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Message

re: Screw being an operator, I want to be a river pilot.

Posted on 10/5/15 at 1:17 pm to
Posted by VetteGuy
Member since Feb 2008
28193 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 1:17 pm to
quote:

Like being an attorney


And then the fight started...
Posted by tgrbaitn08
Member since Dec 2007
146214 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 1:17 pm to
LINK

quote:

Becoming a Bar Pilot takes time and experience. By the time one becomes a State Commissioned Bar Pilot they will have:

Earned an undergraduate degree
Minimum one-year at sea on ocean going vessel
Obtained a USCG first class Pilot license
Served several years in the Bar Pilot apprentice training program
Completed nearly 1,000 trips with a State Commissioned Bar Pilot along the waterways we serve.
This means that before becoming a Louisiana State Commissioned Bar Pilot, an individual must dedicate almost a decade of education and training.

Bar Pilots are widely acknowledged as being among the best trained and qualified in the world because hands on experience during the apprentice training and number of trips logged is second to none.
Posted by MrLSU
Yellowstone, Val d'isere
Member since Jan 2004
25994 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 1:36 pm to
LINK

LINK

Two great articles on this subject for historical purposes
Posted by makinskrilla
Lafayette, LA
Member since Jun 2009
9727 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 1:45 pm to
Nice, rascist and democrat.
Posted by Napoleon
Kenna
Member since Dec 2007
69108 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 1:50 pm to
it's a crock. The pilot's have their monopoly, they charge ships out the arse and make tons of money.

Posted by LouisianaLady
Member since Mar 2009
81211 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 1:51 pm to
(no message)
This post was edited on 10/5/15 at 1:52 pm
Posted by Keltic Tiger
Baton Rouge
Member since Dec 2006
19303 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:02 pm to
All these listed requirements sound legit, unless you are former State Senator Francis Heitmeir's son. He had none of those qualifications. And as for the Board of River Boat Pilot Commissioners, it is one of THE most politicized State boards in existence, and that is saying a lot. Either you are born into the position or you are politically connected. Which one of these gives you the most reassurance that these pilots are the most qualified? And as for hours actually worked? For their salaries? It is a joke.
Posted by Poodlebrain
Way Right of Rex
Member since Jan 2004
19860 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:03 pm to
quote:

you have no idea. Do you even have a clue how hard it is to even become a bar pilot? Put aside the nepotism, but the training and education you have to go through takes at least 10 years before you can even get your licence.
Don't the people undergoing training get paid as apprentices, or as crew members under Coast Guard regulations? According to this, it takes as little as 12 months, and at most 36 months, of experience to qualify for the pilot's exam. That is not anywhere near the 10 years you mention. I can understand if it takes 10 years to get a pilot's position because the pilots associations do not have openings for additional pilots, but getting a license does not take that long.
Posted by tgrbaitn08
Member since Dec 2007
146214 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:08 pm to
Lol. Ok.

Do you realize it takes longer than that just to get 100 ton license?? You think they're just going to pass out pilot licenses to just anyone after 12 months??

From start to finish it takes approx 10 years after its all said and done.
Posted by Pettifogger
Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone
Member since Feb 2012
79235 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:17 pm to
quote:

Sounds like the blue collar neanderthals found a way to get rich.

Also talk of this industry holding a serious torch to nepotism. With all of that money why not "make sure" your kids get into the best schools in the country and have a truly better life?

(Like a life on the west coast.)


You would be such a great Dallas resident
Posted by VetteGuy
Member since Feb 2008
28193 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:30 pm to
quote:

they charge ships out the arse and make tons of money.


Not saying you're wrong, but every country and every port does this.
Posted by Pectus
Internet
Member since Apr 2010
67302 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:32 pm to
That's more than a regular pilot!
Posted by NOFOX
New Orleans
Member since Jan 2014
9947 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:32 pm to
quote:

When I lived in the warehouse district my neighbor Malcom was a Bar Pilot, made tons of money, worked a little and smoked a lot of dope.

Nice gig if you can get it.


Malcom is a good guy. Saw him yesterday before the Saints game.
Posted by Poodlebrain
Way Right of Rex
Member since Jan 2004
19860 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:33 pm to
quote:

You think they're just going to pass out pilot licenses to just anyone after 12 months??
I think the Coast Guard will issue licenses to everyone who passes the required examinations. I realize having a Coast Guard issued license isn't going to get you a gig as a pilot on the Mississippi River. The pilots' associations have a monopoly on them, and they award them based on criteria they control (nepotism being the primary qualification). It is the criteria of the pilots' associations that cause the 10 year training period.

So the child of a pilot becomes a crew member at 18. He spends 10 years getting paid while undergoing the training the pilots' association mandates. He becomes a pilot by 30. He has at least 25 years of earning >$400,000. That's at least $10 million of career earnings.
Posted by yellowfin
Coastal Bar
Member since May 2006
97649 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:35 pm to
That would be one hell of a pay cut but I could probably swing it if it meant only working 6 days a month.
Posted by Aubie Spr96
lolwut?
Member since Dec 2009
41150 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:38 pm to
They will end up pricing themselves out of a job. NPR did a nice story on the Longshore strike out in California. The result of which will ultimately lead to other ports opening in places like Mexico and having the goods delivered from there via rail for significantly cheaper and more reliably.
Posted by Hammertime
Will trade dowsing rod for titties
Member since Jan 2012
43030 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:40 pm to
quote:

I've been trying to find a list of single legal aged daughters of river pilots since I was in highschool. Haven't found it ye
My old roommate (good looking girl) was thinking about doing it while we were at LSU. She ended up scrapping that idea and doing textile/apparel merchandising.

I know 4 pilots (Crescent and NOBRA) who all love their jobs. A few of their sons are going to school in Galveston to do it now. You don't have to be family at all anymore, but you need to have one sponsor and know two or three people (IIRC) who will vouch for you to get let in
Posted by LSUFanHouston
NOLA
Member since Jul 2009
37112 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:40 pm to
Don't these guys work an on/off schedule? On for 24 hours, off for 4 days or something? So in that 24 hr period they might get 1, 2, 3, 5, whatever boardings.

I have no doubt the job is stressful, hard, requires a ton of education and experience and these guys may well earn every dollar they make.

My issue is that you have to be born into it or be politically connected. How this is allowed to occur in 2015 is beyond amazing.

Wouldn't it be interesting if a governor just decided he wasn't going to appoint anyone until the board/associations truly had an open process?
Posted by notiger1997
Metairie
Member since May 2009
58152 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:43 pm to
I'm pretty sure that the river boat pilots in La make a lot more than anywhere else in the country.
It does indeed get very expensive for companies to have to pay and it probably has resulted in us losing businesses to other ports at times.

And yes, Heitmier did get his son hired as a pilot
Posted by JasonL79
Member since Jan 2010
6397 posts
Posted on 10/5/15 at 2:48 pm to
quote:

Don't these guys work an on/off schedule? On for 24 hours, off for 4 days or something? So in that 24 hr period they might get 1, 2, 3, 5, whatever boardings.


The bar pilots do not work this schedule. They work 2 weeks on (on call 24 hours a day) and 2 weeks off.

I know Crescent and NOBRA doesn't follow that same schedule but they cannot catch several ships a day. Their routes are too long for that.
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