Kakadu Air

[cloudhigh]

I see Kakadu Air are putting adverts on AFAP quite often for higher time people. Are they expanding?
I only have 395 hours and they said you need 500 hours to fly the Airvans :uhoh:.
I guess they progress you on to the Caravan fairly quickly?

Love to know anything more as I want to work out in Jabiru.

[Left Magneto]

Why would you wanna work out there for old Bob? You definitely haven't met him...
I'm sure there are others that would pipe up and say stay away.
Back in the day the had a pretty good operation with a pretty good CP :ok:

[maxgrad]

Best way is to pack a bag and go there, like every other operator.
Lot higher possibility of employment if you do the door knock after sending ink a cv and a follow up ph call

[Hey Driver]

In 1987 with 440 hours I'd made my way to Darwin. I was hanging around the Aero Club wondering if I should fork out the cost of a check flight in their Saratoga so I MIGHT get some casual work. While I was asking the Chief Pilot about the Saratoga "endorsement" he received a call from Bob who was looking for a Pilot. So off I went and so did my career. Kakadu Air has launched hundreds of guys into their careers. Bob may be interesting to work for, though definitely not the most difficult boss I've dealt with and I still appreciate the start he gave me.

Go and knock on the door and if he says no just hang around.:ugh:

Some people make their own luck.:D

[wishiwasupthere]

I see Kak Air are advertising for a Darwin Senior Base Pilot and Chief Pilot for about the 3rd time in the last 2 months.

Not personally interested in any of the positions but am interested in why they are having trouble finding people for the positions. I understand the owner is a bit difficult to work for, but is it a case of applicants not meeting their standards, or just nobody interested in working for them?

[outnabout]

I heard a whisper around the ridges that Kak Air are negotiating to operate the Tiwi Islands run (formerly done by Direct Air), with an exemption from CASA which will allow them to operate psuedo RPT.

Wasn't it Direct Air in Darwin that were shut down for operating the Tiwi Islands run without a RPT licence.....

[iPahlot]

The minimum and desired requirements for aircraft types should be a little bit of a giveaway if you consider what is in the fleet currently...

Also the desireable criteria of working in a CAR 217 organisation.

[slave_driver]

I just overheard someone saying Kak are making some pilots redundant shortly. But weren't they advertising and hiring casuals/full timers a month back? I enjoyed my time in Jabbas :ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh: imparja :ugh::ugh::ugh: I hear a former chief pilot is returning to pick up the pieces! I wish you boys and girls all the best!

SD

[pilotchute]

I doubt the old CP is coming back. He has a much better job now.

[Corvallis]

Kakadu air are now flying rpt. To the tiwi Islands. Would give the existing rpt operator some competition.

[Corvallis]

They seem quite recently. is all ops normal?

[Unregistered User]

Quite what Corvallis?


:ugh:

[Corvallis]

quite = planes havnt moved for weeks

[IFEZ]

Oh God :ugh::ugh: Corvallis, please tell me you're taking the p15s...??

[Horatio Leafblower]

Corvalis probably just follows the magneto line on his GPS.

Corvalis, the word you are looking for is QUIET.

..not "quite".

:ugh:

[Corvallis]

wats happening there. can someone shed some light

[iPahlot]

wats happening there. can someone shed some light

let's ignore "wats"...


They seem quite recently

....

quite = planes havnt moved for weeks

Quite:
expressing agreement with or understanding of a remark or statement
to a certain or fairly significant extent or degree; fairly

Quiet
Adjective: making little or no noise
Noun: absence of noise or bustle; silence; calm.

So you may say it's quite quiet over at kakair.

[iPahlot]

On the Kakair front, not sure what's happening there, but last I heard the current CP is leaving and the potential new CP they found from another operator on the field didn't quite cut the mustard.

[ruddegar]

Does KakAir allow progression internally? They were advertising for Van drivers not so long ago but I would have expected they'd put one of their Airvan guys up?

[Ixixly]

Last CP has indeed left...then went back...then left...then went back...and I believe this time has definitely left! Which could have left them high and dry?

I used to work for them and they did usually upgrade internally but with the Caravan I think they got "Burnt" a couple of times at the beginning (Not really IMHO, but could certainly see from their perspective how it would look that way) and with the expansions have been having to trying to hire outside.

I felt the culture was that there wasn't a lot of movement upwards with the fleet they operated about 4 years ago and for a very long time before that people have gotten their hours and mostly moved on with only a few staying on to get the limited twin time and it has required a shift in the way things are done with an expanded fleet now and will obviously take time for those changes to occur.

[Corvallis]

Heard they are trying to sell one of their airvan. It's on the market for sale today.

[iPahlot]

KNP I believe. It's been for sale for a little while. They own all of the airvans as far as I know so I wouldn't be reading too much in to it...

[SpyderPig]

Word on the field is they are grounded due to CP not passing an IPC or CP check. Which I'm not sure but they havnt been flying for a couple of weeks now:bored:

[Corvallis]

That's not good news. Hope everything becomes normal for them soon.

[Corvallis]

did the CP pass his test.

[huntsman]

Apparently no. He failed again.

Kakadu Air have not been flying for around a month now.
Hope they get through this for the sake of the staff.

If they are selling off assets, at least they'll be able to drag it out for a while.

[Corvallis]

Hope they find replacement pilot soon. I am surprised they havnt advertised this time.

[iPahlot]

I've noticed one of their 402's has disappeared (not ZME, the other one). Was that a leased?

[The Zenith]

Kakadu Air Services P/L

Reg Op for:

DZZ 208 Somerbrook P/L QLD
KNA GA-8
KNB GA-8
KNE GA-8
KNP GA-8
KNQ 208B
LGC 310R R&R Avionics NT
ZME 402C Aus Jet Victoria
ZMG 402C Aus Jet Victoria

Last Planned:
LGC 8th Sep YMGD to YJAB
KNQ 8th Sep YBTI TO YPDN
DZZ 22nd Jul YPDN to YBTI
ZMG 8th Oct YJAB to YPDN
ZME 13th Oct YLEC to YMEN

[Corvallis]

I saw ZME was gone. maybe the owners are taking their aircraft back. below is the info from flight aware for VH ZME.

14/10/2015 C402 Essendon (YMEN / MEB) Essendon (YMEN / MEB) 14:10 AEDT 14:23 AEDT Scheduled
13/10/2015 C402 Leigh Creek (YLEC / LGH) Essendon (YMEN / MEB) 22:46 ACDT 02:28 AEDT (+1) 3:12
13/10/2015 C402 Alice Springs (YBAS / ASP) Leigh Creek (YLEC / LGH) 17:46 ACST 21:46 ACDT (?) 2:59
12/10/2015 C402 RAAF Tindal (YPTN / KTR) Alice Springs (YBAS / ASP) 20:25 ACST 23:46 ACST 3:21
12/10/2015 C402 Darwin Int'l / RAAF (YPDN / DRW) RAAF Tindal (YPTN / KTR) 18:49 ACST 19:51 ACST 1:02

[Lasiorhinus]

Not good news out of Bob's office today. Wishing all the boys the best of luck in their next endeavour.

[Corvallis]

can you please explain what happend. last i heard was the new CP was going for the flight test today. Did he fail. I heard that they were going to be up and running next week.

[FoolCoarsePitch]

DZZ is going back into skydive ops.

[iPahlot]

I heard that one of the former CP's was going to come back and take of the reigns?

Having worked for Bob in the past it'd be terrible to see the company go under! :sad:

Unfortunately I did hear a rather worrying rumor about a haircut that wasn't appreciated by certain people...

[Hasselhof]

Job ad on AFAP just now on the look out for a CP. Obviously something hasn't gone to plan

[JC91]

anyone looked on av trader in the "business for sale section"?
http://www.aviationtrader.com.au/adverts/iconic-scenic-flight-operation/

[iPahlot]

Oh no....

Sad day indeed :(

[iPahlot]

I'm sure he's got a reason, but why doesn't Kakadu Bob just forgo the RPT side which is making hiring a CP so hard and go back to operating airvans and caravans? He would have more than enough experience in-house to get a CP going for that...

[SpyderPig]

I'm sure he's got a reason, but why doesn't Kakadu Bob just forgo the RPT side which is making hiring a CP so hard and go back to operating airvans and caravans? He would have more than enough experience in-house to get a CP going for that...

Then the $500k he spent obtaining ASETPA and RPT on his AOC would have been a huge waste of time and money....

[caa]

Interesting what he is actually selling. No Airvans and No AOC (that is all the big $ except the C208 and Darwin assets).

But that all paid for the Darwin adventure I expect and the previous Arnhem adventure??

Could be a very cheap buy if you have a AOC and a few C207. lol

[iPahlot]

I'm pretty sure the shop is actually owned by ERA and they simply have a lease on it. Correct me if I'm wrong...

[Corvallis]

Maybe wrightsair should buy it.