Are jobs easy to find?
The job market is very competitive so a lot depends on you. Your first job will most probably be either flying tourists around or cattle mustering, so you must be prepared to spend time looking for work in the tourist regions or the Northern part of Australia. One of the major factors that will affect your employment prospects will be the school that you train with. It is the standard of the school and its instructors that determines your initial pilot skills, but it is the reputation of the school within the helicopter industry, that determines your job prospects.
Many of the helicopter companies have firm ideas about which schools are acceptable, and which are not, and one of the first questions a prospective employer will ask you is «Where did you do your training?»
Your best value for money comes from training with a school whose standards and reputation are accepted and respected within the industry, and by training in the helicopter type that makes up the majority of the mustering fleet in Australia (see Training Helicopters). I therefore urge you to contact as many people in the helicopter industry as possible, prior to selecting a school.
Professional Helicopter Services, through its Ayers Rock and Kings Canyon tourist operation, is by far the largest employer of low hour helicopter pilots in Australia. Obviously we cannot guarantee employment to prospective students, nor can we employ every student we train, but we will only employ our ex-students.
So far we have given over sixty of our ex-students their first job as a pilot. We have subsequently trained eighteen of these pilots to be flying instructors after they gained the required experience, and several other students have done part time work for us before getting their first job elsewhere. Although we cannot guarantee employment, no other school can offer you these opportunities. If we have a requirement for a low time pilot, we will only employ one that we have trained. We currently have twenty of our ex-students employed as full time pilots, one part time and another two conducting joy-flights on the weekends in our Jet Rangers.
The jobs at Ayers Rock are not meant to be long term employment prospects, they are a form of work experience to assist some of our ex-students to break into the industry. Throughout this work experience period, we conduct regular check & training flights to progressively improve their standard. After 12 – 18 months, they have enough hours and enough experience to enable them to get another job.
The list at the end of this section shows the ex-students we have employed at our Ayers Rock operation in recent times, the dates they were employed there, and their progression into other jobs. This shows without doubt how beneficial this work experience is. You will see in this list that we have employed many of our ex-students, far more than any other school.
Apart from the ones shown in this list, we have employed another eleven of our ex-students who were either employed before 1994 or not employed via our Ayers Rock operation. No other school can get anywhere near this sort of employment record.
This is a career path that is not available through other training schools.
On top of this in-house career path, PHS students are highly regarded by other operators when they are looking for new staff. We currently have 2 operators who only look elsewhere when recruiting if we cannot provide them with a suitable low hour pilot, and another large operator that has employed over 10 of our ex-students.
Ex-students employed by PHS
| Name | Started | Finished | First Job after PHS or current job |
| Rueben Milne | Mar 1994 | Aug 1995 | East Asia Airlines - Now a Sikorsky S76 Check & Training Captain. There are 2 more of our ex-student with the same Company |
| Damien Nelson | July 1994 | Aug 1994 | PHS Instructor - Gold Coast Now Chief Pilot for Hummingbird Helicopters |
| Roland Pagels | Dec 1994 | Mar 1996 | Working in New Guinea |
| Ian Batton | Sept 1995 | Mar 1999 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne Now Chief Pilot - Phillip Island Helicopters |
| Don Relf | Mar 1996 | Aug 1997 | DSE Helicopter Consultant |
| Simon Petit | June 1996 | Mar 1998 | Troy Dan Helicopters, N.T. |
| Luke O'More | July 1996 | Oct 1997 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne Now a Corporate pilot on the Gold Coast |
| James Babeaff | Sept 1997 | Dec 1997 | Flying overseas |
| Sam Kinnear | Sept 1997 | May 1999 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne Now a Sikorsky S76 Captain with Canadian Helicopter Company (CHC) |
| Vaughan Guillot | Sept 1997 | Mar 1999 | Jayrow, Melbourne |
| Dan O'Dwyer | Mar 1998 | Corporate pilot on the Gold Coast | |
| Frank Bertoli | April 1998 | Mar 2000 | Sikorsky S76 pilot with Helicopters Australia |
| Terry Little | July 1998 | Oct 1999 | Suncoast Helicopters, Qld |
| Fraser McRoberts | July 1998 | Nov 2000 | Flying in Canada |
| Andrew Ronning | Sept 1998 | Jan 2001 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne Now with HeliAir |
| Tom Shilling | Nov 1998 | Dec 2000 | Reid Heliwork, Qld |
| Dennis Thiblet | Nov 1998 | Feb 2000 | Flying in France |
| Mark Slade | Feb 1999 | May 2000 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne Helicopters Australia - HeliNews |
| Peter Thompson | Mar 1999 | Jan 2001 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne Instructing in the Middle East |
| Warrick Young | Mar 1999 | Nov 2000 | S76 Captain with Bristow Helicopters, W.A. |
| Xena Ward | June 1999 | April 2001 | Northern Australia Helicopters |
| Warren Massey | June 1999 | Nov 1999 | Building contractor in Qld |
| Daniel Egan | Oct 1999 | Oct 2001 | Charter pilot - Gold Coast |
| Michael Findlater | Feb 2000 | Aug 2003 | Helicopters New Zealand |
| Darren Hickenbotham | Feb 2000 | Dec 2001 | Sunlover Helicopters, Cairns |
| Neil Gibson | Feb 2000 | Jan 2001 | Victoria Police |
| Anthony Bakey | Aug 2000 | Building contractor | |
| Sam Wilson | Oct 2000 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne Instructor in the Middle East Now back at PHS as an Instructor |
|
| Heath Holland | Nov 2000 | Sunlover Helicopters, Cairns | |
| Simon Managrave | Nov 2000 | May 2001 | Not Known |
| John O'Brien | Nov 2000 | July 2001 | PHS - Melbourne - Part time |
| Paul Gibson | Jan 2001 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne West Australia |
|
| Tom Hulse | Jan 2001 | Co-Pilot with Bristow Helicopters | |
| Glen Morey | May 2001 | No longer with the company. | |
| Brett Anderson | May 2001 | PHS Senior Instructor - Gold Coast - Now a corporate pilot on the Gold Coast | |
| Johanna Adams | Dec 2001 | Oct 2002 | Sunlover Helicopters, Cairns |
| Jim Bennison | Apr 2002 | Bristow | |
| Guy Moloughney | Aug 2002 | Maldives | |
| Scott Jobson | Nov 2002 | Deceased - Cancer | |
| Jason Flynn | Mar 2003 | Cairns | |
| Paul Karis | Jul 2003 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne | |
| Justin Heemskerk | Jul 2003 | Gold Coast Helicopters | |
| Jamie Madeley | Sept 2003 | Africa | |
| Richard Snell | Oct 2003 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne S92 pilot with CHC - Darwin |
|
| Aaron McDonald | Dec 2003 | No longer with the company | |
| Mark Nikolajenko | May 2004 | Not Known | |
| Shannon Kurz | Aug 2004 | No longer with the company | |
| Elaine Cadzow | Aug 2004 | Gold Coast Helicopters | |
| Damien Dew | Aug 2004 | Western Australia | |
| David Dodson | Dec 2004 | Operations Manager - PHS - Melbourne | |
| Brett Gallard | Feb 2005 | Left due to domestic problems, now part time at the Gold Coast | |
| Andrew Pollard | Aug 2005 | PHS Instructor - Gold Coast | |
| Konrad Baines | Sept 2005 | Purchased his own helicopter company in New Zealand | |
| William Smith | Sep 2005 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne | |
| Simon Blythe | Oct 2005 | PHS - Ayers Rock | |
| Paul Wrigley | Nov 2006 | Left due to domestic problems, now part time in Melbourne | |
| Chris Palmer | Feb 2005 | No longer with the company. | |
| Luc Beaurain | Mar 2006 | PHS - Ayers Rock | |
| Chris Keller | July 2006 | PHS Instructor - Melbourne | |
| Shaun Bennett | July 2006 | PHS - Ayers Rock | |
| Troy Mussio | Nov 2006 | PHS - Ayers Rock Cape York Helicopters |
|
| Kate Furey | Nov 2006 | No longer with the company. | |
| John Kelly | Nov 2006 | No longer with the company. | |
| Michael Wilson | Jan 2007 | PHS - Ayers Rock | |
| Tim Herron | Jan 2007 | No longer with the company. | |
| Steve Walker | Mar 2007 | PHS - Ayers Rock | |
| Rob Miller | Jan 2007 | PHS - Ayers Rock | |
| Cathy Luck | Oct 2007 | PHS - Ayers Rock Base manager |
|
| Ben Hall | Dec 2007 | PHS - Melbourne Office & Charter Pilot |
|
| Jason Vodic | Jan 2008 | PHS - Melbourne Office & Charter Pilot |
NOTE - Michael Wilson, who we trained and then employed in January 2007, is the son of Trevor Wilson.
We trained Trevor in 1985 (22 years previously). Trevor then flew for the Victoria Police for many years, and is now the Chief Pilot of the Queensland Emergency Services, who operate Bell 412's and a Eurocopter EC 135 , and are about to take delivery of a Eurocopter NH 90 (A helicopter with a maximum gross weight of 10,600 kg, and a max cruise speed of 164 kts).
This gives you an indication of the longevity of the Company, and
the respect previous students have for the standard of our training.
| The following list shows what some of our ex students
have achieved since learning to fly at PHS |
|
| Brendan Kelly | Chief Pilot - Lloyd Helicopters (The largest helicopter company in Australia) |
| Wayne Jenkins | Chief Pilot - Jayrow Helicopters (The 2nd largest helicopter company in Australia) |
| John McDermott | Owner - Heavylift |
| Brian Smith | Chief Pilot - HeliServ (Ex Operations Manager - Jayrow Helicopters) |
| Tony Griggs | Ex Chief Pilot - Victoria Police Air Wing (The largest Police Air Wing in Australia) |
| Reuben Milne | Check & Training Captain on the Sikorsky S76's for East Asia Airlines, based in Hong Kong |
| Trevor Wilson | Chief Pilot - Queensland Emergency Services (Rescue Helicopter) |
| Mark Kempton | Brisbane Base Manager for Queensland Emergency Services (Rescue
Helicopter) (Ex Deputy Chief Pilot for the Victoria Police Air Wing) |
| Daryl Smithwick | Base Manager - Canadian Helicopters Inc (Int), Thailand |
| Ian Galt | Now retired, was the Chief Pilot for the Victoria Police Air Wing then Chief Pilot & Operations Manager - Channel 10 (Australia wide) |
| Mark Rogers | Chief Pilot & Owner - Commercial Helicopters, Queensland |
| Lynton Beggs | Base Manager - Lloyd's Helicopters - Thailand |
| Malcolm Rowsell | Base Manager - Jayrow Helicopters (ex Check & Training (Puma's) - Pacific Helicopters, New Guinea) |
| Anthony Burns | Check & Training (Sikorsky S76) - Lloyd Helicopters |
This list only shows those ex-students of ours that have reached a position where they have a title, imagine how many others there are without a title. Compare all of this with what else is available, and you will see for yourself - there is no comparison!
Our standard of training is so highly regarded that both CHC Helicopters (Australia), (was Lloyd Helicopters) (the largest Helicopter Company in Australia) and Jayrow Helicopters (the 2nd largest Helicopter Company in Australia) often approach us when they are recruiting new pilots.
CHC have employed 12 of our ex-students and Jayrow have employed 11. Ask any other school that you are considering, for a list of their ex-students who have gained employment anywhere, and if they can't produce one, listen to the excuses as to why this is not important.