In both HAA and Utility. Spread the good word. What was your time like in each. Compare and contrast. Gazuntai 

the big electrical contractor. Not much of a schedule, poor maintenance, nice people overall. I enjoyed it but the maintenance was the deal breaker. Went to HAA and hate the 12 hour shifts and even more, the night shifts but easy money. 

With a "big" contractor, and it was bad cause the schedule, then they wernt a "big" contractor.....operations like that keep their guys happy and have enough guys to handle a rotating schedule. Been doing this for 48 years thru numerous operators, and the small mom and pops usually have worse schedules. Utility is dependent on demand. Sometimes a big jobs going on and you have to get it while it's good, it's not the lifestyle for everyone, but they flying has always been challenging, different every single day, and rewarding. Some jobs you can go from simple HEC, to pulling wire, to platform / skid work, to center phase needle. Breaking out all the tools for 1 job. Keeps it interesting. Usually just pilot and mechanic crew, so very little drama, and the maintence is only as good as you make it. If you don't know what you're looking for then you can't tell the wrench what's wrong. It's a team effort, so if you have complaints about maintenance, then you're part of the issue.

They were the biggest powerline utility operator out there and still are. I didn't find long, boring days in the seat rewarding. It was both tedious and dangerous flying. Don't forget to add in some dumbass line man that's your boss. But how about the saw? Imagine waking up and having to do that sh*t all day, every day. 

And don't give me some bullsh*t about how the MX problems somehow were my fault. EVERY job I showed up on had a helicopter with problems and much of the time there WAS NO MECHANIC within a 1,000 miles to fix it. Anybody that does that sh*t for 48 years is out of their mind. 

You do get to grow a long beard and cover yourself with tattoos and consider yourself Mr. Super Alpha Badass, though. At least until you end up in intensive care or the morgue.

judging By your attitude, you made the right decision to leave the utility world as you would have gotten run out anyways by the sounds of it. Some of those "Exploits Deleted" lineman you speak of, are great guys, and truely do know a lot about their trade. Maybe you just tried to swerve into their lane. Most of the foreman who deal with helicopters know a bit about it since they work with many different contractors, so they get to see the world from all sides of company policies and pilot excuses as to why why are doing what they're doing. You forget.....you're working for them....they don't work for you. You make a lot of assumptions but all I hear is you were disgruntled and projected all your problems on things that were the companies fault and not your own. Which is comical as all you had to do was not fly broken stuff. Pretty simple. If you were worth your weight then they would have recognized that and helped you out as well. 

crazy for doing this so long? I don't think so. I've enjoyed my career, and have made great friends and relationships along the way. It's no more dangerous than anyhting else flying if you keep your skills sharp. Statistically speaking all the EMS crowd has a significantly higher accident rate Doing far less demanding stick wiggling. That's not a shot, that's just the truth.

flying is as safe as you make it, but after 38,000 hrs in the spiders web, I still enjoy each day. YMMV.

"If you don't know what you're looking for then you can't tell the wrench what's wrong."

It was a 500, for God's sake. It didn't take a NASA test pilot to convey to the mechanic what was wrong with the damn thing. You could point at something and say "this is broken" or "this is what the machine is or isn't doing". It's about as simple a helicopter as they come but when MX is stretched thin and you have pilots too new and inexperienced to ground aircraft, you will have lots of problems. 

The lineman in charge worked for the helicopter company, not the utility. That's how it works. I wasn't disgruntled, I just didn't like the whole situation enough to persue it antwhere else. 

I didn't usually fly broken stuff. Depends on what was broken and how bad. You really been doing this for 50 years? What IS comical is a supposedly highly experienced pilot says this is "pretty simple." 

I don't care how many friends you made or any of that other crap. EMS probably flys 100 times the number of hours power line companies fly. How many power line aircraft are out there on a given day? 50 tops? To say it is no more dangerous than anything is delusional. Bullsh*t on your accident rate.

Don't be so defensive, but power line utility flying is for idiots. I really doubt you have any experience doing this, anyway. Whenever you hear somebody talk about all the years and hours of experience they have, it means one thing: they don't have either.

One of the typical ex haverfield employees that couldn't cut it. 

"With a "big" contractor, and it was bad cause the schedule, then they wernt a "big" contractor.....operations like that keep their guys happy and have enough guys to handle a rotating schedule."

 I stated with the biggest operator when they were small. Terrible maintenance, poor pay, sleeping in a tent on fire jobs and being sent on wire jobs I was in no way ready for. They have gotten bigger and better.

 I drifted around several companies and have found both good and bad prevail everywhere in some form or another. Big companies that will buy you the cheapest, crappiest airline flight to 2 two machine operations that give out $15,000 bonuses.

 Maintenance is what you make it for sure, usually being support to your mechanics and diplomatic when it's time to insist and refuse to fly.

Who would you consider the biggest operator now? 

difference does it make dork

 PJ. 40+ machines before they were acquired by Quanta however as for aviation its seems PJ acquired most of Quanta as PJ bosses are the top cats for everything Quanta flys.

I worked for a utility operator (little bit of everything. Fires, Ologiest, Game Tagging, etc...) for about 3 years and I've been in HAA for 5 now. 

Utility: I loved it, I would have loved to continue doing that type of work. Pay was meh for the company I worked for but you can make it pretty well off if you stay somewhere good. Schedule sucked big donkey B@!!s. I wasn't at the biggest operator, but was basically pulling 12 on 2 off 16 ish hours each day for 6 - 7 months straight and then it would slow down for winter months. But, that schedule just wasn't maintainable for me or my family. Myself and another guy asked if we could switch to a 14/14 rotation and were denied. So, I'm sure this is company dependant and if you get in with the right company it is probably worth it. But for me, the Schedule and Pay were not enough for it to be worth it.

HAA: Pay is absolute dog doo doo everywhere! I worked for a complete joke of a company at first, but have since moved to one I very much respect and have been treated very well at. Get in with the right progam and location and it's a pretty good job. It took quite a bit of effort for me to get used to the amount of flying, going from the Utility schedule to the HAA schedule, I got pretty bored in the begining, but have since realized I enjoy not flying more than flying 8 hours a day, and now I have time to do little side projects and everything else while waiting for flights to come in. It's been pretty nice. Only complaint I have is the pay. I really really wish the pay would get up there with what I think is a respectable amount.

Did 8.5 years in HAA. For the most part it was pretty good. Mostly decent med crew, ok locations and my pay was good for the industry at the time. ~182 days a year on a 7/7 working 2-4 hours from home.

came across some long line training, started fighting fire then to precision work and never looked back. 8 years in utility now. The paying of dues sucked with a 12/2 but once I got on a rotating schedule utility is my favorite. I'm challenged or interested most days I fly, work 120-140 days a year, last year I made double my best year in EMS and I get to travel on someone else's dime. I use all the free air miles and hotel points to take my wife somewhere nice a few times a year. 

The days of being a slave to a suitcase and working 300+ days a year to make it in utility are just about over. Wit's a decent skill set and reputation you can have work/life balance in utility now.