That is the problem with doing contract work. If the R/$ exchange is good you reap the benefit but the way it has been the last few years it has not fluctuated that much and thus the earnings has declined as mentioned. Did you pay your own rating or did the company bond you? If you had to make a loan then you still paying interest on top of that and that will take awhile to recuperate that money! If you on a bond it helps but you will be doing the contract thing for 2/3 years as per the bond stipulation. THe best you can hope for is command upgrade but it may take time! Unless you can fly here in your 2 months off the crew should just petition the company and ask them to reconsider the 2 on/off thing! On the flip side of the coin, count yourself lucky that you do have a perm job, there is not much work in SA so any income is better than nothing! With the airlines in SA getting more acft, SAX, Comair etc, put your CV in and pray for the call, in the not too near future the companies are going to start feeling the strain as the airlines start reaping their crew. If you didn`t sign a bond you have the benefit of walking away if you get into an airline! I think even @ Link you will earn a little more than the R14000.00 you currently taking home, and that is every month, so worth getting your CV in!
