Mad Jock, your points are well noted and i have no issues with any race.

As it goes, i have 2 very nice white South African friends. One heads a SA company in Nigeria with a fellow white South African, and my friend can't stand the other guy simply because of his 'colonial mentality', my friend happens to be married to an Indian lady as well. But he believes, this colonial guys are just a little minority of less than 5% who think they are the best thing since slice bread!

Trust me, Nigerians might joke about Indians but i struggle to believe it in the racial sense. I am not arguing for this Doctor man, there are exceptions in any type of case.

Now, do i generalise all South Africans as being racist? That's what some white people can't ever fathom into their atom-sized brain that people are not the same.

I've just noticed CaptainMagic has done a Houdini on this thread!

ediks, YOU mean well, those idiots dont
 

In fact I detect bitterness in the words of some of them but what's interesting is, they may not even have visited Nigeria, to start with. And it's nice of you to try clear the air, sir

You are correct in saying there is bitterness in some of the posters here.

A lot of the Nigerians are bitter that jobs that should be indigenous are being given to expats, but they also fail to address the actual reason it is happening.
Blaming the expats is easy, because they are an easily identifiable target.

The expats are bent out of shape because by and large, they are treated with disdain by the Nigerians who resent their presence doing "their jobs and chopping their money".

What is the real problem here??

Whatever you choose to answer, the expats are the perceived problem in most cases, not the root of the problem.
The actual issues are almost taboo to discuss, because of the high emotional quotient they generate, but sooner or later, they will need to be addressed.

Wrong, its not taboo, see my posts
 

Hi unstable load,

I think you are incorrect in saying its a no-no to discuss the issues in Nigeria or the issues raised by the convener of this thread. This is because i have already written in this thread about what i know as part of the underlying problems and the 10% magic is nothing new worldwide, however its being disguised.

The main issue is the non-conformance to regulations/laws, its not the stupid rhetoric that some white idiots have been posting on this thread.

Having read the story below (see link), would i now classify all white British people as scammers or fraudsters? := But hey, if it were a Nigerian, it would be bigger news than Bin Laden's death!

Ian & Ofir jolly cocked up the scam:D
Britons arrested on Nigerian visa fraud charge

To dash 200, Thank you Kind Sir.
If everyone was as reasonable and gracious as you the world would indeed be a better place.
Unstable Load, contrary to what you think, there are very many Nigerians I know who are only interested in working to earn an honest living.
Not everyone wants to "chop money". I certainly don't resent expatriate pilots in Nigeria, on the contrary I welcome them and would try to show them that even though there ARE problems in the country, there are many nice and wonderful people within and a few nice places to go to visit and unwind after work. :ok:
I flew for a very multi-cultural company, we had very many expatriates and I would happily share a cockpit with almost all of them again given a chance to.

mad jock that was real funny, it's cracked me up so hard, guests in this hotel must think there is a nutcase in room 3427, that was a good comic relief on such a highly emotionally charged thread.:}:D

Guyz relax, take a deep breath and be level headed about your contributions on the thread;)

ediks,
I never once implied that there weren't lots of Nigerians willing to put in a good day's honest work.
The rest of your post is a welcome change from some of the comments that have been made on this forum over the years.:ok:

I have actually found most SA folk haven't heard of Tom Sharpe books. And they have all loved them.

He has a set of characters in three books based on the South african police force

Konstabel Els, Lieutenant Verkramp and Kommandant Van Heerden.

Being a well balanced chap he also wrote a series of books taking the piss out of the English lifestyle with Wilt and Poterhouse Blue etc.

Well worth getting them on a kindle if you like a good chuckle down route.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tom-Sharpe/e..._athr_dp_pel_1

In another life, I taught at a school in Mexico. There were many American teenage children at the school. These American children were the sons and daughters of American diplomats and American ex pat millionaires, oxymoronic as that might be. They were a really delightful lot of Americans but all were spoilt,inherently lazy, and inattentive being much given to the Mexican habit of tomorrow is another day. Inevitably I failed the entire class on a Shakespeare project which I had given them and for which they had all had plenty of time to prepare.
He who would call me a racist for relating that true story must surely be a bigot and one furthermore much addicted to playing fast card games under the bed clothes with a flashlight.

Unstable Load, I do apologise.
I misread this comment "The expats are bent out of shape because by and large, they are treated with disdain by the Nigerians who resent their presence doing "their jobs and chopping their money".
I thought you meant to infer that Nigerian pilots resented the expatriate pilots because we wanted to chop the money instead. :)
Happy flying!!

mad_jock,
Love the work of Tom Sharpe, if ever an author lived up to his name it's him. Razor sharp and very few punches pulled.:D
ediks,
Think nothing of it, sir!:ok:

Got thrown out of South Africa for sedition, I believe, Tom Sharpe. Something he said or did must have upset the blue-noses there. That set him on the road to fame and fortune, making fun of people for serious money. I can only hope to do something similar.

The Dutch Reformed Church took serious exception to Constable Els's aged mistress injecting his penis with novocaine in order to delay orgasm. A similar result can be achieved with a little cocaine powder applied in the appropriate place. This is all becoming slightly digressive as the mistress in question wasn't even a Nigerian.

And they didn't have an issue with wiring all the Constables bollocks up to the mains and then applying an electric shock when a picture of a black woman was shown to them in the nude to try and stop them raping the locals? With the unfortunate fall out that it turned them all gay so started raping the black blokes.

I am sitting in tears of laughter and have just followed my own link to get the books to read again.

Els's fight with a guard dog !! my sides are starting to hurt now.

Balewa,

I am a local flying corporate in Nigeria.Read your post and want to clarify some issues you raised.
Yes there is an increase in the number of private jets in Nigeria but most of these jets are here on ACMI and most of the operators signed a 6 months or one year lease contract for the machines.So the issue of employing locals does not arise IMHO.
There are about 5 major charter operators in Abuja and Lagos Triton/Hanger8,Izzyair,Prime Air,King air ,,vista jet,ACE.About three of the operators I listed don't have an AOC yet but are in the last stage of securing one.Those without AOPs normally use their registeration as call sign.
Express and C-express are two different entities.And both are used differently but most people think it is the same operator.
Some of the jets are here for short term contracts and I know a company in Abuja that leased 2 jets on ACMI for a year for their company ops.
Thanks

Nigeria, whats going on
 

I dont know why the usual suspects always come and derail Nigerian threads with their usual drivel:mad::mad::=:ugh::*.

Aero
Possible imminent mgmt take over by AMCON due to their massive debt. Rumor has it the fixed wing section may be closed down and merged with Arik. They currently seem to have trouble keeping the B737s in the air due maintenance. The rotary side is a shadow of its former self thanks to Caverton, etc.
Lost most of their first officers to Arik, the working environment there's "old school" and doesnt seem to be condusive for young people.
The Dash8 operation is down to maybe 1 machine, following the loss of contracts and a whole lot of crew to Top Brass

Allied Air
Still dragging the raggedy 727s through the skies on their DHL contracts. They wet lease MD11s from Avient for the heavy stuff.

Air Nigeria
They have been permanently advertising for crew for ages. The current ownership does not offer any comfort, no1 knows whether they r heading up or down. Lost lots and lotsa crew to Arik.

Air Taraba
Startup Operator currently has 1 EMB-145 sitting on the corporate ramp in abuja for proposed operation and are expecting another. The state governor who is a licensed pilot regualry flies himself in and out of jalingo airport even though I dont know if the airport has been certified for commercial ops.

Arik
Another carrier heavily indebted to AMCON. Rumors of a possible management shakeup. Maybe the waddling elephant may finally be tranformed into a prancing stallion. ABV-LHR canacelled due to the slot issue. A345s are to come on the 5N registered mid this year, crew recruitment in progress. There are plans for A330s but in their current state I doubt their gonna be getting any airframes anytime soon.

Associated
Still flying the EMB120s on some light routes. No sign of growth.

Caverton
Seems to have miraculously rising to the top of the food chain in the rotary world, thanks to some godfatherism. They also operate DHC6 on a corporate shuttle service for LNG between LOS and Bonny Island. They are expecting the -400s soon.

Chanchangi
"Chanch and the gang" hanging in there. Sustaining their operation with B737CL wet leased from Jordan Aviation.

DANA Air
MD83 operator. Passenger loads seem to be ok. Airplanes are gas guzzlers so i dont know how that translates on the financnial side of thing when they r competing with the likes of arik with fuel efficient machines. The seem to have lost a lot of crew too. Chief Pilot reportedly resigned/booted out/dunno:confused:. Anyway the position is up for grabs on major recruitment websites.

Dominion Air
Newly floated by a famous pastor. he has a CL604 which he has used for persnal use for some time. Acquired 1 B1900D from Wings Aviation. Proposed charter/scheduled operator? who knows?

FirstNation
They've never gotten to flying all 3 A320s at the same time. Recently commence operations into PHC. They have crewing issues mostly due to their policy of not type rating pilots. I wonder where they'll get crews with the kinda salaries been paid to A320 drivers in other parts of the world.

IRS
F100 operator. Struggling to pay salaries. Might get B737s in the near future.

Top Brass
A new entrant that was able to snatch lucrative oil contracts from Aero. Currently operting 2 ex Heli Malongo (Angola) DHC8-300s. Poached most of their crew from Aero and arik. They initially started with a not so sucessful foray into the executive charter market.

Wings Aviation
Operator 1 X B732 for cargo ops. seem to have sold their remaing B1900D to Dominion Air.

Corporate world
Generally most of the corporate ops dont seem to be kosher. lots of commercial ops on private certificates, no AOCs. NCAA looks the other way, it seems. VistaJet and Hangar8 seem to have substantial ops out of LOS and ABV. Most of the privately owned ops are on the foreign register (VP, VQ, M, and the infamous ZS).
The Barbados group operates out of Kaduna. I dont understand if they are a licensed AOC holder, charter operator or what. They are the agent for embraer in Nigeria. They operate at least 2 Legacies, 1 HS125 and 1 Lr45. The owner seems to be winning all avaition awards in nigeria. But that means nothing since most of those on trial/in jail in nigeria were award winners in their various fields.
There another Learjet operator out of abuja using German registered LR40/45/60s. I also dont know if they have an AOC.
Some hangars have sprung up in LOS. Caverton, Evergreen Apple (owned by the NCAA DG), Dominion Air and 1 other. I believe the concept is to have fully fledged FBOs but as with most things Naija i dont think they realised the technical capabilities required. so they are no more than glorfied parking stands.

That"s all I got for now.

The Lears belong to Prime, Capt. Manuvar
 

There's a picture of them at airliners.net: a Lear 45 at rest at Asaba airport. They're called Prime Air Service. German rego, European crew. Now, would any EU nation easily allow foreign registered aircraft and crews to operate in their skies indefinitely, as the idiots running our show are doing presently?

There are tons of N regs perm based in Europe. Some off them have never been on US soil.

And then we now have the M reg as well.

Capt M,

The learjets are operated by prime air,they have an AOC.

Capt. Manuvar, very informative, Thank You :ok:
Just one small point, Caverton seem to be doing well and I hope they continue to do so but I suspect that Bristow is still the number 1 player in the helicopter world in Naija.