jobs abroad

[The Bobmeister]

I'm a British citizen and will soon have completed my JAA frozen ATPL with about 250 hrs flying time. I recognize for someone with my experience I'll pretty much have to take the first job that's offered to me - just to get my foot in the door in order to gain more experience.
However, I don't just want to focus on jobs in the UK or even those just in Europe. Being young and single I'd like to consider looking furhter abroad.
How possible is it to come by these sorts of jobs? For example I understand Air Mauritius do not descriminate on type of license and country of birth. Is there a listing somewhere of which airlines take people with UK citizenship and JAA license?

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[Scratch One Bandit]

Hi, I'm in exactly the same position. While I want to work for an airline here, I can't help but feel that I will complete my training, and send off countless CV's and hear nothing! So I'm considering finding work elsewhere. I had considered maybe some work in South Africa and Zimbabwe, or maybe Australia.

Did you want to e-mail me and we could have a bit of a chat about possibilities?

[Gazeem]

I have no hard facts guys, just a couple of leads.


1. I heard the majority of the aircraft in the bahamas that Island hop are F (French registered) which you can fly on your JAR licence (unless they have changed the rules in the last 30 minutes!).

2. Somewhere just north of South Africa there is a large river delta area. The delta itself is apparently populated and getting about is commonly done by jumping smaller aircraft.

Hope these leads are productive - if you find out any hard facts let me know!

Gaz

[EggBeta]

Guys,
Just a word of warning, I was watching the Discovery Channel last week. The less discerning the flying outfit are about pilots & licenses, you can bet the less discerning they are about aircraft maintenance.

[Luke SkyToddler]

Gazeem, I presume you are referring to the Okavango Delta area, in Botswana? It is indeed populated, and I suggest you don't refer to it as 'somewhere north of South Africa' if you meet any of the locals ;)

There are indeed flying jobs for low timers to be had over there, based out of the town of Maun, although it's fairly seasonal and the time to be hanging around town is Feb/Mar/Apr when the next season's jobs are being dished out. It's virtually all C206 with a smattering of C185s and BN2s to keep things interesting. You can do phenomenal flying hours if you can hack the pace, I have heard of people going from 500 hours to 1500 hours in the space of 7 months.

I was there a few years ago looking for work when I was fresh out of flying school myself, the competition was pretty stiff (around 15 or 20 low hour pilots from all over the world hanging around the airport like bad smells, chatting up chief pilots and making nuisances of themselves!) I didn't get any job offers before my Botswana tourist visa expired, so I ended up working in Blighty instead, but I've still got mates down that part of the world who are getting lots of hours and having great fun.

I suggest you go and hang about on the African forum or do a search on 'bush flying' in here. Best of luck!