Susi Air

[Springbok747]

Can anyone please tell me if Susi Air, operating the C 208 is a reputable company to work for, and what kind of ops they are doing in Asia? :)

[KAG]

If you ask how reputable is a company you will have interesting answers, but not the always the truth. Make an experience: let' s take cathay pacific, one of the safest company using the biggest airliners. Ask how reputable it is on PPrune. You will have more negative answers than optimistic ones. So if you ask about a C208 company... You' d better go there and check it out. Anyway with the recession coming up, I don' t know if we will have much choice concerning the employment opportunities...

[Hatchback]

Hi there,

Can anyone tell me more about Susi Air. I am coming in on 05 Feb 09 for the training. Heard some financial difficulties that the company is going thru, can someone tell me more before I join. I don't want to work for free.

Hatching

[doit4g]

Having worked for Susi Air I felt the time spent with them was not wasted at all. If you are going there as a C208 F/O, you WILL get paid peanuts (about 700 US), but once you get enough experience and pass 1000 TT they are very willing to upgrade to Capt. (2000 US)

The owners are great people, the Indonesians will treat you like a royalty and the flying schedule is VERY easy. Pretty much you do around 5 hrs of flying a day, once your flight is done, you are free to do whatever you want. Company provides accommodation, food, transport to/from work and you get a week off each month to explore the country. They have bases all over the place, so you are rotated every few months, which can also be fun.

Go there, check it out, the training takes about 9 days, and you spend at least a month flying with a captain before you are let loose.

As is with any operator, sometimes you need to speak up about maintenance, and 99% of the time things are fixed.

I haven't heard about any financial problems, sometimes pay was a couple of days late, but nothing too major.

If you are willing to have fun and work hard, the owners will notice that and reward you well.
The above is my experience.:)

[Johnno1981]

Hi, can anyone tell me if it is possible to apply to Susi Air by email/telephone. Or do they only hire people who go there to see them.

I am a flying instructor with JAR licence and 1010 hours tt, 800 pic and I'd be very interested in a position on the C208 or Porter.

Thanks

Johnno

[Droste]

Here comes a question about Indonesian Aviation Authority licensing.

What kind of licence conversion process does the applicant need to go through?

[El Lobo Solo]

A C208 is a Caravan, correct? How does one log time as an FO?

[lilflyboy262]

For a FO the do not convert your licence as it is a long drawn out process. To get a Indo licence you need to have a Indo work permit, they are expensive and take a while to get. A lot of FO's got the permits, logged some time, and left. Leaving the company out of pocket.

Once you get captian, they get you a permit, and convert your licence, I believe it is just a few exams but perhaps a susi pilot could clarify that for me?

And yes the C208B is a Caravan, usually it is just a single pilot Op, but in indo, anything that carries more than 9 people requires a FO

[152HEAVY]

Any hiring updates or working condition stuff to share.:sad:

[skysign]

152 Heavy

Don't you like doing Kbwi - Kewr ?

[fbar]

I finally reach to go to an interview there. And I recommand not to go, it's a waste of time. You will have several tests:
multi choise
a open written test
a Compass test
a psycho
a english for non english natives

The most important seems to by the psycho one! It's my first interview where I meet this behaviour.

You will them receive an answer, if it's no, you won't receive your test result (one more time, it's the first time I saw that)

You can ask and ask, you won't receive them. In other words, they can tell you what they want to tell, it's OK, or not OK.

I'm now sure they don't want to give me because it's not in adequation with the negative answer I received. And even if the result are bad, I want to have it to be sure, and to prepare the future.

More of that, the chief pilot did'nt know that a C208 need a class rating, I am dreaming!!!!!

Several pilots I met also told me they have no working permit (one of them have been working there for 1 year now).

I'm finally happy to not go and work there, it will be a waste of time in my carrer, and I will ask again for my result. Never mind for me, I have a job.

[MaintainYourHeading]

really ?? Caravan requires a type rating ? interesting ...

[fbar]

Not Type, but Class. You must have on your lisence SET C208 written (for FAA)

[arnellis]

Does anyone have any contact details for recruitment or the chief pilot at Susi Air, I have been trolling there site and pprune threads with no answeres. Would be much appreciated :ok:

[Just another canuck]

Susi can be a very fun place to work... the country is amazing and most of the people treat you like royalty. There are, however, some serious drawbacks to working there.

In my opinion, they've grown way too fast as far as fleet goes. They keep on buying airplanes but still don't have any hangars to call their own and buy parts as they need them.

The few maintenance expats they had tried hard but were just fighting a losing battle. The corruption of the country allows them to get away with slapping inspections or simply not doing them at all. The engineer in Papua wasn't even an engineer... they also simply decided to just not do the big gear inspections because it would take too much time. Salt-water atmosphere... hmmm... can anyone say gear failure?

You don't get a work permit and you don't get an Indo license... they pay off the DGAC so the expats they have there can stay there. So, your Canadian or SA or Aus. or whatever license will work just fine. You may get away with just writing one down on a napkin.

They pay is horrible for FO's... you start at 500 US a month. Captains pay is mediocre at best. Although this may depend where you are coming from.

There website says ATPL trained pilots... blah, blah, blah... all bulls**t. They claim Flight Safety trained pilots... bulls**t.

Your pay is always, always late. Most of the time you must hassle the accounting girl multiple times to get paid. They are short on cash, but the owner spends copious amounts of money on herself. She is selfish and cares very little for her employees. Her husband had never worked in the industry before starting this airline and he is CP... he avoid confrontation at all costs and will usually only communicate via text or email.

If you come from a background, like me, where aviation and safety and business is taken seriously and professionalism comes first, you will have a really hard time working here. Many, many pilots went there and left a month or even a week after seeing how they operate.

On the other hand, the flying can be great and like I already mentioned the country is beautiful. If you don't have any other choice, go there, but be prepared to leave 6 months to a year later because by then, frustration will have gotten the better of you.

Also, someone above had mentioned the owners are great people. Well, I have to say it... they are not and as far as I'm concerned, are not fit to run a lemonade stand. But that's just one man's opinion.

Good luck to all that apply.:ok:

[VarigMD11]

Just another canuck, when did you work for susi and when did you leave? Just curious...

[Hudson_Hawk]

Well, Susi is an interesting company. It's the first airline (I probably should not call it an "airline", more like a 135 charter) that has told me, after I applied for a Caravan/Piaggio f/o job, that i had too much flight time for this position. What ?!?! Is this a negative now ?! Has the World gone completely mad ?!...

Hey, I know they are afraid that some pilots may run off to another company with a better pay (McDonald's, for example) but why can't they come up with some sort of bonding scheme ? Like a $10k deposit ? C'mon !...

(So, now I am working on reducing my flight time. Anyone got any ideas ? Will a "white-out" help ? hahaha :E )

And regarding the Indonesian pilot license conversion - I saw some asked about it in the other "Susi forum". Well, here is the answer: it should take 2 weeks max to get a license validation. You need to sit an air-law exam in Jakarta. There after, it should take no more then 3 weeks to get the actual DGCA CPL/ME/IR license. For this, you need to sit and pass an CPL theory exam in Jakarta and do a CPL/ME/IR check-ride with one of the DGCA examiners (I know 3 of them. Nice guys, by the way). I am a proud owner of one (license, not the examiner :})

[aseanaero]

you need to have a Indo work permit, they are expensive and take a while to get

It takes about 3 months to process a proper work permit once the company has permission to employ an expat , the cost to process ranges between $500 if running around to he various govt depts is done by company staff to $1,500 if done by an agent plus there is a $1,200 expat tax which has to be paid upfront , so about $1,700 to $3,000

Most people work on their business visas while this is being processed.

[PK-AAA]

Anyone hired by Susi Air, make sure that your staying & working permit is processed.and to be in possession of an Indonesian CPL/ATPL before starting to work.
All necessary information is published on the web. Do visit DGCA office at Department of Transportation. Our proffesional, helpfull and friendly staff always ready to guide you through.