Maun 2009/10 season
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Maun, Botswana
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Its funny how people aren't listening to the guys who have been there and been through it all. Yes, they did reject pilots applications for visa's last year, and we are going through the same problem this year. It will get sorted as it did last year, its just the typical chest beating that goes on here. It will go right to the top (president) again if they have to. A few of the operators here are on first name basis with the president. As propellerpilot said, a lot of pilots wont get in here. But as I kept saying, 19 got hired in the last hiring season. And all of them were the ones that stuck it out for the 3 months. I think there will be less positions this time around though.
Join Date: Nov 2010
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I don't quite understand many of the things I'm reading here.
It seems, and mayby I'm reading more into some of these posts than is really there, that many people are planning to, or have gone to Maun because they think it's easier to get a job there than at home.
Well, I haven't been there, haven't tried it, so I don't know, but from what I've read over the years, it's not quite like that.
About thirty years ago I fell in love with the idea of flying in Africa, of seeing the big five from the air, of going in and out of small dirt airstrips, of meeting people from completely different cultures, of seeing the Kalahari, the Okavango Delta, the Dunes of Namibia. And for those thirty years I've dreamed about it, read about it and studied it. It hasn't been all-consuming, but I don't think I've gone more than two weeks in the past thirty years without thinking about flying in Africa.
So I'm off on the adventure of a lifetime, three months starting the end of January, exploring southern Africa, meeting people from various cultures, meeting pilots, hopefully catching a ride here and there. I have a commercial pilots license, so I'd love the opportunity to fly for hire down there, but I know that's not in any way an easy job. From what I've read it will be the hardest job I've ever done. Getting up at 4am and working 14 hours in a day (hopefully not every day), getting only one day off a week - if I'm lucky, kissing up to tourists, lugging their baggage, dealing with their barf bags, eating strange food, meeting new, and sometimes uninviting people, getting diarhea a few times, sleeping in a tent, showering with bugs the size of a computer mouse, finding black mambas and other poisonous snakes in the toilet, and maybe making some new friends and meeting pilots from around the world, dealing with 45C heat (114F), torrential downpours, and oh, did I mention diahrhea?
I am not under the illusion that I'll arrive in Africa and be offered a job flying an air-conditioned twin flying 3 hour legs, with coffee and doughnuts served by a sexy blonde. I know that some operators (most) have legs of between 10 and 45 minutes, and turnaround times of 10 minutes (that's the TOTAL time allowed on the ground to unload the passengers and baggage, and then load the new passengers and baggage) and there's no baggage handler 'ceppin' the pilot, and it's 45C while this is happening.
What I'm going for is the adventure of a lifetime, and if, by some freaky circumstance, I should be offered the opportunity to work for an operator there, you better believe I'd jump at the chance to work my backside off to have the chance to explore Africa by air.
So, if you're in for an adventure, I'll see you there.
It seems, and mayby I'm reading more into some of these posts than is really there, that many people are planning to, or have gone to Maun because they think it's easier to get a job there than at home.
Well, I haven't been there, haven't tried it, so I don't know, but from what I've read over the years, it's not quite like that.
About thirty years ago I fell in love with the idea of flying in Africa, of seeing the big five from the air, of going in and out of small dirt airstrips, of meeting people from completely different cultures, of seeing the Kalahari, the Okavango Delta, the Dunes of Namibia. And for those thirty years I've dreamed about it, read about it and studied it. It hasn't been all-consuming, but I don't think I've gone more than two weeks in the past thirty years without thinking about flying in Africa.
So I'm off on the adventure of a lifetime, three months starting the end of January, exploring southern Africa, meeting people from various cultures, meeting pilots, hopefully catching a ride here and there. I have a commercial pilots license, so I'd love the opportunity to fly for hire down there, but I know that's not in any way an easy job. From what I've read it will be the hardest job I've ever done. Getting up at 4am and working 14 hours in a day (hopefully not every day), getting only one day off a week - if I'm lucky, kissing up to tourists, lugging their baggage, dealing with their barf bags, eating strange food, meeting new, and sometimes uninviting people, getting diarhea a few times, sleeping in a tent, showering with bugs the size of a computer mouse, finding black mambas and other poisonous snakes in the toilet, and maybe making some new friends and meeting pilots from around the world, dealing with 45C heat (114F), torrential downpours, and oh, did I mention diahrhea?
I am not under the illusion that I'll arrive in Africa and be offered a job flying an air-conditioned twin flying 3 hour legs, with coffee and doughnuts served by a sexy blonde. I know that some operators (most) have legs of between 10 and 45 minutes, and turnaround times of 10 minutes (that's the TOTAL time allowed on the ground to unload the passengers and baggage, and then load the new passengers and baggage) and there's no baggage handler 'ceppin' the pilot, and it's 45C while this is happening.
What I'm going for is the adventure of a lifetime, and if, by some freaky circumstance, I should be offered the opportunity to work for an operator there, you better believe I'd jump at the chance to work my backside off to have the chance to explore Africa by air.
So, if you're in for an adventure, I'll see you there.
The Cooler King
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I've been mulling over getting a 210 rating and going to Maun for a season - with a twist.
Thanks to the kind folks in the tax-free sand-pit, I have enough funds to see the season as vacation time, and would be willing to fly for free.
Would that be in my favour?
(I do get the feeling that I am opening a can of worms here)
Farrell
Thanks to the kind folks in the tax-free sand-pit, I have enough funds to see the season as vacation time, and would be willing to fly for free.
Would that be in my favour?
(I do get the feeling that I am opening a can of worms here)
Farrell
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Don't ever offer to fly for free. You shoot every other pilot in the foot whos worked hard to get there and is the cancer that is bringing the pay scale down for everyone else.
Besides. Why the hell would you work for free when you get paid? They are more than happy to pay the other pilots they have hired?
Besides. Why the hell would you work for free when you get paid? They are more than happy to pay the other pilots they have hired?
Está servira para distraerle.
Vacation time in the Okavango is an interesting thought, especially if the trade is to fly for free and take a companion with one. It could be fun.
It might raise standards in the swamps if a few experienced guys flew the routes for a season as a gratis holiday job. It's the sort of inverse of the younger guys demanding that all the fun jobs should be for pilots on the way up. It's terrifying really, all these posts that come in wondering whether, with five hours on a 206 or one on a 210, they'll get a job winging innocents over crocodile infested water? A few old buzzards with loads of time on 210s and 206s from the old days flying for the sheer joy of it is exactly what the operators need. Think also of the benefit to passenger relations. Maturity, grace and professional elegance rather than a desire to shag anything without stubble and a lust for the next hang over.
There's a 210 somewhere on the instructor rating and there's an old faded bright green Botswana ATPL so conversions might be realtively easy to arrange.
It might raise standards in the swamps if a few experienced guys flew the routes for a season as a gratis holiday job. It's the sort of inverse of the younger guys demanding that all the fun jobs should be for pilots on the way up. It's terrifying really, all these posts that come in wondering whether, with five hours on a 206 or one on a 210, they'll get a job winging innocents over crocodile infested water? A few old buzzards with loads of time on 210s and 206s from the old days flying for the sheer joy of it is exactly what the operators need. Think also of the benefit to passenger relations. Maturity, grace and professional elegance rather than a desire to shag anything without stubble and a lust for the next hang over.
There's a 210 somewhere on the instructor rating and there's an old faded bright green Botswana ATPL so conversions might be realtively easy to arrange.
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@Farrel - 210 is not really for Maun though - Bots is a 206 or Van country.
Operators do not want the guys to fly for free because there is no commitment that way - you have more power over people that you pay - there is a contract between the parties and because they pay you, they can tell you what to do and you can't just leave the next day because you feel like it or because you found another job back home. If you offer to fly for free they will just laugh at you and tell you to go home - I have seen that happen to a couple of guys, so don't even try that. Dependency is intended
I love the cheetah's post because if you have been there you can spot the wonderful irony and there is a point. Classic!
Operators do not want the guys to fly for free because there is no commitment that way - you have more power over people that you pay - there is a contract between the parties and because they pay you, they can tell you what to do and you can't just leave the next day because you feel like it or because you found another job back home. If you offer to fly for free they will just laugh at you and tell you to go home - I have seen that happen to a couple of guys, so don't even try that. Dependency is intended
I love the cheetah's post because if you have been there you can spot the wonderful irony and there is a point. Classic!
Está servira para distraerle.
It's far from an offer to fly for free which is of course a totally reprehensible thing to do unless one's very life depended on doing so.
This though would be flying which allowed the young and up and coming observer of aviation excellence to benefit from the philanthropic experience and expertise of long accomplished and not yet dead aviators. It would in fact be an extension of the learning curve for those of limited hours and scary stories, not including yourself of course, who sashay across to Africa to experiment upon the bodies of unsuspecting tourists who would never, in a trillion zillion years, climb in to a commercial airliner with someone of such limited experience at the controls.
This though would be flying which allowed the young and up and coming observer of aviation excellence to benefit from the philanthropic experience and expertise of long accomplished and not yet dead aviators. It would in fact be an extension of the learning curve for those of limited hours and scary stories, not including yourself of course, who sashay across to Africa to experiment upon the bodies of unsuspecting tourists who would never, in a trillion zillion years, climb in to a commercial airliner with someone of such limited experience at the controls.
Last edited by cavortingcheetah; 14th Dec 2010 at 14:09.
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Cavorting, pardon me, but methinks you sound desparate.
Besides, wouldn't said pax be worried about the not-so-youngster (or his side-kick) having a heart attack or an attack of the vapours, especially when it comes down to the parties at the dock!
Besides, wouldn't said pax be worried about the not-so-youngster (or his side-kick) having a heart attack or an attack of the vapours, especially when it comes down to the parties at the dock!
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Besides, wouldn't said pax be worried about the not-so-youngster (or his side-kick) having a heart attack or an attack of the vapours, especially when it comes down to the parties at the dock! 
Join Date: Sep 2010
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som figures
Hi everyone,
Just a mail to sum up the actual situation in Maun.
We are now 25 pilots hanging around for jobs with between 200 and 900 hours
The estimated job opportunities are 5 or 6
Moreover, we have 9 local pilot, that might be given prioriti
Good news though Moremi air hired just one.
I don't say don't come, I just say that the situation is not as optimistic as I thought while reading this thread.
Good day.
Cheers
Just a mail to sum up the actual situation in Maun.
We are now 25 pilots hanging around for jobs with between 200 and 900 hours
The estimated job opportunities are 5 or 6
Moreover, we have 9 local pilot, that might be given prioriti
Good news though Moremi air hired just one.
I don't say don't come, I just say that the situation is not as optimistic as I thought while reading this thread.
Good day.
Cheers
The Cooler King
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Told you this would open a can of worms. 
Outside of the death threats etc.....
This is the reality of what this industry has become.
It's not exactly flying for free. It's flying for experience. Hours.
And if I have the money to afford to do something like that, then what is stopping me, and what gives you the right to judge me just because your financial situation does not allow you to do the same?
These comments about me single-handedly destroying the industry is no argument - industries evolve for better or for worse.
(For the record, it's not what I'm going to do....for now, but the option is being discussed at length with a lot of young pilots here in the ME with more money than sense who would be more than happy to do what I suggested in order to clock up a few hundred hours, buy a TR and join Air Arabia or what-not.)
Good luck with the upcoming season!
Farrell
Outside of the death threats etc.....
This is the reality of what this industry has become.
It's not exactly flying for free. It's flying for experience. Hours.
And if I have the money to afford to do something like that, then what is stopping me, and what gives you the right to judge me just because your financial situation does not allow you to do the same?
These comments about me single-handedly destroying the industry is no argument - industries evolve for better or for worse.
(For the record, it's not what I'm going to do....for now, but the option is being discussed at length with a lot of young pilots here in the ME with more money than sense who would be more than happy to do what I suggested in order to clock up a few hundred hours, buy a TR and join Air Arabia or what-not.)
Good luck with the upcoming season!
Farrell
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Farrell - you have not understood what has already been said: operators will pay you to get by and that will not change - nobody wants to let the pilots fly for free - if so it would have already been practiced. If you or anybody else thinks they are clever by making the offer, I can promise you that you will not be respected and they will tell you to go fly free somewhere else and get lost, because it shows plain ignorance.
Somebody that flies for free does not have any obligations and practically can not be trusted or relied on being tasked - there is no contract being fulfilled.
Another thing is, that a commercial operator has to pay a commercial pilot in their service for legal and insurance purposes required by Part 135. A pilot flying for free, has no legal protection and no commercial rights - it is as if flying under Part 91 with a PPL. Ever thought about that ?
For those reasons - nobody will be flying completely for free.
Somebody that flies for free does not have any obligations and practically can not be trusted or relied on being tasked - there is no contract being fulfilled.
Another thing is, that a commercial operator has to pay a commercial pilot in their service for legal and insurance purposes required by Part 135. A pilot flying for free, has no legal protection and no commercial rights - it is as if flying under Part 91 with a PPL. Ever thought about that ?
For those reasons - nobody will be flying completely for free.
Está servira para distraerle.
Pilot Prostitution.
The trend started with pilots entering into bonding arrangements for basic type ratings with airlines some twenty years ago. In the last twenty years, as aircraft technology standards have increased pilot standards have decreased? Has the quality of the trainee candidate become reduced from an intelligent self improver to a son of a sheikh? Does anyone really think that Airbus makes flying computers to provide fun for the pilots? It's to ensure that pilots with diminishing standards of ability and training can fly the Airbus without crashing too many of them. Perhaps Boeing are holding back the Dream Liner lest they too fall too deep into that trap. Do you know why Tornado Navigators are taught how to land the aircraft before being sent on detail to faraway places? Airlines are substituting type ratings for aptitude and experience as qualifications for entry while the aircraft coming off the production lines are designed and constructed according to customer requirements for automation to cope with these inabilities. The next stage will be even more highly sophisticated aircraft, operated by one computer programmer or pilot in old parlance, which can be controlled from a central command ground based facility in the event of such an unlikely occurrence as on board operator incapacitation. This is logical evolution and it's just following the path laid out so far. It won't affect the guys trying for the jobs today. It's only impact will be on the next generation of people who want to push buttons in aircraft. A lot of those may be the children of those who fly today. They will be the ones who are prejudiced by what is happening with 'pay to fly' today, just as those today are affected by the 'bond to fly' of yesterday.
The trend started with pilots entering into bonding arrangements for basic type ratings with airlines some twenty years ago. In the last twenty years, as aircraft technology standards have increased pilot standards have decreased? Has the quality of the trainee candidate become reduced from an intelligent self improver to a son of a sheikh? Does anyone really think that Airbus makes flying computers to provide fun for the pilots? It's to ensure that pilots with diminishing standards of ability and training can fly the Airbus without crashing too many of them. Perhaps Boeing are holding back the Dream Liner lest they too fall too deep into that trap. Do you know why Tornado Navigators are taught how to land the aircraft before being sent on detail to faraway places? Airlines are substituting type ratings for aptitude and experience as qualifications for entry while the aircraft coming off the production lines are designed and constructed according to customer requirements for automation to cope with these inabilities. The next stage will be even more highly sophisticated aircraft, operated by one computer programmer or pilot in old parlance, which can be controlled from a central command ground based facility in the event of such an unlikely occurrence as on board operator incapacitation. This is logical evolution and it's just following the path laid out so far. It won't affect the guys trying for the jobs today. It's only impact will be on the next generation of people who want to push buttons in aircraft. A lot of those may be the children of those who fly today. They will be the ones who are prejudiced by what is happening with 'pay to fly' today, just as those today are affected by the 'bond to fly' of yesterday.
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oi Farrell !
Now look what you have done ! Its all very well you winding me up at Turbos place but now you have gone and upset the Africa Korps !
Apologise now , and bring me some sausages sometime.
Now look what you have done ! Its all very well you winding me up at Turbos place but now you have gone and upset the Africa Korps !
Apologise now , and bring me some sausages sometime.
Está servira para distraerle.
This member of the Afriqa corps is not at all upset, pork sausages or beef, rosemary and thyme. Chomp and be damned! to paraphrase some well known publicationally persecuted Pom. It is a pleasure to read the posts of a pilot who writes as wittily as the Cooler King. He's quite right of course. It is a free market out there and those who have not had the opportunity or initiative to make their fortunes elsewhere before pouring it, revolta like, into aviation training are objects of sympathy rather than examples of ineptitude. I think he understands exactly what ticks in China Town. The only reason operators won't let you fly for free is because you could then tell them to wiggle their fundament when called out too many times for an early stand by. I have heard that British Midland, a little airline to which I have referred in an earlier post, charges for the type rating and includes 500 hours of right hand seat flying in the charge. You might be paid a token salary while flying like this but that's only to satisfy labour laws and to make the deal sweet as a Kosher kiss. Of course and strictly speaking, that's not flying for free. The real problem lies in the basic quality of the pilots who will fling such Moolah at airlines and who will themselves, in a year or two, be captains on fast jets, please nominate a slow jet for amusement's sake, and who will be then flying
with others of the ilk as they are now.These days I pick the airlines on which I'll fly and that decision really has very little to do with laying the cabin crew after dinner on arrival.
What, pray tell, is the difference in terms of flying for free and hitching a ride up to Maun and burning one's bum off in a squatter tent camp for three months until someone deigns to give you a job. You are using your savings to achieve the end result which is a flying job. It's the same thing ain't it now in reality? But then so, by extension, is borrowing a load of money to pay for your training and then spending the next five years repaying it to the bank after you get your first flying position. It's all flying for free, just like the most satisfying but not necessarily the most educational, sex.
Happy New Year to the Julians and Gregorians.
with others of the ilk as they are now.These days I pick the airlines on which I'll fly and that decision really has very little to do with laying the cabin crew after dinner on arrival.
What, pray tell, is the difference in terms of flying for free and hitching a ride up to Maun and burning one's bum off in a squatter tent camp for three months until someone deigns to give you a job. You are using your savings to achieve the end result which is a flying job. It's the same thing ain't it now in reality? But then so, by extension, is borrowing a load of money to pay for your training and then spending the next five years repaying it to the bank after you get your first flying position. It's all flying for free, just like the most satisfying but not necessarily the most educational, sex.
Happy New Year to the Julians and Gregorians.