I lived in SA around 2 years and i know i can adopt myself with Manu or other african countries situations.In Iran,just we can start and fly as a first officer in our airlines,there is no any general aviation and etc.As you know,getting into a airline is not easy and we have to find some contact people.I like to fly with light aeroplanes and bush flying to fly thorugh the jungles,dessert.:ok:

I must say that this kind of flying sounds like a pretty sticky sort of operation:rolleyes:

I hear the best opportunities are in Iran right now.

Well, there's a new low timer paradise called Manu? Go for 'em boys!

Heading to manu
 

I second that and FaFa would be kind enough to give us more details of manu:sad:. I also would suggest FaFa to try searching for jobs in Jordan, i saw a report in BBC saying that there is going to be a huge requirement in jordan, I have some Malaysian friends studying at the ayla academy h t t p://w w w.aylaaviation.com/. may be you will find something in jordan.... good luck

The thread seems to have slowed down a little which is a shame.
Wonder if the same can be said for the tourist trade?
Just saw a quote for a six night trip for two in Namibia. Excluding international air fares the price was SAR 85,000. That's quite a lot of €s! Expect the prices are not much different in the delta as Thompson's Holidays offer two nights ex JNB at Stanley's, Baines' or Chief's at around SAR 22,000 or around about €1,200 a night. So is business booming up there? There surely aren't too many repeats?

Hi mates, i am planning for some bush pilot job hunt in maun,botswana this coming may 2011 and as i also searched many threads:ugh: regarding this matter and found there are around 14-15 guys already hired:ok: by the operators this season up there.so i m curious:confused: to know how about going there in may season with below stated resume:O

total time= 300 hrs
intrument time=44 hrs
multi engine time=38 hrs
recently i got rated on cessna caravan 208 and cessna 206 from panam academy,USA
Other rating=C-152,172 and multi BE-55
i really appreciate if smbdy will help me regarding this:)

Go there yourself and find out. The only useful rating you have is the C206, you might be lucky to get onto the C208 after completing 1,5-2 years service.

Avio. Read the thread.

Prop~ I'm on the van after 10 months.

hmm seems interesting, why dont you endorse more ratings on your license ?? like islander, c152, piper navajo etc. so that once you go "you are through" !!!

Don't confuse the poor chap. The only people flying C152s and BNIIs are probably the BDF. As for the Navajo, well I used to have a sister in law who was one - honest Injun Mr Moderator - so I feel reasonably qualified to say that they are not particularly useful things on which to be overly familiar these days.

@proppilot-yeah mate i will be heading to maun this season to try my luck if i can be that lucky to find out job with 1 of the operators with my cessna 206 rating in my pocket.:O
Also just curious to know about those guys sitting there since 6-8 months in search of being hired and waiting for the good time to come i mean whats the problem with them aren't they rated on 206 or they are lacking in somewhat with flying hours or some other reason?:confused:

@Lilflyboy-what about the operators can't they recruit u directly for having an advantage of being rated on van.i mean indirectly after and year or so company will spend money on u for providing rating on van but in othercase if they have a choice to select readymade van pilot will operators not prefer of hiring him?or you mean to say they are seeking van pilots with 1000 hrs xperience?

(you mean to say they are seeking van pilots with 1000 hrs xperience?)

Dear heavens above, Jesus wept and Hail Mary Mother or Grace - one would certainly hope so!
Still, an aeroplane is a flying machine for all that and one man in a 206 is just as potentially lethal as another in a 208. Suppose it must all depend upon attitude and experience? Unknown quantities with no time at all to write home about suddenly roaring around the skies in a multi million PT6 driven ego machines might give even the looniest Maun operator pause for reflection. Some flyers up in the swamps seem quite adept at crashing and crunching even the simplest of flying machines. Sure, the conditions can be challenging for the newly initiated aviator so why burden him or his opinionations with something as complex to fly as a single engined aircraft that can go from splashdown to crashdown faster than a reticulated giraffe can pickpocket Selous' baccy pouch. After all, there is a CAA lurking around up there somewhere and there could be an insurance company with a flight time minimum requirement and there might be a passenger or two who knows full well that a piffly wiffly van rating doesn't make a van pilot. Isn't what they really need in Maun a decent Italian ice cream shop staffed by a couple of topless girls of melting morality having about them perhaps even a little something of the Neapolitan flavor?

Basically what CC said haha. Although I would just settle for a McDonalds and KFC.
Would be hard to get work permits as topless waitresses due to there being a large amount of local women that could do this work.

You need 1000hrs total time to begin flying on the van for most operators as a insurance requirement.
Sure it looks good on your CV but when you haven't touched a van in over a year, chances are you will need to do some refresher training and you need to do a C of T on a turbine aircraft every 6 months anyhow!
So chances are they will spend the same amount of money on either person.
And there is a hell of a difference between landing a van in the bush and landing it on a 2000m tar runway.

Atul02~ You need to do a flight test in each aircraft every 12 months, and a test in a piston, turbine, and multi every 6 months to keep your validation valid. There are no 152's in town, only a few 172's. BN2B are only operatered by 2 companies (even then it is only 1 each) or the BDF (Botswana defence force).
They are the only twins in town, everything else is single time so multi ratings count for jack.

wow.
nice work lilflyboy.

so no use hitting that continent this year, as the season passed already.
need to wait until the next season begin, i.e. by the year end.

Really? Maybe on some bush strips, but the ones in the Okavango are all around 1000m by now aren't they? Anyone half competent should be able to bring a full caravan to a stop within 600m or so without really trying too hard, just watch out for elephants. In Botswana you are definitely flying in the bush, but I don't really think any of the strips there require much in the way of "bush flying" skills to get into or out of.

and, of course, jumping or lifting the wing to clear puddles, but that's something we all do on a nice flat asphault strip, right? Keep the power on to clear be able to "fly" over the puddle?

I truely hope your taking the piss ragdragger?


@Darkroom, actually keeping the power on is the best way to go through the puddles, its on landing where you have issues, not the take off....

I only worked one year in Maun, so maybe I missed something, but I didn't think the flying was all that tough and I'm certainly no master bush pilot. It is a hard job, fast turn arounds, hot weather, long hours etc. But most of those strips are plenty long, the Mopane trees are nice and short, and there is no terrain for as far as the eye can see in any direction. Bush Flying Lite. It's not like people are hanging on the prop, crossing the fence at 65 in the van hoping to nail the threshold, you aren't landing on gravel bars or glaciers, just dirt runways. Fact is if a 250 hr pilot can master flying in bots after 50 hrs of poor quality instruction to the point where he is trusted to fly paying passengers it can't really be all that bad.
It is the most fun I've ever had in airplanes, I dig all the low level flying, and the 5 minute legs and the wildlife and I highly recommend the experience. It's a great first job. But don't try to big it up into something it's not.

Hardly worth the salary by all accounts then?