G'day Max,
I have just returned from Fiji myself just a few weeks ago.......apparently a few years ago it used to be great place to work and it was only a matter off time before you ended up on a Twin Otter or Islander but these days it is a little tougher.
I was lucky enough to get a call from Wayne Hinton (the guy that runs Pacific Flying School) because he needed an instructor. I worked mainly as a theory instructor at first and then did some flying in a C172 for about 9 months.
Things were still looking good with Sun Air and I had been given 'word of mouth' guarantees that if I complete some training with the school that there was a very good chance of employment at the end of it. This training consisted of a Fiji IR and Islander endorsement. I pretty much finished all that training however there were a few changes in the company shortly thereafter which made even those expats already working for Sun Air a little worried.
There had been quiet a number of expats sitting around waiting for employment. Many of these had been promised employment from the old Director of Flight Ops (a promise easily obtained if you can get your hands on a goat or a bottle of Gin!). When I spoke to the new DFO, who I knew fairly well by this stage, I was told that it would be 9 months before they will employ again and even then there will be enough locals to fill the positions. The other expats were pretty much told the same thing. One of these had 500 hrs on the Twotter and also 300 hrs on the Islander which would have made him a fairly good choice for the company.
As someone else had also mentioned in his post, it would be a good idea to contact Wayne Hinton. He employed 2 new instructors recently both from Australia with Grade 3 instructor ratings. I do not think that he will employ anyone else in the near future but it would be worth sending a resume fo when he does. The good part of being an instructor in Fiji is that you will earn much more than the pilots working for the airline (approx $F20 000) which makes life very comfortable especially considering the low cost of living (maybe $250 pm rent). You will also have more girls than you can poke a stick at!
Air Fiji is even stricter on its policy of employing expats. Some pilots offer to pay the $F8000 for a Twotter endorsement but there is a long waiting list even for that! Although Air Fijis school has closed down one of the instructors has recently started his own school in Suva, when I spoke to him last he was still looking for an instructor. Pay was good and it could give you some great experiences!
If you do decide to go make sure you get an Islander endorsement before you go with at least 5 hours logged, otherwise they will not put the endorsement in your licence! Hire rate for an Islander is $900 for Air Fiji and $750 for Sun Air, in addition they are very hard to obtain! Expect to pay this for your Instrument conversion as it is the only piston Twin in Fiji that can be used for this purpose.
The contact details are below....
Shane Devery (flying School in Suva):
[email protected]
Wayne Hinton (Pacific Flying School / Sunflower) :
+679 720 681 (phone/fax)
Best of Luck!
DR