UN Helicopters

[No-ID]

Hi!

I wondered wether it is possible to fly for the UN as a commercial helicopter pilot. Or are all the pilots provided by the military? I tried to contact them myself, but it is a huge organisation and not so easy to get in contact with someone who knows about the helicopter pilots.
Thanks a lot!!!

NI

[timex]

As far as I know the UN does have Civ pilots, not sure what the requirements are though.

[Phil77]

not sure how much that will help you, but I know of one german company which flies 205's for the UN and US/Aid since 1995: http://www.agrarflug-helilift.com/

Maybe its worth shooting them an email and ask for a direct contact?

[Camp Freddie]

I am led to believe that http://www.helog.at/ fly for the UN in sudan using pumas as I have met 2 people who claim to have done this (both as co-pilots)

regards

CF

[mtoroshanga]

I operated for them in Mogadishu where we had numerous helicopter, all from civilian companies on charter. I did know one ex RAF officer who worked directly for UN in position of co-ordinator. Cannot imagine they have any helicopters of their own as such.

[170']

There are no UN pilots as such...You work for an outfit that gets a contract and there you are..Or you join an operator already working for the UN.

Beware of what you ask for though !

It can be, and usually is, the most frustrating kind of work around. And if you hold any sentiment that you'll be helping humanity in any way. You'll probably be really disappointed...The principal client of the UN is the UN (and NGO's) but that's a whole 'nother story...Good luck with it though! Along with all the BS you'll have some fun from time to time and a few war stories for the grand kids.

Do a search for worldwide UN ops and look for the operators name. Try to get on board with them and the rest just follows...Whenever you meet other crews, the talk is not about the job, it's mostly "what's your base pay and bennies" All the per diems are mandated for the specific operation.

Once you have the important pay questions out of the way the next subject is "are they looking for drivers" Contact details etc....Finally you get around to discussing what a shambles the operation is...:ooh:

Cynical but that's the way many people feel after exposure to the UN /NGO world ;)

170'

[mtoroshanga]

Couldn't agree with you more 170' They are a complete shambles when it comes to operating helicopters. I saw a Mil26 scheduled to carry replacement printer cassettes to one of their outstations while people were starving right there.

[bb in ca]

I totally agree 170'.

I was flying 61's in Cote d'Ivoire last year providing SAR coverage to their operations and had a great time even though there wasn't a whole lot of "helping humanity" going on around us.

All the pilots I worked with were civilian although several had military backgrounds.

bb

[Jonasraf]

Hello,

All you guys that have been working for the UN, can you please tell us which operators you were working for?

regards,
Jonasraf

[Cyclic Hotline]

The cheapest ones! :}

[No-ID]

Thanks a lot for your imput!

I guess I was a little bit naive, thinking that it would be much nicer to do something for the people, than working hard so the boss can drive a big mercedes.
But it must be an unique work environment and maybe a good life experience.

NI

[Agaricus bisporus]

Pal, the whole point of the UN is so that the boss can drive a big Merc. They all have them (or huge Land Cruisers) so they can go from "meeting" to "meeting" in sufficient style in famine areas to impress the locals/dying/employees/donors that they are so hugely useful.

There is a book you should read - Lords of Poverty - Amazon will send it to you, read it and see if you want to be involved in this obscene charade of "aid work".

Been there, did it, threw the medal down the long-drop latrine where it belongs.

[albatross]

I did the UN thing in Kuwait / Iraq UNIKOM after the first fracas, UNISOM 2 in Somalia ( our mascots were Mickey Mouse and Goofy ) and UNAMIR in Rwanda.
Went searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq just before "Operation Frequent Manhood part Deux".
Did lots fun flying and met some excellent people. Collected lots of T-shirts and hats.

Aside from the Medevacs ( Mostly UN Vehicle accidents with the odd gunshot and mine casualty thrown in ) I certainly did not leave with a warm fuzzy feeling from helping the local population. Saw a few things I liked and a lot I did not.

Lots of dedicated people unable to do their job because of UN rules.
Lots of abuse of the system in the higher levels.

[BJC]

I flew as a military pilot for a UN mission for 6 months, but I was also employed as the air liaison between our unit and the UN HQ to coordinate the taskings. Eye opening and not in a good way. On one side of the airfield we thought we were there to save the world (naive perhaps), the other side of the airfield was occupied by career bureaucrats who lived like kings with very little apparent concern for the country we were all there to help. Playing tour guide to the senior bureaucrats on their annual visits from NY didn't help in my cynicism. If I was to do it all again, I wouldn't.
If you want a sense of accomplishment perhaps a good NGO is the way to go, because I didn't get that from the UN.

[albatross]

A good NGO?
Name one please.:E

[Agaricus bisporus]

Good NGOs?

There must be some - they'd source all their materials and personnel locally to boost the economy, encourage locals to devise and deliver practical low tech solutions themselves, add little or nothing in the way of freebie handouts, and above all, get out as soon as the solution started to work and let the locals take pride in work and self help.

They wouldn't drive around famine zones or (more likely) expensive Nairobi restaurants in huge climate criminal's 4X4s with the aircon on and gigantic "my willy's bigger than yours" whip antennas, and act far worse than the caricature Colonials they so love to deride, without any awareness of their irony.

Orrocks! I see the problem. There really aren't any!

[Jim Dean]

I can only echo what has already been said. I did a couple of years, on and off, and I was really disappointed with what I saw. There are a few well intentioned people, hamstrung by the system, but the majority are out to get their "field time", and contacts, in order to climb a very complicated promotions system and so secure their job in New York. The amount of money spent on "support services" is fairly outrageous. No one (that I saw) was ever vindictive to any of the locals, they were just being used as part of a system, but some nationalities treated them deplorably. In one case the whole of a countries armed forces working there were sent home, their contract "came to an end!" It was never publicly stated but everyone knew it was because of various events that occurred involving treatment of the locals. A lot of the poorer countries around the world get involved in UN operations so that it earns them brownie points and kudos in New York and they also get a refund on their donations to the UN. Call me cynical or naive, I know I was disillusioned.
If you fly at all it is just for a contracted company or military (quite a number of those globally) and they are not necessarily only flying for the UN. As already said some of the flying is interesting, standard stuff if you've been in the military, and you'll end up with some good stories and meet some good people. At grass roots level you'll probably help some people, but if that's your intention then NGO's are your best bet and that's something else altogether.

[freerideroj2]

Bar the pilots, i presume that is the same for rear crew? (i was looking into the UN)

[albatross]

In all my UN experience we never had any rear crew.

Usually flew single pilot in Kuwait / Iraq ( UNIKOM ) except for night Medevac and also in Somalia (UNISOM) and Rwanda (UNAMIR). we flew dual pilot in Iraq while looking frantically for the legendary "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

We sometimes carried armed guards in Somalia and Rwanda and taught them how to open doors ect but they were not crew as such. Their job was to exit and protect the helicopter they were always the first out and last in. They were there to do that and that alone and any UN pax who told them to get their bags ect got a brief concise corrective interview on the spot.
Usually Indian Army in Somalia and Gurkas in Rwanda. Great guys but you had to be careful of the instructions you gave them. They were inclined to do exactly what they were told / asked / requested ( not being military I would not call it an order) to do. They usually took whatever you said as a direct order so you had to keep that in mind. "Stop everyone from approaching the helicopter" for example could lead to an armed standoff between a Gurka and a curious 3 year old waif. I do not think he would have actually hurt her but one wrong move and she would of had a bad day.
"Stop anyone dangerous from approaching." led to the question "But captain are they not all dangerous?" I miss them still.:ok:

[Bravo 99]

Try this email address
[email protected], this is a couple of years old but he was the ops officer for the helog operation in Sudan there are operating 330J Pumas in dafor area of Sudan. if that fails drop me an email and i will speak to a friend of mine who is still there with them
they normally are looking for JAA Licenced pilots pref with and IR and Pref with multi time however please accept that this information is old.

Sincerely
B99

[Bravo73]

I heard that you get lots and lots of Puma time on those 3 month Sudan contracts.

And plenty of NVG time too, apparently.

[freerideroj2]

Sorry, just for pilot or would he possibly have an idea on rear crew?

[freerideroj2]

Or any rear crew? anywhere? (nervous humph)

[Bravo 99]

Helogs operation was for Aircrew and paramedics, engineers where usually french other than that the crew did a lot of the humping ( materials and plant only chaps) when on the ground.
flight time per tour averaged about 70 to 100 hours per tour

I hope this helps.

Sincerely
B 99

[freerideroj2]

It does, cheers.

[Longdog]

I beleive Gulf Helicopters, out of Doha Qatar, still does UN work in Sudan.
Not the best paid, but not the worst.

[No-ID]

Anyone worked for UN/a NGO lately? I am still interested in requirements/contacts for flying in Africa...

Thanks!

[unstable load]

I can only echo what has been said before, sadly. The UN has it's heart in the right place, but it all falls flat with the application. They have created such a complex bureaucracy that they need more people to oversee the operations than are on the ground, while the ones on the ground are too busy posturing and sniffing bums to see who is the bigger dog on the street to get anything worthwhile done.

We flew a 61 in Mozambique from Nampula to Pemba with a bunch of UN staff so we could have a day at the beach and took along a few bags of maize meal and other dry rations that were on order for there so we could justify the trip.

About the only meaningful thing I was part of there was on polling day when we moved ballot boxes and observers around and the de-mining work we were assigned to. The rest was a shambles of Monty Python proportions with people who were sometimes barely qualified to walk upright trying to put together million dollar missions and then going to meetings to try and figure out why it all fell over so soon.

Ditto the Cote d' Ivoire mission where it was worse in some ways as aircrew.

Both Moz and CI missions involved us doing medevacs and with the exception of illnesses like Malaria and the occasional heart attack most were UN vehicle accidents with drivers who should never have been allowed to push a wheelbarrow around a level parking lot, let alone drive a Land Rover in the hills during the rainy season, or in a town with demarkated lanes and traffic rules.

Still, it paid well...........................:E

[the delaminator]

Aww ya did not. I was there and you.................wait a minute....were you the guy in the love seat dodging tracer rounds?

Oohhhh yaaaaaaaa.:}