Maun 2008-2009 season

[jETA-1]

Welcome to Maun

To all those Dudes out there, ladies as well for that matter - Being one of those people that you have asked for an ACTUAL tell of the situation at present - ill try and give a little bit of insight into the going on's of a pilots life in Maun. At this time of the year, the best things that you could do for yourself, is make sure that you turn up to EVERY Christmas party!Meet everybody thats here, leaving here, and looking here. The best way to get a job - make a good impression the people within the company - they do the hiring. We dont care on your hours, what you have flown, whether you have an Instrument rating or not( whats instrument flying anyway?? ) just get along. There are a lot of people leaving here in the next few months, even weeks, so chances are good. Cant put a number on who's going, staying - but a fair amount are. To Live here...dont expect much, this really is one of the slum's of the earth! BUt for those of us that live here, Its like a great night out in a Major Town with girls everywhere, except there really aren't..sorry fellas, think i spotted one the other day although! You have an absolute blast with the people that you work with, the community is small, being segregated partly into PILOTS, hunters, guides, and locals. We all get on though if you make an effort. I know the looking time is hard, we have all had to do it, see the good side of it though and make the most of being here, if you dont get a job at first, go see africa, Maun is not the only place that has planes! Look foward to meeting those of you that arrive next year!! ALL THE BEST

[Tango24]

Bring you car...

Vilasy - if you can afford it - come up to Maun with your car - having transport is going to make your life a lot easier. Travelling at night on public transport on your own as a woman - not the greatest idea.

[MKA742]

In the end...

Hello again.
Iveh ad some weeks to think and sleep on it now. I have everything ready, but...

What happens if you return after two years. You have 1500 hours of single engine VFR and maybe 500 hours Caravan time.
Id this really an advantage if you apply to an airline? It's been two years since your MCC course so you must have forgotten it. 1500 hours of SE VFR time isn't really an advantage, since youll be flying jets. And the Caravan is probabbly single pilot time.
Plus youve flown in Africa where there's practically no ATC and airspaces are as big as the country it self.
Can one even bring the hours in for a JAA/FAA license? Plus I will be loosing my multi engine and medical after a year.

So looking at the 'hourbuilding', what kind of 'experience' do you really have through the eyes of an big airlines' interview panel?

Can anyone who has flown in Africa and is nowing 'flying buses' enlighten me on this?

These are rather negative thought but hey, it's not a descicion to be rushed!

[Csanad007]

Life after Maun

MKA you can probably get answers to your questions here: http://www.pprune.org/african-aviati...oy-s-club.html

[MKA742]

That thread has been dead for 7 years.

I hope that turnknob guy crashed in the mean time,jeezes christ, I hope they arent all such childish seksist bastards down there!!

Grtz

[206DOG]

MKA742....

PIC time is actually very important... regardless if it's single VFR, (there are a few companies here with Multi-engine as well)
IFR - All you need is a renewal flight
Medical - Ahhhh.... Duh... if your foreign medical expires while you're flying here, what you do is...... RENEW IT!! same as if you were flying anywhere!

Of the guys who had just left maun after flying a C206 for a couple years, 3 of them i know are now in Cathay Pacific, 3 are in Air New Zealand, and others in various other Jet or regional Multi-turbine aircraft...

In summary, If you want to come to africa, its a bloody good place to come and build some great experience, with hands on (Pilot in Command) flying that can only help you out in later life.

Cheers
206dog

[Desert Strip Basher]

Surprised

I'm surprised by some of these comments by supposed veterans! If you're planning on coming here to 'build hours' take head of my earlier replies. Firstly you won't last, and secondly, you're even less likely to find work, in fact we won't employ you. The sheer madness of people making wild claims of do this and do that, with seemingly no understanding baffles me.

[ducksoup79]

So the novelty wears off...

You are exicited, you just got your first flying job,in Maun after waiting around 4 months. You are geared up with your new leatherman, 1:350 000 map of the Okavango Delta, and The Botswana Pilot's Guide. Your new uniform shirt still has it's colour and you feel funny in your new khaki shorts (unless you are from South Africa). Let's skip all the boring hours of completing your tons of paperwork applying for the coveted Department Of Civil Aviation Flight Crew License and your work and residence permits and the sitting around waiting for training flights making coffee for the senior pilots (or used to be like that when i started). Let's start when you go on-line... It is great, you are flying by yourself over the most awesome landscape in the world, the Okavango Delta. Soon you loose your boyhood fasination for flying, reallity strikes home, it is actually hard work. You are flying 4-6 hours everyday sometimes without food or water, soon you are close to maxing your hours, if somebody ask you one more time "where is the parachute?" or my old favourite "Are you old enough to fly?" or another good one "how long have you been flying?" you going to shoot yourself. (on this note i saw the other day one of the new guy's being very rude to passengers who struggled to get into his 206, fair enough, they can be irritating sometimes but they are the reason you are here!) Summer temp average 40deg, you can fly up to 15 legs a day and you get 10min per turnaround. (you have to unload your pax and their ****, and load the next pax and their ****. You have 10min from wheels on the ground till airborne). This is hard work and you need to be on the ball, there is allot of dangers that can catch you with your pants down. 80% of the time you fly with huge amounts of commercial pressure, you have to make the right decisions quick. You won't be here long before you start bitching and moaning about this and that, if you make it through this stage you are ok, some don't. Some guy's make Maun out as one big pissup in town, guy's have been fired this year for not turning up for flights cause they where pissed out of their minds, if you smell of booze the next day, you will get the boot.

Come around, hand in the CV's and give it a bash, if you have a good attitude and you are a hard worker you might make it.

[MKA742]

What's up with that reply basher?
What other reason is there to come fly in Bots.? I know it's great flying and Africa is fun and all that, but getting hours is the main reason for 90% of the guys I think?

I was just wondering about what happens when you start knocking on doors in Europe (or anywhere else) again and if the companies will like your experience.

I know I can take it, but I want to know what happens when I get back eventually.

[Desert Strip Basher]

You don't know it but you've answered your own question

What other reason is there to come to Bots - getting hours is the main reason? The madness of this last thread answers everything. Living in Africa, like flying itself, are both lifestyle choices. Flying 'for hours' to me seems like having lost your soul - why are you invloved in aviation at all? People fly here because firstly they love the place and secondly their love of flying. In that order. It sounds like some have no knowledge of the former and none of the later. Listen to Ducksoup....I'm not going to bang my head against a wall any more.

[encounter150]

Hello,

Another JAA(UK) fATPL holder here and hoping to go out to Maun beginning of feb.

I have a few questions and would appreciate any information.

I have to get a SEP rating on my commercial licence as I did it on a twin and my PPL is Canadian. As I had over 100 hours on my PPL i only need to do a proficiency check.

Is it necessary to get time on a C206 before going out there ?
If so is there anywhere in Uk that has one ?

Thought I could combine getting experience with my rating.

cheers

[jean pant wif belt]

MKA742,

Mate if you dont like the sound of the place or have your doubts then then go do your hour building elsewhere. The boys and girls in Maun have dreams and aspirations too, but being in aviation for 5 minutes and saying that bashing round in lighties is a waste of time is a big call.

Yes, flying a mob of overlanders at 500 feet, down the boro, chasing buff is not the best preperation for your MK airlines sim check but why would you want to be thinking about that siht anyway. Just enjoy the place, the pss ups, the laughs and the stuff you wouldnt get away with in the first world. Sure the novelty wears off but thats with every job. when I fly billy the boeing across the pacific how long do you think that stays a novelty for????!!!!!!!! yeah you guessed it!

And as for command time I reckon its very important but thats just personal opinion. You can look over your left shoulder as much as you like but until you siht yourself a few times by yourself you start do develop a few more things than just whats in your blue book of numbers.

Cheers

[waiterpilot]

A childlike aviator

Originally Posted by ducksoup79

or my old favourite "Are you old enough to fly?"

I got that every flight I did - and I was only sat in the front watching! Based on the (large) assumption somebody will let me fly their planes out there, I think I'll have to get used to that line, particularly from the Americans it seems. Not only that - even after I explained I wouldn't be touching anything - there was a party who were obviously so overjoyed that they had survived this flight with a child near the controls I had to pose for many photos. I'm not a piece of meat!

Thankfully I have had alot of practice with that sort of thing. People used to ask me if I was old enough to be a waiter let alone be in charge of an aircraft. I never once got ID'd in Botswana (although I did on the flight out) - life is full of small victories.

Thanks to the guys posting letting us know the down side to Maun. As has been said before - I think the main point is that if you get on with people (both the people you work with and the pax), and you can live in what an estate agent would probably call a 'functional' environment (with the welcome addition of donkeys) for a year or two then you should be okay.

Even if you go out thinking it will be fine and find you don't like it, what's the worst that can happen? Just go back - although the wasted money may provide a little more incentive to stay... Make sure you decide to do this before you have started training for a job though! I heard tales of people starting and then buggering off - doesn't make you too popular.

Csanad007: I apologise profusely. Less money on beer is always a bad thing. I also wish I had your boss! I could go and aerially photograph some trout (I have got to know them intimately over the last two years) - Does your boss need this service?

Encounter150: You don't need any C206 time to apply - the company will sort all those requirements out for you. Don't know of any schools that have a 206 in the UK, although if you find one, it certainly wouldn't do any harm to your chances of employment.

[DannyTanner]

Well it’s been a while since I've posted on this thread, but I figured I'd drop a little opinion on what a couple of y'all have posted.

First of all, I took a trip as well to see this place first hand. Waitor will probably agree it's a great group of people and a very interesting town to consider living in for a few years. Hope you've had experience living in desert conditions...cause Mauns got more sand and donkeys than most of you guys have probably ever seen. There's my negative on what I got a chance to see.

Now take this from a 'furloughed' airline pilot. You can sit back and ponder upon what type of hours the airline interviews are looking for, what type plane you need to 'build' time in, but none of that really means squat. Let me put a rather large rumor to rest. When you interview, YOU ARE SELLING YOURSELF, not your resume, not your ability to fly. You are selling them on your personality and ability to get along; and for lack of a better word, entertain your interviewers. I mean realistically you got the interview based on meeting the airlines minimum requirements.

You guys sometimes can't see the forest for the trees. With the world economy being in the dump right now, there are fewer jobs in the industry. Meaning more competitive. So, when it really comes down to it, TIME is just something you need. Not specific type of time.

Just pick a place you can enjoy spending a few years, that's the only advice I can give you. Don't work at a place because you HOPE you can get into a certain plane. Just work at a place you'll enjoy living, the people you work with, and have a good time.

I've been offered a position and I'll be returning soon, to spend my couple of years on furlough from the airline flying a plane again. Thank God they still make planes that don't have a "You're Useless" button (AP).

Hope the best for you all, and for those of you that put your money where your mouth is...be good to see y'all down there!

[nibbio86]

Guys, I don't know if I can help, but there it is my little experience. I'm working in the bush as well flying 206s and 210s but in northern Australia, not in Africa. The deserts are here too and the zone is highly unpopulated (an area with a surface bigger than Germany but with only 30,000 residents). So probably conditions are comparable to what to expect in Maun, even if I've not been there yet. What I would like to say is that the main reason why somebody should move for a job like this is for the love of flying in this way, not because you want to jump on the RHS of an airliner as soon as possible. If you see bush flying just as a means of logging time for the interview with an airline, you're not going to enjoy what you're doing at all, probably you'll hate it and maybe you won't last long. I, and I assume most of the people working in the african bush, are working in this way for the love of it, even if often you suffer for the conditions of living, a bit of homesickness etc. Bush flying is not the only way to "build time", there is also instructing, meat bombing and so on if you don't want to move from Europe. I can only agree with what Desert Strip Basher said. IMHO.

[seemorejugs]

Has the water arrived lately?

guys, many years ago i was flying in Maun, when there was only 3 kiwi's, including myself and one American chap, along with alot of Rodesians!
Can you answer a few questions for me?
Is Bernadette still there from the Duck Inn. is Phil and Lionel Palmer still around(lovely couple)
I was with Aer Kavango, believe it is no longer but is Jessie neal still about with John Boyds, what about Dave Evans?
Is Ker Downey still being run by Di Wright. On widebody now but still reckon it was the best 4 years flying!

[Csanad007]

Finally...

...some very-very good posts here.
Thank you all!

[dogismycopilot]

Shaking in his (desert) boots

Uh... why do I get so nervous when I post on this thread -- feel like I'm taking a checkride!

Anyway, lots of good comments lately -- it's swell to see the old hands contributing. I'm glad a couple of you reminded us of why we should be going to Maun. I have a feeling, though, that even the guys who mention time-building as their overriding motive have chosen Maun for other reasons too; e.g. pink gins at sunset viewed through a slightly misty monocle, Black Mambas in the loo, shooing kudu (I didn't say "shooting") on short final at a grass strip, being dashingly romantic in your khaki shorts and deep tan, swapping lies with fellow bush aviators and anyone else drunk enough to listen... Thanks DSB, nibbio, et. al.

WP, you rock! Quick question: Are my US FAA licenses gonna be ok or do we need JAA there? This is important to us Yanks (not w*nks) cuz otherwise we might be going over for nothing!

Vilasy, I second the motion: bring your car. (Of course we might have ulterior motives -- don't let anyone turn you into a free taxi service!)

ragdragger, PM me please. I live in Mill Valley.

As I said earlier, might be going to Namibia instead of Bots. Can let you all know how opportunities are there once I arrive (if anyone's interested).

Thanks
PS There's a witty, informative little book about the life of a safari guide (not a pilot) in Bots called "Whatever you do, don't Run", by an Aussie named Peter Allison. Published in 2007

[dogismycopilot]

Right-ee-oh

Amen jean pant, that was brilliant. Lissen up, guys & gals, words of wisdom from the old school. Seriously!

[ducksoup79]

The old days....

Hi seemorejugs

Have only been in maun for 3 years now so don't really have authority to talk about the old people and days.

The Duck Inn is no more, Lionel Palmer passed away a few years ago, Phil is still around and probably has the most awesome garden in Maun. She is still strong and sharper than a blade. Kern & Downey has recently been bought out by Desert & Delta Safari's. Don't know about the other people you talked about.

cheers