Susi Air 5 dead in 9 months...
hell...most Indo operators achieve this goal within their first year of operations (some sooner
), even with their spate of accidents Susi is yet to kill a passenger that Im aware of which no other local operator can claim....
Co pilots are hired because they are needed to be trained as captains - not because their needed, captains are upgraded around the thousand hour mark (when I was there) to an easy flat land base...another 500 and they have a look at the mountains and shortly after that the porter...
Not all people want to progress to mindless airline flying, some like the challenge of flying bush work in the hills - for life...for others its a great stepping stone, most going on to other well paying airlines outside of indonesia (I was making the same as a Porter tour pilot as most local 737/320 captains....)
Susi air has given alot of young pilots (both local & foriegn) a great opportunity to better their career and meet some fantastic people....
viva la Susi....