Mech certs

I'm reading you Ronhorse.
Photo's too,
yum.
-b

SWISHY
Looks like a couple of loose bolts there in one of your pics. The wire rope on the winch looks pretty ordinary too!

RON AND EVERYONE ELSE
I started my apprenticeship as a mechanic in 1968 with what was then known as the Department of Civil Aviation (SA/NT Region). My fornightly pay was $13.70.
The group (7) of guys I started with were the last of the five year apprenticeships. It was work 4 days a week, trade school one day a week and one night a fortnight. This went on for 5 years

Guys that started a year after us were on a 3-1/2 year apprenticeship program, 6 months straight at tradeschool which was supposed to be the equivalent of the first 2 years of their apprenticeship. This meant that after 6 months, these new start guys were classed as third year apprentices, while us guys that started a year before them were only second year apprentices. Being typical Commonwealth Government, salary was paid on the position held, not on a persons skills and knowledge. Kinda made us guys get a bit agro with the system, so DCA decided to open their own training school and train all their apprentices the DCA way.

They had 2 books we had to go by, they were RAEI's (Regional Airways Engineering Instructions) which covered gear specific to the SA/NT region, and AEI's which covered stuff Australia wide, as well as New Guinea. You had to do everything by the book. Even when I was out of my time and working in the Territory, hundreds of miles from anywhere, you had to do it by the book.

Best move I ever made was snatching it and getting out in the real world.

Years later I ran into a few guys I did my time with, they had stayed, got an early payout when DCA ceased to exist, and found it hard getting a job coz they couldn't think for themselves ... they didn't have the book to go by.

I am still laughing now 45 years later, travelling the world and making "Hollywood Dollars".... right now in Dongying China commissioning a brand new 2,000 horsepower $18,000,000 oil rig, then back to sunny warm Bahrain waiting for the next job.

Grumpy
Gudday M8

Them thar loose bolts R there 4 u're view n pleasure
LOL

Re wire rope
the life of wire rope is determined by how many pieces it B in

LOL

Re: commissioning a brand new 2,000 horsepower $18,000,000 oil rig,

Hope u aint gunna leave us hang n.....n guess n wot it looks like

if U can .............. can U smuggle us sum pix
bung m up on the 4 m
we wont tell anybody
but give till it hutz
the more the merrier

U kno the deal
LOL

the biggest n best eye could find
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRkEj24M67HQ4GjpSNczDxdboRVP0OYPyQnIhfd0EoflRDfWeFKTw
probly get sum change outa 18mill
LOL

cya

Swishy
Have to agree on life of wire rope after standing on platform 3ft above winch pulling log on skid way in to mill to put on brake down carriage pulled damaged eye out of hook in end of log and watching 100 ft of 1ins rope fly in under platform and rap up n belts and shafts of braking down saws on other side stalling 1 50hp +100hp drive motors we had to cut it out with the oxy torch.
Peter

Swishy, that is one mean machine, did you design it yourself? I see you make a lot of your own gear, aren't hydraulics a wonderful idea? no loss of power no matter the length, I believe the ancient Egypt people spoke in hydraulics but I don't see the connections, Trevor, have no info on the inter but my mate Wheatbix sent me a book on their history will see what I can find, , Governments would like us all to be raised as drones, control our individual thoughts, right on the money Big cam, don't employers understand the real world? too shortsighted, see it paid off for you, got to do it right, my Bro started an apprentice mechanic but as you say, not enough to live on yet the customer pays the same, just greed by the employers so took to the road, not the first I am sure. so much real talent lost
hey grumpy, smart move, can't beat individual thinking out of the box, sounds a great job you have but have to take control and the gamble, as swishy says, love some pictures please, it seems strange here where you have to be licensed to cut hair but not to work on the family car which is much more vulnerable where lives are at stake, my tiny brain shuts down if I try to figure it all out, will stick with a six pack and as Monty Python says, " look on the bright side of life" tee da tee da

Grumpy, is this the type of rig we are talking about?

Sorry, just had to stick this pic of roadside repair on the heavy Chevy, couldn't resist it, those were the days my friends, we thought they would never end

Interesting stuff about the trade certificates Ron.
Amazes me how many companies whinge about not being able to get tradesmen, and when you ask them how many apprentices they've got they say none. Either that, or they've got 100 employees and 2 apprentices.
As a small business we've trained more apprentices than some of the large corporations.
Another annoying thing is the mines have very very few apprentices, and are always chasing tradesmen.
Another thing that amazes me is that the greater majority of host employers pay there apprentices the award, now for those of you who aren't familiar with what the award rate is for an apprentice, I can assure you it is 5/8ths of bugger all. How do you expect to attract young people to a trade when you pay them nothing? Then after paying them nothing for 4 years they wonder why the first thing the apprentice does when they finish their time is leave. Our apprentices are on nearly the same rate as a tradesman by the time they are close to finishing their time.
One of the big things we get out of training our apprentices and treating them fair is a pretty loyal work force.

What is worse than spending a lot of money training people and having them leave?
Not training them and having them stay. LOL.

Hey Ron, how many more pictures have you got of the show at Mt Gravatt?

If you don't mind me asking, what is the average hourly rate paid to mechanics nowadays?

Varies depending on where you are anywhere from $20 an hr to I have heard 35

Thanks, it's really no wonder then that mechanics leave the industry to drive trucks.