Pilot Job Market in south africa...

[rsathish]

Hello everyone
i'm new to this forum so kindly help me out ..
i'm planin to start my CPL with the FTS[Flight Training Services] in South africa i heard it's a good school.. any bad comment on that.. let me know.

Regarding job market few friends said that in south africa tourism cherish, so there is lot of vacancies for bush,charters,aerial photographers, even as instructors.. is that true if it's wrong please correct me..

I'm planing to take huge loan from my home country[India].. i don't want to disappoint my parents.. guys plz help me..

[pilotflyinghigh]

FTS is a good school. .. go ahead with them.

yup your correct .. but note that in south africa the preference is given to the natives ..
u can try around south africa huge opportunities is there like maunn..u have plenty of bush & charters .. work for the experience then get back to your home country..
Have fun all the best dude..:ok:

[chongololo]

Be careful with the "huge" loan you mentioned, tough times lie ahead for new pilots.

[amithbanger]

Hi everyone,
iam looking at training at lanseria, does anybody have any info about the flight school? would appreciate any inputs.

[lucasboy]

im planning to fly in africa, i heard its really fun flying there? but they said its really not that safe in africa in terms of flying? how true is this? i only have 400 plus hours with multi included and still progressing with my time. is it strict in africa? in terms of licensing?

[rsathish]

Actually SA license is valid here coz 1 of ma fren has completed from SA & done his conversion too.:)

[Mikehotel152]

I have heard that although SA is an ICAO member state its CAA is not regarded particularly highly by the JAA. Having said that, commercial pilots receive excellent training out there and most of the problems with international recognition relate to the background administration rather than frontline piloting.

Any SA ATPL holder would need to do a time-consuming and costly conversion to fly in JAA countries, but I know of at least one guy whose company paid for it.

Good luck.

[lenasia01]

You have chose a good school for your career and that is an excellent school for all the Pilot Training. I am from Lenasia and i know about the school very much. No bad comments on it and the tourism dept has appreciated that school too.

Keeping a watch on Lenasia (http://lenzwatch.co.za)

[Dave1234]

I have just returned from S.A after getting my PPL and would thoroughly recommend the place in general. I can't personally speak for FTS (I went to CFS in George) however, I have a friend who is currently at FTS and has nothing but good things to say about the school - well organised, with good instruction and aircraft availability.
At the moment there appears to be a good outlook on the post CPL employment front, owing to the generally poor infrastructure in Africa (by European standards) and the sheer scale of the continent in general, there is a fairly healthy bush flying scene. As a previous post mentioned, preference does tend to go to the natives, however I have heard of cases where work permits have been issued with the contracts owing to shortages, hence nationality is not necessarily a terminal problem.
On the instructing front there were schools, mainly in Jo'burg, that were very keen on attracting instructors, to the point where they were prepared to sponsor your instructors rating in return for a few years of service post qualification (which is a good way of building hours anyway).
Tha advice given to me was that this is more likely to happen if you have already studied your CPL with the school and maintained a high level of proficiency throughout - so it may be worth seeing what the FTS position on this is likely to be.
Best of luck and watch out for the baboons - vicious buggers!! :ok:

[jbayfan]

The main residential schools in SA are 43 Air School, Progress and SAFTA. There are other schools that are excellent schools such as FTS, but are not true "residential" schools. Then there are schools to avoid such as CFS in George.

Some schools will hire foreign students as instructors but you will NOT get a job as a CPL in South Africa or the neighbouring countries if there are Southern Africans available for these jobs.

[Yazid]

Hi there,

I would like to know what are the schools in SA that sponsor instructors rating in return for a few years of service.

Thks

[rsathish]

Thnx guyz for ur comments i really appreciate that....
i wud also like to know the answer for the question asked by yazid...:ok:

[safta]

SAFTA "sponsors" instructor ratings but only for graduates who excelled as students. The sponsorship system is based on a minimum two year contract and the student repays the rating over 24 months at the exact cost of the rating.

SAFTA currently has an instructor course running with one Indian, one Egyptian, one Algerian, one German and one South African. Two of these instructors are on the sponsorship program. Only the German will not be staying on to instruct at SAFTA.

[Lester023]

I have a friend thats training in South Africa and he says 43 is the way to go, SAFTA is brand new but looks like it is associated with South African Airways. They also advertise a 1000 hr Cpl program, which I would find more about before signing.

[trashbag]

I'd be causios about towards the "newer" schools, rather stay with the schools that has been operating for a long time! A mate of mine is also looking at sending his son to do his CPL, had a look at all the schools, difficult choice as their seems to be a lot of good organisations. As I said on a previous thread, I'd be a bit concerned to study in Johannesburg due to the crime........

Good luck with your decision!

[rsathish]

Hey guys any idea's about bush pilots?
how to join & requirements?

[richie-rich]

i would like to finish off my training in SA. I have had a look at few schools and so far, have short listed SAFTA. what is the security like?

I have worked for an established organization in Australia where 20 odd South Africans have joined up. When I asked them what made them move to Aus, they all mentioned the word "CRIME!!!"

is it that bad? what is it like around Rand Airport?

Apologies as I am not geographically literate on SA.

Cheers
Richie

[rsathish]

i'm not that much aware of the crime rate there but i've heard it is not safe to show your self as a tourist there.

[wheelbrace]

I went to South Africa in 2002 and, as was to be expected, my baggage followed via Hong Kong.

Three days later it arrived at the FTO, which was 1 mile from my accommodation. I was keen to shower and change clothes. It had wheels, the pavement was smooth and I set off looking like the typical Brit abroad.

You could almost hear the undergrowth rustle with excitement.

Fortunately the security guard had seen pillocks before and arrested me for the short time that it took to arrange a car free of charge. Kind and thoughtful on her part, unbelievably naive on mine!

Incidentally, Air France never did apologise or pay for the six pack of underwear - they insisted that two items had been used, I 'should have bought two days worth only' and they 'do not split receipts'. Vive la désaccord!