Antarctica

[spacemonkeys]

Spurred by the news that the boys attempting to complete the Scott route unsupported have reached a major milestone (half way).

Ben Saunders live in Antarctica | The Scott Expedition

I thought I'd ask about any new advice for a fresh CPL holder looking to head south.

Cheers Tom

Note: Not involved with the expedition, just think its brilliant and have read old threads but was told to start a new one.

[Dash8driver1312]

No offence, having worked with a fellow who had a lot of interesting Twotter time...I'd say that as a fresh CPL, Antarctica is not the place to be.

I don't doubt it would be a lot of fun and filled with a lot of challenging situations, but that's precisely why you should get more experience before heading down there.

Good luck though, and don't forget a decent pair of gloves.

[Jwscud]

The British Antarctic Survey advertise from time to time on their website for the odd pilot for the Twin Otters. I seem to recall 2500TT with command time minimum.

It's a job I would kill for, and I understand on occasion they have hired without Twotter time.

[compressor stall]

Not somewhere to be as a new cpl. Get the standard aviation experience sorted, before you start worrying about whether the landing site will hold your weight, whiteout landings, hitting 3G on takeoff etc.

Best of luck with it. It's an incredible experience. Once the ice gets in your veins, you can't get it out.

[340drvr]

On the U.S. side, there's not a lot a "regular" civilian pilot can do down there. The New York Air National Guard provides C-130 support (as do NZ, Australia, Italy, and maybe some other countries), USAF flies some C-17 missions back and forth, helicopter operations are usually done by a big civilian contractor (PHI for many years), and the Twin Otters are under contract from Kenn Borek Air from Canada. Once in awhile, there's the odd Basler-DC-3, or a P-3 deployed there.

[Trim Stab]

The British Antarctic Survey advertise from time to time on their website for the odd pilot for the Twin Otters. I seem to recall 2500TT with command time minimum.

It's a job I would kill for, and I understand on occasion they have hired without Twotter time.

I think if no Twotter time you would need a load of survey flying time to compensate.

[silverknapper]

Is that official trim stab? I've never heard of a requirement for survey time from BAS. Certainly single pilot time is viewed favourably. But survey time I doubt. What use is sitting over a power line/flying straight tracks with a magnetometer for hours on end in a 404 going to be in the Antarctic?

However I do agree with the rest of above. With min hours you won't have a look in. Nor should you. If that's the ultimate goal try and get a job in a twotter here. If that fails get a good GA grounding then as soon as possible get your single pilot experience up. That was certainly the favoured route 3 or 4 years back.

Edited to add. If you have a trade such as electrician/mechanic that is viewed very favourably

[spacemonkeys]

Thanks for the input so far chaps. I was never expecting to head down there straight away, just some advice regarding what experience is favoured. Survey type flying is what I'd like to do, with a long term goal to have have at least experienced flying in an icy location. Antarctica/Alaska.

[Trim Stab]

Is that official trim stab? I've never heard of a requirement for survey time from BAS.

No, not official - just my supposition. But I fly single-pilot survey at the moment and in our setup anybody without either type-experience or survey-experience would be a passenger. I'd guess that given the number of applicants BAS gets they wouldn't take somebody who brings nothing to the table in terms of relevant experience.

BTW, does anybody know what sort of survey they do?