Air Botswana MUB - JNB
 

If anyone heard screams coming from our National Airline's office in Maun today rest assured it was not another aggrieved passenger. I was extracting information by the most reliable means - don't ask. Her fingers will heal.

As we know this service is not the most reliable. I was eventually informed that Mondays and Wednesdays are a problem due to a lack of flying machines to service the route. Tuesdays and Thursdays should not be a problem until further notice. She passed out before I could ask about other days.

I have informed them that if this info proves to be incorrect three weeks tomorrow I will be back.

Watch this space :E

Finally it looks like Air Botswana might have some competition, which hopefully will mean a more reliable service and more affordable flights: Airlink launches new direct flight Johannesburg / Maun, Botswana | Gorilla Trekking

Reliable... definitely!! Affordable... I highly doubt it. Airlink is probably the most expensive airline operating in Southern Africa. I doubt that they will give Air Bots a run for their money, as far as ticket prices go.

Online pricing for Airlink flights JNB-Maun from June shows them to be even more expensive than Air Botswana!

Why's everybody sticking to JNB? Fly to Windhoek, then get a bus ride to Maun for 40 euros. Basta

Flying to Windhoek may work if you are arriving from Europe, however if you are coming from Australia or East Asia the only destination is JNB.

I must be the only person this side of the world that has never had a problem with Air Botswana. I find them reliable, their staff friendly and their in-flight catering to be top notch!!

Pay the extra price for Airlink...psh no thanks why would I! :E

Airlink return prices seems to hover just under R5000!
If not bothered too much on time and don't mind waiting a couple of hours in Windhoek, Air Namibia offers better fares from Jo'Burg, around R3700 return via WDH.
From Cape Town the SW price via WDH is also just under R5000, so would still be cheaper than via JNB on SA...and definately quicker, short transit in WDH.

CVS please PM me with your name I will use it next time to book a ticket.

Haha, but at least Air Botswana gives you as many biltongs as you ask for.
Or at least they did in my time.

British airways from joburg to windhoek 2200 Rand with return ticket and according to one friends post, a bus from windhoek to bots 40 dollars.. so it makes 2600 Rand...

To be honest, I never had a issue with Air Bots either. In fact, they helped me out a lot.

BUT

I also had to deal with the passengers from their flights on a day to day basis. Air Bots being late or losing bags happened a lot. Threw a spanner into the works at least twice a month. And it could take a week sometimes to get back onto schedule.

Air Bots was on time for our departure and we even had our luggage on board :ok:

Thank you to everyone in Maun for looking after us. Especially to the pilots who put up with me flying with them in the right hand seat.

Good luck to all of you who are going through the painful process at the Department of 'Irritation'. After 6 months of living in their office we got our residency 22 hrs before we were thrown out.

See you all again in 6 months.

Air Botswana is to launch daily CPT-MUB flights from 1 June with BAe146.
Are they receiving a 2nd BAe146, as the JNB flight still continues with BAe146 as well?

Hi Everyone

Thanks for taking the time to put up all this info on Maun!!!:D I've got an instructors rating and 300TT. Due to debt, I'll only have enough to spend a week in Maun. Which I now know is pointless if guys are spending 3+ months and still have no luck... I enjoy instructing but there's just something about flying a C208 over the delta thats pulling toward Maun like a freight train. If anyone had to give a minimum amount of TT that would give me a good advantage what would it be?

Thanks again for all the info!

Byron, since you're SA based, you've got advantage.
Keep the instructing job, get the time in. The more hours, the more marketable compared to the hordres of 200hr pilots streaming in.

As it's been said here (and I'm just intersted observer, no direct experience of Botswana), it's about showing your face, networking etc. Save up more cash and in half year or so, when the hiring season is about to start or starts, you'd be there for couple weeks. Then even if you leave back for instructing job after taking unpaid leave etc, they'd know you and that you're happy to jump on bus or flight if they got spot.

Nearing 1000h TT, you should be able to score the 208 job. The minimums were mentioned somewhere here on pprune.

There is also a 1yr minimum in the delta before you go on the Caravan.
Only way you will get direct entry onto the van is if you have either significant experience on the caravan already, or have been flying in the delta with another company.


On a different subject, found out something interesting with the Airlink flights to Maun.
They have been told that the only way they will be allowed to fly there is if their flights are more expensive than Air Botswana.

Does Air Bots really think that price is everything to do with flying? A lot of these clients are flying in from around the world to stay in super expensive camps. They will fork out more for better service both in the air and on the ground.
All they need to do is be reliable and on time, and they will start taking business away from Air Bots.

And some of their hostesses might even get invited into the camps as guests to be savaged by cheetahs in the night?
Mind you though, when some cool cat flew for AB and night stopped at the Pamodzi Hotel in Lusaka, it was quite common to be awakened at strange hours of the night by the klanging of the telephone and to be told by the night porter, before you'd had time to do more than grunt, that a man was on his way up to your room. These were night fee paying passengers. The hotel reception was always extraordinarily inept at distinguishing between flight and cabin crew room numbers.
But then of course, those were some of the more difficult days for AB. One of the F27s came back from Britain after a refit. There were five new studs on each side of the cabin over the wing emergency exits. This was intended so that in the dark or in a smoke filled cabin, the attendant could just slide her hand down the baggage bins until she came upon the studs and thus identify the position of the emergency exit. Blow me down if the girls all didn't think these neat little mirror things so that they could titivate their make up halfway down the cabin. That was in the days when the chief stewardess reputedly failed her cabin safety check and, having been grounded, was reinstated on the basis of a telephone call from her boyfriend, a man of significant influence. Ops normal one supposes and as nothing compared to the exploits of Air Botswana's one and only bomber pilot.
Air Link and Air Botswana on a head to head is a fairly mind bogglingly adventurous thought. On the one hand, not on time and not quite reliable and on the other hand rather prone to what has euphemistically been described as a spot of bad luck? What a crashingly difficult decision for the punter to have to make? No more scurrilous surmises today though. Well, perhaps one as it's May 5th in Minneapolis. Whatever did happen to that piece of work that was once described as a nasty one who moved from a somewhat senior position in AB to a similar position in an airline of a country just across the Caprivi?

Yes Air Link has to be equal or greater in price than Air Bots but I doubt that is going to make any difference in keeping Air bots competitive once Air Link arrive.

However over the last month Air Botswana have arrived on time and with all the guests bags, so perhaps they are starting to shake things up now that Air Link will be sharing the route. But I doubt it.

To the poster who was thinking of arriving for a week in June I doubt that will do you much good, peak season would have begun and most companies need to train the pilots they have already hired. I would suggest you save a little cash and come later in the year (Oct-Nov) and plan on staying for 6 weeks minimum.

Maun pilot job search
 

Hello all.
Can anyone who currently has knowledge of the work visa requirements confirm if pilots will only get work permits issued with a minimum of 1000hrs tt, or can this be waived dependent on the individual flying companies. So far I have been informed of the 1000hrs tt req't by safari air.
Thanks for any replys.

As you will see from looking back over the Maun forums, the bizarre world of work permits in Maun goes in unpredictable waves. There was a very deep trough in recent months, so many companies introduced arbitrary hour minimas in a bid to increase the chances of their prospective candidates successfully acquiring work permits. It has now become common for companies to ask for 500, 800 or even 1000 hours.

In the last month or so, we seem to have been climbing out of the aforementioned trough, as more work permits have been issued, but the problem still remains that there is no clear guidance from the Ministry of Labour & Home Affairs. If they do have defined requirements or a set quota of permits, then they don't make these known publicly and it all seems to change regularly anyway so the whole thing remains a bit of a lottery. :ugh:

You Do NOT need 1000hrs to get hired or get work permits, however the more hours the better and still no promises that once you get hired that you will receive the permits, but the company that hires you will do its best to make sure that your work permits come thru.

Things are starting to look a little better at the moment with some companies receiving word that 2x300hr pilots have been approved by the government. If you get hired its most likely you will get work permits(eventually).

Medical - Africa
 

Hello all

Can anyone confirm if u Uk class one medical should be renewed prior to travelling to Africa for a pilot job, or will a separate medical be required once a job offer is accepted, say for instance if Botswana was my intended destination.

Cheers

You will need to get a class one medical in each country.

not necessarily. I know that in Nam for instance, you are not required to get a foreign medical unless you're applying for the commercial license of Nam. Otherwise you work on a validation. a validation 'validates' your license and its privileges. Since your medical keeps your license valid, your medical is automatically validated with your license.

So to keep your license valid for as long as possible without renewing your medical, then yes, i'd recommend that you update your medical before heading out.

They way they do it in Bots, you will have to get your class one.

Ok thanks, so just so i have this right, i currently fly in the uk using class 2 privelages which are automatically issued on back of a class 1 medical. As i dont fly commercially, the class 1 is not required, the class 1 is expired. So, you are saying i should renew the uk class 1 prior to leaving for Africa as opposed to just paying for a class 1 with a converted licence. Hope that dosent sound too confusing. Thanks again

Well, as Imagined by god said, your licence needs to be valid to convert, and that also means medically valid.

I would suggest doing it anyway, its only a smallish expense and its better to have done it before you go and find out that you don't need it, than get here and find that you do need it...

Good point, cheers lads

Word has it that Wilderness Air is looking for pilots.

500 hrs with an instructors rating or 800 hrs total time with a CPL, seems that the work permit issues are pushing the minimum hour requirements sky high.

Wilderness Air
 

Heard a rumour from a friend that previous CEO of Sefofane/ Wilderness Air aka November Lima who was in charge for 21 years had left the company and become the owner of a guest house in Cape Town. He seemed extremely dedicated to his organisation but has moved into a different business altogether- was wondering if the current state of the flying business in Maun/ Botswana was a deciding factor or did he just fancy something different ??

Probably nothing to do with work permits etc, there are more pilots looking for work than there are jobs so owners will set a high standard to get the best applicants.

When the economy improves and there are more tourists the standards will change to get the number of pilots that they need.

Hey Everybody

I spoke to the chief pilot at WA a week ago and he said because they're one of the biggest guys around the government is quite strict with work permits. Having said that it also makes sense to get a few extra hours IF at all possible before looking for work, can only help in the end...

Anybody know if anything interesting came out of the Aviation Pitso in Maun, particularly regarding the work permit issue?

Sunday Standard - Online Edition

Only interesting news I heard was that the AKD report will be released "soon" after it was initially going to be kept private.

@Rico 25, The rumour is true.

@Nyathi, they are short at the moment. Want higher houred guys as there is less hold ups in getting the work permits. Been a bit of inter company shuffling, but curiously none have gone to Wilderness, instead they have gone to Mack and Safari.

Strange thing you mentioned there, I believe that an ex Mack Air jockey is now flying or will be flying for Wilderness Air soon.

Facts..........?:D

" Strange thing you mentioned there, I believe that an ex Mack Air jockey is now flying or will be flying for Wilderness Air soon.

Facts..........?:D "

@Nyathi:

CONFIRMED...True and Correct! :ok:

Yup, been the one. Missed that one!

Hello,
I've been reading these great posts about African flying for 3 years now with great interest. Back when I had only a handful of hours I thought it would be a really good challenge with the bonus of building up hours, but now 3600 hours later I'm still after the challenge, only this time I want it to do it with my fiancé and make it a permenant move.
What I'd like to know, is if there is anywhere that provides flying work for people not after building up hours but for a lifestyle change. Also a place that may provide opportunity for my fiancé who is a graphic designer (with flexibility to work in other positions).

All my hours are single engine instructing on PA28, PA32 and Cessna 172/182 with a bit of instrument instructing.
I have worked as a deputy CFI/Operations manager in flying school in the UK.

I would greatly appreciate any advice from people who have flown, or currently flying in this part of the world.

As you can see, I am 36 years old, if that matters.
Thanks

@lilflyboy-thanks for update. Good thing N.L. left Maun-at least there's one less snake in Botswana!:}:}

@redwingUH- firstly I'd like to say at 36 years you are still not too old to become a bushpilot - I was actually the same age as you back in 2009 when I came to Botswana. Most of the guys (and a few gals) are about 25 years average but your age shouldn't be a concern at the moment.
If you are after a lifestyle change then you will certainly find it here in the Okovango Delta/ Maun although you will need to come here with your fiancee to have a look around to see if you both will like it. Maun is a very small town/ village that has the usual essentials such as internet, mobile phone network, supermarkets etc. but it is also lacking the little luxuries such as latest magazines, DVDs/ music CDs and that kind of thing unless you can get them from other pilots. As regards finding a job for your lady- there aren't really too many jobs for graphic designers in Maun so that could be a problem.

Your experience with flying single engined piston aircraft seems suitable although there isn't much instrument flying in the Okovango Delta- mostly VFR ,however, there are times that it can save your life if you inadvertently stray into cloud.

If you do decide to come you should budget for a few months stay in order to get a job and also to complete training/ go online/ get work permit etc.

Regards,

Rico 25