Current jobs in africa
to CharlieVictorSierra . . J41 job . .I'm in if its still on the cards!
I read some of your last arguements / statements with interest. some good advice and comments from others as well.
I am a south african male . .who also went through the frustrations of job hunting with a fresh CPL . . I did a tour in Namibia (short lived due to being screwed over by a well known company there . .Wings). Then landed a great job in Tanzania on the C208. been there a few years. have an ATP now as well. I got lucky, but searched hard daily.
Low time pilots indeed need to try Namibia, Botswana and Tanzania (preferrably with 1000 hours). Ratings are the sore subject . . most people in Tanzania and botswana will bond you for ratings. and yes the larger companies have latched onto the idea that all applicants must have current ratings with time on type . .or at least 500+ twin hours on something else. I personally don't see the point in spending all my savings on dry ratings to suit some cheap airlines who are not interested in investing in crew.
The airlines seem to think that the privileged few who got onto jets early (thanks to mommy and daddy) are the best crew they can have.
They may well be overlooking fantastic pilots who know about decision making, thinking out of the box and know tough envoirnments like africa etc.
I'm not the best pilot that ever flew a plane, but I'm pretty damn good and safe!
I think pilots have sacrificed too much to be dicked around by these airlines. this "rating" and "jet hours" bubble will burst . . .soon . . maybe in a year or 2. they are getting desperate already by extending the retirement ages to 65, and even talking of 70? personally, I don't want a 70 year old flying a plane that I am in . . not sure if I want to operate an plane at 70 myself.
Indeed I myself have considered a rating (B1900 mostly) with a firm job offer first. I approached a well know B1900 operator in SA, as they had a great rep and paid for the ratings . . perfect I thought . . until the last minute, when they changed their policy stating I would need a rating first. So they became like any other company around . . .Indeed SA is a tough market to break into, hence the many SA pilots who work outside of SA. some never go back.
it has paid off for the few who could afford to live at home and take that low paying slave job at a local charter operator or get into the cadet program (now for blacks pilots mainly), and work their way up. good for them.
for all those young and new cpl pilots . . its a tough world out there . . and its changing every few years. try work at a charter company in ops, or an airline . I wish I had done that fresh out of school. For any pilot under 25 with a CPL, you have time to work in ops or something similar and that way work yourself into a company as a pilot. Hint . .get into SAX, Airlink, Comair, Solenta, Execujet etc. There are many more I may not be aware of . . show commitment, confidence (without snotty cockiness!) Many companies will give you the 1000 hours with caravan rating or something BS . . but will happily put a staff member who has been working with them as ops or whatever,with 300 hours onto a caravan right seat as an example. ie Naturelink back in the days. so the 1000 hours is BS! Solenta require a frozen ATP to fly a caravan and 1000 hours . . why you would need and ATP to fly a van I do not know?
Anyone with a JAA and 500 hours should be able to get an airline job as the market is opening up there.
ps the airlines can be kinda boring for some . . watching the autopilot do all the work limits ones hands on skills. Some love airlines, some love turboprops, some love corporate, some love firefighting in canada . . do not fixate on airlines . . other jobs are more fun and pay more in some cases . . think about it . . .
standing by . .