CRITICAL I S S U ES AN APPARENT LABOR SHORTAGE WILL BE ONE OF THE KEY AREAS OF FOCUS AT THE HELICOPTER ASSOCIATION OF CANADA’S ANNUAL CONVENTION IN VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA. 54 VERTICAL magazine BY ELAN HEAD The Canadian helicopter industry’s escalating labor shortage promises to be a key topic of discussion at this year’s Helicopter Association of Canada (HAC) annual convention, according to HAC president Fred Jones. “It’s a critical issue,” Jones said of the human resources “crisis” associated with a lack of skilled helicopter pilots and engineers. “I get a growing number of calls each year from operators look- ing for drivers during the peak months of demand, particularly this year with the fire season being so busy. Many of our oper- ator members had aircraft grounded because they couldn’t find pilots to operate them that met the requirements.” At HAC 2018, scheduled to run from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Jones said he hopes to hear more dialogue on “how to bridge that gap between low-time pilots and ones that are experienced enough that they can be launched without restriction.” Jones emphasized that solving the labor shortage is not simply a matter of recruiting more people to the industry. Instead, it will require bridging the experi- ence gap and finding new ways to make helicopter career paths financially viable for new pilots and engineers, given the high costs of training and typically low entry-level wages.