More Info for those (low-timers) seeking a job in Namibia
 

Hi All,

First would just like to say Good luck with your job hunting in Namibia and Bots. I've had quite a few PMs recently about flying in Namibia and rather than keep on repeating myself I'll post some of my replies below for a general audience. There seems to be a lot of interest in Maun but not so much in Namibia... As you'll read, I was based in Namibia but I did several trips over to the Okavango Delta so I am in a position to comment and compare the flying side of things. However, I never actually lived in Maun (but had a couple of friends who had). A lot of this has been said before but here we go:

Q: Best time to go?
A: "I arrived in Windhoek in the beginning of December 2006 and it was bad timing.. took me 2 months to get an offer. Lots of hiring happened in Mar-Jun." You probably won't get many (if any) answers to emails - you need to be there in person to generate some interest.

Q: Pay & Accomodation?
A: The pay was quite low (after tax less than US$1000) when you convert it to foreign currencies but I was living very comfortably on my salary. This was probably over 4 times the average salary. All of the companies tended to pay the same with a few exceptions. In all the companies,Your pay will go up as your hours go up.
RE the accomodation: some of the companies supply it and some don't. Rent was expensive (relatively speaking) for my salary. I was renting a room from another pilot who owned a nice apartment and was spending about 25% of my disposable income.

I was away from home (at 4 & 5-star lodges mostly) anywhere from 10-15 days a month. It's all paid for of course and you generally get overnight allowances. I was actually able to save quite a lot of money over a year.

Q: Who's good to work for?
A: "The best companies to work for in Namibia are

Scenic Air (C210s mostly)
Wings Over Africa (C210s but chance to get twin-turbine and possibly jet)
Naturewings & Westair (mostly charter, C210s, C310s, C404s, C406s)
Sefofane (C210s & C208s)

I have got mates working in all of the above so can provide contacts. Scenic air and Wings do lots of fly-in-safaris and you get to stay at great lodges and do guest activities which I loved.

Westair pay the best and have a nice fleet but their culture is a bit uptight and they take themselves a bit too seriously (an oral questionnaire for the 210 is done by TWO instructors). I mean you will get some good twin time with them but not so many safaris and you certainly won't get to chase zebras and Oryx around at 10 feet off the deck! :ok:

Most of the flying in Namibia is on the C210 but twin-time is available. The company I was with it was hard to get onto the twins (they only had 2 and down to 1 now after a prang!) but a mate of mine was flying conquests (co-pilot) and C310 with about 800 hours total.

Another thing, don't even bother talking to Desert Air unless you speak perfect Afrikaans."

Q: Which pilots go to Maun and which end up in Namibia?
A: "I'm not sure why, but it seems that (in General) all the South African low time pilots end up in Namibia, and the other foreigners (Kiwis, Europeans & yourself for example) tend to go to Bots. Although 90% of the flying I did was in Namibia, I did a few trips into Maun and some flying around the Okavango Delta and I can tell you that they are both good fun, challenging and a good experience. The flying and the scenery in Namibia is a hell of a lot more contrasting though! In Namibia you will fly over rich red deserts, the Fish River canyon, the lush green Caprivi stip and the beautiful Hartmanns valley just to name a few. Do not overlook Namibia just because all those Kiwis (hahaha - just joking) can't be bothered (or don't need) to travel over there...." :E

Q: What licenses and experience will I need?
A: you definitely don't need an IR to get a job over there. Most ops are VFR anyways. It's not difficult to get a job with a bare CPL and not much more.

Q:How do I convert my licence and get a work visa?
"Go over there first - its a lengthy bureacratic process to convert the licence but not really difficult. Employers will help you out or do the visa for you."


Enjoy, BBN Radar

Thanks, thats a lot of good information. I'm heading out to southern Africa right after new year. There is a lot of talk around here about low timers, but what about high timers? That is people with 1000+ hours with previous turbine experience and such? Do they have an easier time getting jobs there, or do flight hours not mean much?

GPS
 

Thanks for the info. I'm heading to Botswana and possibly Namibia shortly, am thinking of buying a handheld GPS for nav backup. Are these a common item, and is there any one product which is better than others?
P

Radar
Helpful and informative post.

I worked in Namibia in the mid 90's and enjoyed my time there. I operated out of Swakopmund so couldn't help notice that you didn't mention the companies based in that town. Pleasure flights & Safaris and Atlantic air. This was some time ago so I don't know if these companies still exist but if they do, and conditions are still the same then they are also worth a shot.
I had a lot of fun living there and the flying was great fun. All C210. Mostly scenic flights down to Sosuss, Fish River Canyon, Skeleton Coast and some flights up to Etosha. It was a good hour building exercise and I found the Namibians to be very friendly and accomodating.
As for getting a job, initial contact via email was ok, but only to introduce myself and ask if I would be able to meet the company bosses when I made a fact finding trip up to Namibia. The best way is to go there and introduce yourself personally to try and secure a job for sometime in the future ie pilot leaving , tourist season etc. Don't expect to arrive and be flying a week later. I made a holiday out of it. On my way home, I hunted for a C210 and bought myself a rating. These aircraft are few and far between in SA and this was the most difficult part of the whole exercise. Back home I then called the companies to tell them that I was now the proud owner of a C210 endorsed licence. This just served as a little reminder of my earlier visit. I then waited to hear from them. As it turned out, the phonecall wasn't long in coming.

Ask yourself this, As a prospective employer, would you employ someone via email, or someone that has taken the effort to come to Namibia and introduce themself to you personally.

Namibia back then was low time pilot friendly and where else could you get a job where you were expected to fly low level for most of the day.Later when you have moved onto bigger more advanced "computers" you will look back on Namibia flying with fondness.

i have a garmin 296, but it has the asia pacific intt'l region only. anyone know a cheap way of geting the firmware for africa?

Great post mate! I needed that about six years ago! So much nicer when people don't "CIA" what they know about the region's industry and hiring practices.
Cheers :cool:

What? No hairspray...?:rolleyes:

eh!
 

no hoop snakes, no hairspray

Check the Garmin website, for most units all you need to do is to 'update' the database with a different region. This means your original region is lost. If you do this, back up any data you have on there, such as personally input waypoints first. Also be aware, that the Atlantic database which has Namibia on it, only shows a couple of airports in Nam. Great fun inputting all the other coordinates by hand :E

On a different note, buy an external antenna. Satellite reception isn't the greatest there and with the unit mounted on the yoke it's easily lost, which can lead to some interesting moments :eek: Attaching the external antenna solves the issue.

Fabulous place to fly :ok:

Great fun inputting all the other coordinates by hand

:E:E

thanks:)

As far as I know,Westair requires you to sign a 3yr contract,anyone know how long the other companies usually contract you for?

BBN RADAR,

Thank you, thank you!!

Hey good to hear all the interest, I'm getting a lot of PMs so I'll post the responses here to share the info again.

Q: Do I need 210 time to get a job?
A: It will help to have a some 210 time - even just a couple of hours but it is not essential. You will have to do some 210 time in a flight test to validate your licence anyways.

On another note - most people don't realise that the validation flight test is (or was) the same as the flight test for an initial Namibian licence. I did the flight test and all the paperwork for a validation and then a couple of months later I showed the ladies at the DCA my proof of passing all my Aussie CPL & ATPL subjects and they gave me a proper Namibian licence. A validation is tied to a work-permit so if you have the licence it makes your life easier in the long run as you don't have to worry about your validation expiring if you let your work-permit lapse. :ok: Sorry if that is difficult to understand!


Q: I'm interested in working in Namibia, but only for 6 months. Will I be hired with this in mind?
A: Most employers would probably expect and be happy with a 12 month term. I would think you would be cutting your employment prospects short if you were upfront about your plan to only be there for 6 months.


Q: I might be bringing some family over to Namibia. Is Windhoek safe?
A: Windhoek is mostly very safe as is the whole of Namibia. Namibia has a very low population which helps in this regard. Violent crime against foreigners is quite rare but a few muggings do occur. As long as you use some commonsense you should be able to avoid them. I never felt in danger during daylight hours - even in the dodgy parts of town! But be more cautious at night.

Q: Can you please provide me with some contacts?
A: I'm not gonna hand out contacts so people can bombard them with e-mails from their computer in Europe or Australia. Only once you are in the country and sipping on a delicious Windhoek/Tafel Lager will I contemplate giving out a contact. As said before, emailing a CV is pretty useless.

What's that you say? I might take a week or more for you to send me an email once you are in the country and then for me to reply with said contact? Awwww cry me a river. Lighten up - use this time to get to know the Norwegian nurses staying at the Cardboard Box Backpackers. Norwegian nurses? Yep, usually a big group of them at the Box from Jan-Apr. Oh yeah, Giggady gig. ;)

Q: But isn't going all the way over to Namibia without the certainty of a job a bit of a risky maneuvre?
A: Yep. :E

Hey, it's worked for me and hundreds of others in Nam and Bots. I'd say 75% of the interview is just being there! To show that you've travelled that far a distance in search of a job and some adventure shows your commited right?!

Q: Where's the best place to stay while in town?
A: In Windhoek, the Chameleon backpackers and the Cardboard box are probably the best and cheapest places to stay. I was at "The Box" from the beginning so I like that one better (the bar is bigger and stays open later! ;) )

Someone else asked why I didn't talk about the companies in Swakopmund. I was based in Swakop for a few months before Windhoek and thought the flying outta there was great fun. If you get a job with a company that only has a base there then I think the flying would get a little monotonous. Sossusvlei scenics day after day after day. The companies that I have mentioned in my other posts allow you to fly all over the country and stay at lodges everywhere. An overall better and more fulfilling experience I think.

Take it easy! I'm gonna hit the hay.

Thx-thx-thx
 

You already convinced me!

I'll be hitting Windhoek sometime next year. Hope a bare CPL with some 200+ hours and C210 rating will land me somewhere :) Oh and maybe some operators are looking for a professional graphic designer/newbie pilot/crazy hungarian combo :8

BBN RADAR THX again, these were the most helpful topics! :ok:

1 more question
 

just what amount of money to bring with me estimating a 3 months survival?
THX

Me too
 

If TNT don't want want me I'm coming over there as well.
Staying a year is no problem for me. Love Africa.
How is the cheapest way to get to Windhoek? Except swimming:ok:
I'll be spending money I don't have...

Hope to see you there in january! :D

Norweigen nurses?Ok I'm convinced,lol. I've been to the Namib a couple of times on holiday,awesome place,I could easily fly there for a year.Its definetly something I'm looking into

Thanks for the info:ok:

hey, I'm on my way, don't care flyin' gimme the nurses :}

All about Maun
 

People are forgetting Namibia I think. :confused:
I'dd like to see some more activity here aswell.
I'm flying out to Windhoek 2nd of Jan.
Can anyone tell me the cheapest place to stay or camp around the airport? Where is the bar the chief pilots hang out at and where can I find the companies? In the terminal or do they have their own buildings?
Does anyone work there? Are there any pilots leaving soon? How are the bookings over there with the economy today? Is there any demand for new pilots? :cool:
Does Air Botswana fly to Maun from Windhoek too?
Is anyone interested in a ticket back to Dusseldorf? I could sell you one...

Any hel appreciated :ok:

MKA742 - just to answer a few of your questions:

Cheapest place would be the backpackers - there is no place to camp really, would be rather unsafe also.

There is no single bar where chiefpilots specifically hang out - this is not Maun, there are actually more places that people like to hang out, so they do not stick to one specific place. To give some of my personal advice: don't speak to any chief pilots in Windhoek - always talk to the boss directly.

The airport you are interested in, is the city airport Eros (FYWE) - you will be arriving at the international airport (FYWH) and there is nobody there and it is about 80kms out of town, so the first thing you will do is take a taxi into town for N$120 and take it from there.

Everyone is in their own buildings or hangars at Eros, exept Sefofane which are located in town.

There is no cheap connection from Windhoek to Maun - Air Namibia is the only one that used to do the route with the B190 - I don't know if they still do. Before you do that though, take a trip with Wild Dog/Crazy Kudu and view some of the country and while your on the trip check the guys in Swakopmund - if Windhoek doesn't happen, this might be your adress.

January is not the best time to go jobhunting in Windhoek so maybe hang onto that return ticket - but give it a try. It usally gets better from March to April.

I assume you come from the Netherlands - try to seperate yourself from others by offering a language bonus for all those Dutch tourists that you might be flying, if they take you - this can be a huge bonus to your advantage and show some general interest in Namibia. What a lot of guys don't realise, is that the flying job in Namibia is only a small aspect of the job and it is not only your pilot skills that they are looking for. You will spend a lot of time with the tourists and you will have to be a good communicator and do your best to give them a holiday of a lifetime - so that they want to come back. So start improving your knowledge of the country as best as you can. If you don't want to make the effort, you will be like most others coming there to get the job.

Good luck