€11,500 a month. Salary too low say pilots!

[memory man]

€11,500 monthly salary offered for pilot of firefighting plane

A firefighting airplane of the Forestry Department remains grounded because authorities cannot find a pilot, while an agreement to lease two helicopters for the same purpose has still not been signed, Phileleftheros reported on Thursday.

It said that these were among the issues discussed at a high level meeting held yesterday as government departments prepare for what is expected to be a particularly difficult summer in tackling fires.

The head of the Forestry Department Charalambos Alexandrou said that pilots have not expressed an interest because they consider the salary — €11,500 a month — to be too low. Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou undertook to resolve the problem by contacting pilots who had expressed an interest to fly police helicopters.

As regards the two helicopters leased by authorities every year to help firefighting efforts, it emerged that the tender launched by Forestry Department had been cancelled and direct negotiations are underway with the company which has expressed an interest and which had leased the helicopters in recent years.

Nicolaou said that all police helicopters will be available and said it was essential that all government departments are ready.

Defence Minister Savvas Angelides said the army should become more involved in fighting fires, while Interior Minister Constantinos Petrides said that there were 3875 fires last year, some of which could have developed into very dangerous fires for forest areas and communities.

He said that because of the dense vegetation following the heavy rains, this summer was expected to be a particularly difficult one and did not rule out additional extra measures being taken.

District officers said that work was already underway to clear the vegetation but said that extra funds would be required.

A new meeting will be held on May 15 to review preparations.

https://in-cyprus.com/e11500-monthly-sa ... ing-plane/

[memory man]

In comparison...………

How much do pilots earn in the UK?

Salaries for more experienced pilots can range from £36,000 to £48,000 in a first officer role. The starting salary for a captain with a medium-sized airline may range from £57,000 to £78,000. Those employed by major operators can earn £97,000 to more than £140,000.

[Devil]

I am surprised that the offer is so low. Piloting such a plane is not a picnic. Firstly, they have to scoop up water, meaning they have to fly just above the waves, requiring good piloting skills. Then they have to dump the water just above the treetops, often with smoke obscuring the view. I am full of admiration for these pilots who are probably amongst the most skilful in the world; they deserve more than an ordinary airline pilot for doing a very dangerous job.

[gazzaga]

I am surprised that the offer is so low. Piloting such a plane is not a picnic. Firstly, they have to scoop up water, meaning they have to fly just above the waves, requiring good piloting skills. Then they have to dump the water just above the treetops, often with smoke obscuring the view. I am full of admiration for these pilots who are probably amongst the most skilful in the world; they deserve more than an ordinary airline pilot for doing a very dangerous job.

The aircraft in question are not the ones that sccop up seawater. They are single engine aircraft that land and take on water from bowsers. They are effectively crop spraying aircraft used as firefighters. I would have thought €132,000 per year would have been a decent wage to fly a single engined aircraft. Is the €11,000 figure quoted paid for the full 12 months?

[Dominic]

The problem isn't that the pilots want too much money. The problem is that there are too few pilots. Basic market forces.

[Kili01]

Flying a single engined crop spraying aircraft also demands an experienced skillful pilot. It is a dangerous job involving low flying skills. As these pilots are being employed to fight fires in inaccessible places they must be worth their pay. Presumeably their contracts will be for the summer months when it is hot and dry. After the long wet winter, the countryside and mountains are covered in a lot of extra vegetation which when it dries out will be a severe fire risk,

Dee

[Cresco]

This article is incorrect. I flew one of the forestry planes in Cyprus in 2017 and 2018. The government pays a contractor €11500 to supply a pilot . He keeps €7000 of it and pays the pilot only gets €4500 per month. Then the contractor charges the pilot for power and electricity and water in the house he rents for him.
The forestry department has been very fortunate to have the experienced foreign pilots it has had in the past years. The £4500 per month is less than half what other countries pay. Once again the middle man gets rich and the Cypriot tax payer gets ripped off.

[Dominic]

This article is incorrect. I flew one of the forestry planes in Cyprus in 2017 and 2018. The government pays a contractor €11500 to supply a pilot . He keeps €7000 of it and pays the pilot only gets €4500 per month. Then the contractor charges the pilot for power and electricity and water in the house he rents for him.
The forestry department has been very fortunate to have the experienced foreign pilots it has had in the past years. The £4500 per month is less than half what other countries pay. Once again the middle man gets rich and the Cypriot tax payer gets ripped off.

Thank you for pointing this out. Can you just clarify one thing, does the contractor supply everything (ie the plane as well) or are they acting more as a recruitment agency?

[Cresco]

The contract holder only supplies the pilots. I came over from Australia . It suited me at the time even tho €4500 per month is extremely low for the skills required . I wanted to work in the northern hemisphere. How ever it didn’t take long to work out what was going on. As everything in the Cypriot government is tendered out , one man who always managed to win the tenders supplied three pilots . £34500 per month! He supplied no equipment , found the cheapest accommodations and charged us expenses . In 6 months I saw him once and many times we didn’t get paid on time. We saved a lot of property and life and the news paper article makes it sound like we were greedy for not excepting €11500 per month. We were all experienced pilots been paid a lot less than the global price for the risks involved. I emailed the reporter to correct them but I never got a reply.