NBV4,
Think its just that prospective pilots tend to hang around alot longer these days. I was there looking for a job in Jan 2006, there were 20+ pilots all looking for jobs at the same time, some came, some went, some got jobs! think folks generally only stayed for a month or so back then though.
lilflyboy
Don't think we ever met bro, i left Maun circa dec 2008. worked for Moremi Air, when I was there it was a top company, went a bit downhill a bit with a few dings here and there, one just before i left and then the other more recent ones.
Having said that, in 2 and a bit years I was in Maun, I think every company except Kavango and Safari had at least one fairly serious prang, I think that just comes with the territory, there is such a massive amount of daily flights (At least 100+ sectors per day across all the companies!) into some fairly average strips, then sooner or later someone is bound to mow over a stray antelope on landing or slide off a greasy strip or something. Doesn't mean the pilots are all cowboys, its just a reality of the conditions that they fly in, 6 days a week, 5 or so hours a day.
So even though training it pretty extensive, (at least 50hours in the delta initially, plus 20 odd hours on any new type, and 50 hours on type for Van/Islander.) The reality is that the pilots that generally start have a Fresh CPL, most havn't seen a strip thats not tarseal, and tho most of them probably think they are ace's, someone is bound to f*#k up every now and then.
The majority of the blokes and gals that decide to travel to distant botswana and land a job however, are good buggers, and get through while hopefully learning a thing or two!