Air Serv International - Threads Merged
 

I am in search of any information about Air Serv, e.g. upgrades, work living conditions, pay????

JSD - Info on Airserv can be obtained from Airserv Intl., PO Box 3041, Redlands, CA 92373-0993 or via their website at www.airserv.org
If you are keen on employment info with them or in the middle east you'd do well to provide more details on yourself and follow it with a 'much appreciated' or similar. Good luck with your job search.
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Rafiki

Dear Rafiki,
Thank you for the advice, I am actually looking for somebody who has or is working for Air Serv.

I am currently flying for a regional airline in the US.
I am 23 years old
have about 2300 hours total 1000 twin and 300 turbo prop.

Thanks once again

Another Trans States refugee! Working for Hulas drove me to Hong Kong; looks like he's driving you to Mozambique!

Congratulations on the 100% strike vote! If it comes to that, I'll come back to STL just to walk with you guys.(sorry to be off-topic for the rest of the forum!)

JSD - sorry to see you've not had a better response to your request. My experience with Airserv only comes from heresay whilst in Kenya and I went for a chat/interview with them in their Nairobi office in 95 (ish). They came across as a professional, well organized outfit operating well maintained equipment and doing some really interesting work. If I had been single I may have given it a go. Good luck once again - Rafiki.

Hi Jetstream . . .,

Worked several contracts for ASI through the years in Ethiopia, Sudan (and into South Sudan from Loki, Kenya). I have much respect for the admin people, maintenance and fellow professional pilots. They are very fair people.

They have a good FOM and stick to it, strongly support their lead field people, and expect a commensurate amount of professionalism from their pilots flying their aircraft. I was mostly on the DHC6-300, but flew the Caravan and a C402 a bit.

I had a very good time flying for ASI, and enjoyed lots of travel, and learned lots about people, aviation and myself. All the best in your application!

Regards,
Mark Howson

Air Serv!!
 

Yeah Dude,

The guy you need to direct your CV to is a Guy by the name of Ray Snaith. That is for the Air Serv that I know they have a big hangar ( known as Hangar One) at entebbe airport in Uganda. If you go and fly for them your'e gonna need about 3000hrs PIC before he will even consider you, and your'e gonna be based in Goma in the Congo a nice little place full on ethinic clashes and that kind of thing!!! The last time I spoke to one of the Air Serv pilots I heard the pay was 3000US$ per month I hope you enjoy. Personally I don't think it's worth it but hey maybe you like crazy stuff enjoy!!!!:O

Pete

Air Serv's office is in Washington DC or Virginia, can't remember. They'll be the ones who interview and accept you. You'll want to be pretty conservative. A christian upbringing is good, as some of the big shots are ex MAF. (although out in the field, it can be good fun, Coco Jambo's and Le Chalet in Goma for starters)
They'll post you somewhere around the world. Check your policies are paid up. You can see their website of destinations, Afganistan, the Congo, etc. The pay sucks, but your overheads are low.
Ray at Entebbe does not do interviews. Also don't get excited about flying a B200. It'll be a twin Otter or Cessna Caravan to start with. Then a B90. Having some bush flying will be a credit.
And yes, you do go to some hot zones. Go to a search engine and look up Shabunda in the DRC. Lovely little place, although the militia are letting MSF (medisans sans frontier) in.
Good luck

Moved some aircraft for them before. All well maintained and everything worked!. Not sure how many B200's there are; 800U is a C12, military version of the 200 which they now call an A-200. 24F is also a long in the tooth C208 but still goes well. Can't tell you too much about the pay but good guys in general. :p

Air Serv - any info?
 

I'm interested in finding out a bit more about flying for Air Serv - is there anyone out there who's working for them now or worked for them in the past?

I've done a search and found some quite useful stuff but I think some of it might be out of date(?) And yes, before you ask, I am familiar with their website...!

Any info much appreciated,

Jimbo.

Worked for them about 10 years ago, to give an idea what kind of outfit they are, they left my wife unattended in the bush with malaria while I was flying. manager in the same camp never did a thing. needless to say, contract ended with 6 month payout. better then a lawsuit.

Ran safe operation airplane wise

Air Serve International.
 

Hello Ppruners.
I am trying to find out some info on a company called "Air Serve International". It is an non-profit organization based in USA, that flies for Humanitarian purposes in Africa and Asia. I have just emailed them my application and the only info that I can find about them is on their website. Would someone have some info on how it is to work for them and what is the pay like etc... I have searched in Pprune forums, but could not find anything.
Any info that you could provide me would be welcome.
Cheers.
Smoothflight.

Thanks Pirat.
What do you mean I should not have a problem geting on with them? I have not mentioned any of my flight experience on the post. But anyway, TT3510 1600 multi-engine mostly on Cessna 421 golden eagle, no turbine, FAA ATPL and JAA frozen Atpl. For the other baptist religion, I am not that religious, but am a decent person. Hope they do not require to be fanaticly religeous.
What do you think chances are to be offered Turbine with them?
Cheers
Smoothflight.

" but they only operate turbines"

Au Contrare. Saw this in Mozambique yesterday.........

N-number : N756GQ
Aircraft Serial Number : U20604083
Aircraft Manufacturer : CESSNA
Model : TU206G
Engine Manufacturer : CONT MOTOR
Model : TSIO-520 SER
Aircraft Year : 1977
Owner Name : AIR SERV INTERNATIONAL
Owner Address : 6583 MERCHANT PL STE 100
WARRENTON, VA, 20187-2348
Type of Owner : Corporation
Registration Date : 13-Jan-1994
Airworthiness Certificate Type : Standard
Approved Operations : Normal

My most absolute humble apologies, I never knew of its existance, wonder if its filling in for the Van that pranged a few weeks ago.

Tanks Pirate and Sousa.
Any info on living conditions such as food and lodging. Is it provided by the company?

Airserve looks after their boys ok, they are one of the better operators, and they pay the crew's salaries that are due!

AirServ (no 'e' on the end) are stable, well funded and pay well for the level of pilot they accept and the work that they need doing.

I see you are from Belgium which means you speak French ? This could be a great asset as much or their work is in West Africa.

Like any NGO there are some pleasant committed people and unfortunately some fanactical sociopaths who cannot function in the 'real world'. Some of their management and pilots are somewhat difficult to work with, to say the least but what easy going people volunteer to operate in the real sh!tholes of the world ? Be prepared for lots of politics and apparently weird ways of running an aviation company. They have their own agenda.

Much of their work in Africa and the Middle East (Baghdad and Kabul) is contracted out to Naturelink, a South African company, although they have their own operations too.

Religion is not a requirement but an acceptable measure of morality and maturity is, but with that strange twist of North American hyopcracy.

Smoothflight
my experience with them is that they are very professional.
They lease a couple of aircraft from Naturelink and they have bases all over the world ie Amman and Kabul to mention a few.
They provide good accomodation.The chief pilot is a bit of a dingbat , I believe.I dont know what they are paying their pilots.
The head office is in New York I believe.
They say that they are a non profit organization I doubt it

The 'couple' of aircraft from Naturelink are actually more than twenty, plus helicopters.

Head office is in Virginia, close to the government and NGOs who provide all the funding and contracts for them.

(...and the Pentagon of course, if you believe those rumours.)

Thanks to you all for insight. It is helpfull. So, should there be people with more info, please keep it coming.
Cheers.
Smoothflight.

I wish I could shed some positive light on working for airsev, In my experience working for them, all that I can say is stay away!!

Sure they pay their pilots on time, and the flying is great, that is when you fly. The maintenance is so shoddy that you spend about sixty percent of you time waiting around for aircraft to be fixed. As for the chief pilots', some of the worst "ding bats" i've had the the pleasure of working with.

As for it being a non-profit organisation, I wish somebody had informed the powers in charge who seem to be milking the system for all that it's worth.

Air Serv operate aircraft on humanitarian ops for MSF, WFP, US AID etc. They have bases in Amman(Jordan), Kabul, Banda Aiche, Entebbe and Beira. The aircraft operate on Air Serv AoC's and contrary to previuos(sp) posts maintenace are of as high a standard as can be expected concidering the conditions they operate under.

They lease quite a large number of aircraft and crew from Naturelink, a South African operator, the types vary from EMB120's, most of the BE series to the C208B.

All in all not a bad operation, although the areas they operate in could not be discribed as ideal. As in all things in life its what you make of it.:}

c_kraig...I think you are being a little unfair to Cenrifugel. He has no problem that I can see. He has worked for Air Serv and has given his opinion - valuable since he has actual experience. You are about to work for them, I assume? and give your opinion from more limited experience.... presumably an orientation visit to them in Virginia. I wish you every success when you arrive in Africa. I am not sure what Evergreen has to do with the issue or your poor choice of best man. I know people who work for Evergreen who are quite happy.

i have not worked for airserv, but when we had bases in the congo, the airserv guys were always round because their accomodation was so bad they would rather watch satellite tv at our place than spend time in their sh)t hole!

like i said i have never worked for them, but i have heard they are part ot the CIA?

legend/rumour/rubbush, call it what you like, but are exactly the kind of outfit for such a role?

hello gerund!

"As for it being a non-profit organisation, I wish somebody had informed the powers in charge who seem to be milking the system for all that it's worth."


Centrifugal, You seem to be saying its a no profit........but thats so true with just about any organization we have in the states. Hell the head of the Red Cross makes $3-400k a year as CEO. The excuse is that its like any big Organization, you need talent to get the job done. That usually translates to someone with a Politician in their pocket to get sh1t passed through the Government. Its just the way things are done....
No doubt many of their Non-Profit Missions are funded by Uncle Sugar, why else would they be in Africa, Afghanistan etc. Its also where the most Aid is needed.
I emailed them a couple days ago regarding employment. I was told new hires have to jump on at a minimum of a one years contract, short term work was for their "Alumni". Certainly smells like Air America back in the days of that place called Viet-nam.
Im sure its liike any other Government contractor, if you know some of the "Good Old Boys" you could walk in tomorrow. We have them all over the place, Dyn-Corp, Blackwater, ya-da yada......all have offices within walking distance of Georges Office.

Smoothflight,

check on the C208 down in Mozambique topic for some more insight.

Think again
 

Defeniatly a non-profit(unless you are main dingbat), you should see the descisions they make.They got dudes called country directors( that hate pilots)that have deciding powers over matters they know nothing of(aviation).
Used to be a good outfit, but they loosing it.Double standards.
If they would only listen to the pilots,but pilots are stupid and can only fly-meantime some off us have more managing exp. than the dingbats.
But i ques there's always hope!!

camel trader,

I am afraid that you are doing much to enhance the 'nice but naive' image of Candadians here.

'they have no affilliation to the CIA or any arm of any government - other than working with people like USAID who fund them...'

Wake up and smell the Colombian ! Where do you think USAID get their money from ? You obviously didn't look too closely at the 'strange' passengers you will have flown now and then. That's your choice.

By all means express your opinion but don't try to pass off these statements as fact. It's not like they are going to walk up to your aircraft with 'CIA agent' badges on their anoraks and ask you if you wouldn't mind keeping their 9mms in the cockpit, are they ?

You really think that the US (lack of) intelligence agencies are just going to leave an American aviation company flying in Baghdad, Afghanistan and various warring African countries, just to get on with their own thing all by themselves ? Come on !

As for 'you would be a rare person to be able to "make it" as an Air Server...' you are absolutely right. From my experience, I doubt that I would ever even consider using an ex AirServ permanent pilot in our company.

Brainwashed, patronsing and technically incompetent pilots tend to upset the other guys who know what they are doing and would rather just get on with it.

(By the latter, I mean the guys working on contracts through their own companies. These pilots are different and those who can tolerate working under AirServ's particular, peculiar regime are special people indeed. Always welcome as pilots and diplomats. But those who can handle AirServ are quickly able to find themselves something better and move on so the situation perpetuates.)

AirServ's humanitarian, Christian, tree hugging image will attract naive, optimistic and well meaning people to fly for them, but anyone involved with them should not blind themselves to the rest of what is inevitably involved.

Come now. Most low time pilots would fly for anyone who gave them a job. I know I would.

True. So did I. And they have to, and will continue to do so.

But at least let's let the guys get on with it without feeding them an image that'll just make putting up and shutting up with the real deal even harder.

Kurt Neuwanschwander is the international chief pilot. Send him your resume at the Virginia address on the web site.

Really terrific people over there. But be warned if you are coming from a part 121/135 operation. Despite being an American organisation they fall far short of all safety and maintenence standards that most north American/ European pilots are used to.

Cameltrader, hear what you say, you prob been there many moons ago, thats what so sad, they aint the same anymore.One off the good things remaining-screw up and you get promoted!

Guys,

Thought id keep this question simple:

How much do Airserv (naturelink) b1900 crews get paid for Iraq/Afganistan

Thanks

Warmfront

R 8 - 12k pcm basic plus US$ 75 a day S&T from Naturelink and US$ 25 a day from AirServ.

Basic salary guideline only ; varies with experience.

6 weeks on; 6 weeks off unless you are permanent and do charters, ferries or money runs when you are back in RSA.

goaround7

:ok: thanks for the quick reply and info, i was a bit unsure as to who to contact (Naturelink/Airserv) so thanks for that info to.

R-8 ? would apprieciate contact details if you have them, PM if you wish.

Regards

Warmfront

Airserv ??
 

Are there any Airserv pilots out there who'd care to answer a few PM'd questions from someone "thinking' about it ?

Sure, give me a shout. I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

Cenrifugel,

Thanks...will do shortly.

Much has been written on ASI in previous posts.... some quite recently... suggest you do a search if not yet done so....
Some of the posts cause me to think of the mad hatters tea party...On the whole I'd say that they are well intentioned.... safety conscious at least as much as the average Part 135 operator (technically they are part 91 with a dispensation from the FAA)...
Was a very altruistic operation originally started by some ex MAF types....under their current CEO are becoming more hardnosed re: profit/non Profit status... probably necessary in order to survive... Money sounds poor on paper but everything pretty much all found and no tax to pay means you will bank whatever your paid... Attracts a wide variety of pilots most of which are pretty capable....You have to be content to put up with sharing a house with maybe 5 other people... Most postings are in places where it's not really advisable to walk the streets, drive a car or ride a bicycle so a feeling of being imprisoned can overtake you after a while as transport will depend on the Country Director's willingness to provide cars and drivers out of their precious budget...Unfortunately there is among the hierarchy a disdain for pilots which ramifies downwards through the company...this starts with the boss Stuart Willcuts.... and country directors, who almost without exception have no professional knowledge of aviation have been more than willing to follow his lead.
The flying is pretty much OK and more interesting than much developed world flying.... don't believe cr*p about it being CIA or NSA it's just a humanitarian NGO... if someone from some shady organisation needed to travel through an area flown by ASI then they no doubt will try to hop a plane but then they will also travel with US Air or AA as well....
If you fancy something different it's worth trying.... salaries are paid efficiently... health care schemes are in place... if you suffer some sort of injury/sickness you will get 1st class attention probably involving a medivac... In short as with any company ( I've worked with other companies who's management don't care for pilots ) Pluses and minuses...
You'll need to push... push again and then push harder to make something happen with HQ.... good people but a bit disorganised on the recruiting front....
Try to speak to Tina Schaefer and /or Wendy Irmischer...regularly.
For the most part I enjoyed my time there ....
just watch out for those ' !§$£#µ Country Directors.... ! they are probably responsible for most pilots leaving or changing their minds about joining ASI.