations all make heavy use of helicopters during conflicts. Revolutions and increased oil exploration operations all mean that rotary pilots and engineers should be in more demand.
High oil prices make it more worthwhile for oil companies to expand exploration into oil fields that are harder to exploit, and offshore sites, while the war on terror and its side-effects have also led to more helicopter-based military and UN operations.
"Oil will be the major influence," says Russell Higham of March Aviation, which specialises in helicopter recruitment. "We've tended to find it borne out on a long-term basis that increased oil prices will lead to an increase in helicopter business."
Higham believes helicopter jobs are also more insulated from trends that can cause disaster for airlines.
"We are operating in insecure times," he says. "If there is another terrorist attack, for example, the airlines will have problems and so will people with experience on the large passenger types. The helicopter market provides a certain amount of insulation against that."
However, he points out that "good helicopter engineers will probably never earn quite as much as good fixed-wing engineers, but they are less likely to go through peaks and troughs in the market".
Foreign travel is a major benefit of a life in helicopters, says Higham. "Someone who has technical experience in both helicopters and smaller fixed-wing craft has a licence to travel. They should be able to find work anywhere and in any economic climate."
Alan Biles, engineering manager for FB Heli Services at the UK's School of Army Aviation at Middle Wallop, who spent 11 years working on helicopters in Nigeria, agrees. "You can find yourself in some very dubious parts of the world on the overseas helicopter circuit. If you're flying a 747, you tend to fly over them," he says.
"If you're looking for adventure, though, it can definitely be found in rotary. I would have been bored senseless working for the airlines."
While helicopters could make an attractive option for someone entering the aviation industry, for those with existing experience it can be hard to break into the sister market.
"There are some common aspects," says Biles. "Avionics is an easily transferable skill and some of the engine skills are transferable, as they are similar to turboprops. That said, it can be difficult to transfer to rotary. "I get CVs from people with many years experience in aviation, but unless they have direct helicopter experience, I won't take them on."
Employers are unlikely to provide on the job conversion training, but retraining is always an option, with organisations such as Oxford Aviation Training providing a range of conversion courses.
Source: Flight International