Air solomons
There is no requirement to have 500 multi command to be a Captain on the Twotter 
Every company that I know of flying the otter operate them 2 crew and it has absolutely nothing to do with amount of PAX or IFR
The new 400 series will be 2 crew
Every company that I know of flying the otter operate them 2 crew and it has absolutely nothing to do with amount of PAX or IFR
The new 400 series will be 2 crew
Geeup,
Well you must not know them all, used to work for a mob that ran a 200 series single pilot ops, with a cabin attendant
"The new 400 series will be 2 crew"
UM, NO...
All you had to do was look on their website!
From Viking webpage
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 12,500 lb (5670kg)
Maximum Landing Weight: 12,300 lb (5579 kg)
Number Of Crew: 1 or 2
Number Of Passengers: 20
Fuel Capacities: Total – 378 US Gallons
Fuel Capacities: Optional Long Range – 89 US Gallons
Therefore, under 5.7t, still not worth it!
The reason it is kept under 5.7t is to avoid all of the performance requirements in the transport or commuter cat aircraft.
j3
Well you must not know them all, used to work for a mob that ran a 200 series single pilot ops, with a cabin attendant
"The new 400 series will be 2 crew"
UM, NO...
All you had to do was look on their website!From Viking webpage
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Maximum Takeoff Weight: 12,500 lb (5670kg)
Maximum Landing Weight: 12,300 lb (5579 kg)
Number Of Crew: 1 or 2
Number Of Passengers: 20
Fuel Capacities: Total – 378 US Gallons
Fuel Capacities: Optional Long Range – 89 US Gallons
Therefore, under 5.7t, still not worth it!
The reason it is kept under 5.7t is to avoid all of the performance requirements in the transport or commuter cat aircraft.
j3
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eitherway, you still going to gain some life experience. Be far away form mummy and daddy. And see something totaly different. Maybe not everybody's cuppe thee. Maybe learn a different lingo?
Not looking down at all on instructing, but to me it would beat teaching people to fly around the east coast anyday.
cheers
Not looking down at all on instructing, but to me it would beat teaching people to fly around the east coast anyday.
cheers
gadude,
obviously not your cup of tea either, otherwise you'd be over there instead of giving refuellers in Tindal a piece of your mind...
O2,
Any command Turbine time is gold, in any climate, multi or single. As far as co-pilot under 5.7, I don't agree.
j3
obviously not your cup of tea either, otherwise you'd be over there instead of giving refuellers in Tindal a piece of your mind...
O2,
Any command Turbine time is gold, in any climate, multi or single. As far as co-pilot under 5.7, I don't agree.
j3
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gadude,
obviously not your cup of tea either, otherwise you'd be over there instead of giving refuellers in Tindal a piece of your mind...
obviously not your cup of tea either, otherwise you'd be over there instead of giving refuellers in Tindal a piece of your mind...
I am no longer in tindal giving my toughts too the refueler anymore either.
Just doing what I like almost best and getting paid rather well for it. Besides i don't have a twin rating
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Have to agree with you J3 the experience would be unreal but at the end of the day RH seat time means squat without the command time behind you or prospects to upgrade to the LH seat. Would be more appealing if you went straight on the Islander for the command time as well as a bit of experience on the twotters now and then.
It would be an excellent adventure..
I have not worked for Sol Air however have spent some time in the Solomons and had a ball, the experience for a fresh CPL would be gold and a command would not be out of reach for the right person after sometime
I only know of 1 company thats operates otters single pilot these days and thats for skydiving but i have been know to be wrong.
All operator who buy the 400 series will run them 2 crew
Have a go for 6 months and if you don't like it leave
I have not worked for Sol Air however have spent some time in the Solomons and had a ball, the experience for a fresh CPL would be gold and a command would not be out of reach for the right person after sometime
I only know of 1 company thats operates otters single pilot these days and thats for skydiving but i have been know to be wrong.
All operator who buy the 400 series will run them 2 crew
Have a go for 6 months and if you don't like it leave
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3 DHC6-300’s
1 BN2A Islander.
1 year contract as an F/O
12,000AUD salary paid locally
9% Super
If successful, they will fly you to Honiara, then they will fly you back to Aus or generally wherever your from if its not too far away to get your work and residency permits sorted at their expense, then they will fly you back to Honiara.
Accommodation is provided. Bills paid for supposedly to a certain extent, but the guys never saw any evidence of themselves paying anything over the stated allowance- that’s water, power, gas, phone and they even managed internet.
Lunch, overnight allowances etc.
Transport to/from work done for you- see the company bus whilst out and about in town and you’ll be able to jump on for a lift.
Get paid extra for working an RDO.
6 weeks annual leave with one FOC HIR-BNE-HIR ticket; if you don’t use all your leave you’ll get it paid out.
Endorsements are provided with no bonding (one reason the salary is crap).
700+ hrs per year.
You’ll get in as a Twotter F/O with a CPL, MECIR: straight out of school basically.
Progression is from the Twotter to the Islander for Command after putting in 1,000hrs/1year + of service when a spot becomes available. One guy got Twotter command after about 18 months. You do NOT need 500 multi command to progress to the Twotter for command.
If you don’t throw the money away (about 1000SBD a week after tax I think it is), you will bring back enough coin to get your Aussie IR and medical etc renewed with some left over for other things no worries.
Young fellas looking for a first job to get a bit of experience under their belt or someone wanting to just get a bit of turbine time into the logbook quickly- then it’s probably a decent option. So long as you don’t have anyone/anything depending on you for the income then you will probably be fine.
Don’t badmouth the role because its “F/O under 5700” or “a single pilot aircraft” – I think you’d find Twotters in PNG and many other countries run 2 crew yet nobody seems to have any negative statements in regards to those! Plus you will come away with a bit of multi-crew experience and even SOPs to an extent.
Civil unrest, that was a long time ago. Friendliest place I’ve been to in the past couple of years- seen more trouble in the Australian major cities and of course remote communities.
You’d want a gun? Ha! Funniest thing I’ve heard in a while.
Throw in an application, they can only say no but if there is an offer of a job, it is up to you- do what you feel comfortable with, it’s your life.
Also consider Regional Pacific/Hevilift as they base a Twotter and crew in Honiara.
Good luck.
1 BN2A Islander.
1 year contract as an F/O
12,000AUD salary paid locally
9% Super
If successful, they will fly you to Honiara, then they will fly you back to Aus or generally wherever your from if its not too far away to get your work and residency permits sorted at their expense, then they will fly you back to Honiara.
Accommodation is provided. Bills paid for supposedly to a certain extent, but the guys never saw any evidence of themselves paying anything over the stated allowance- that’s water, power, gas, phone and they even managed internet.
Lunch, overnight allowances etc.
Transport to/from work done for you- see the company bus whilst out and about in town and you’ll be able to jump on for a lift.
Get paid extra for working an RDO.
6 weeks annual leave with one FOC HIR-BNE-HIR ticket; if you don’t use all your leave you’ll get it paid out.
Endorsements are provided with no bonding (one reason the salary is crap).
700+ hrs per year.
You’ll get in as a Twotter F/O with a CPL, MECIR: straight out of school basically.
Progression is from the Twotter to the Islander for Command after putting in 1,000hrs/1year + of service when a spot becomes available. One guy got Twotter command after about 18 months. You do NOT need 500 multi command to progress to the Twotter for command.
If you don’t throw the money away (about 1000SBD a week after tax I think it is), you will bring back enough coin to get your Aussie IR and medical etc renewed with some left over for other things no worries.
Young fellas looking for a first job to get a bit of experience under their belt or someone wanting to just get a bit of turbine time into the logbook quickly- then it’s probably a decent option. So long as you don’t have anyone/anything depending on you for the income then you will probably be fine.
Don’t badmouth the role because its “F/O under 5700” or “a single pilot aircraft” – I think you’d find Twotters in PNG and many other countries run 2 crew yet nobody seems to have any negative statements in regards to those! Plus you will come away with a bit of multi-crew experience and even SOPs to an extent.
Civil unrest, that was a long time ago. Friendliest place I’ve been to in the past couple of years- seen more trouble in the Australian major cities and of course remote communities.
You’d want a gun? Ha! Funniest thing I’ve heard in a while.
Throw in an application, they can only say no but if there is an offer of a job, it is up to you- do what you feel comfortable with, it’s your life.
Also consider Regional Pacific/Hevilift as they base a Twotter and crew in Honiara.
Good luck.
MyNameIsIs
Ok, thanks, nice to hear from someone who has actually been there.
When I was offerred the job, I was specifically told that unless I did 500 multi command then I would not even get a look in on the Twotter, times have obviously changes somewhat. There was no mention of whether or not the endo will be paid for. Furthermore, the interviews were in mid 2005 when there was still a fair bit of civil unrest, that even the interview panel eluded to, stating in the interview that it was not a good idea at the time for white people to be out after dark...
And as far as Co-pilot, cos you are a co-pilot, not an F/O. I'm sorry, no matter what you compare it to, PNG, Borek stuff, under 5.7 is only worth half the time, literally. As far as multi crew, unless the aircraft is certified as a two crew aircraft, most larger companies won't take it seriously, trust me on that one!
But at the end of the day, airaholic, it's your choice. I may have completely gotten the wrong idea about the place. But going on holiday to the place and living and working there are perhaps completely different things. IMHO you would be better off getting a job smashing around in a single somewhere for a bit and moving up the tried and tested food chain.
j3
Ok, thanks, nice to hear from someone who has actually been there.
When I was offerred the job, I was specifically told that unless I did 500 multi command then I would not even get a look in on the Twotter, times have obviously changes somewhat. There was no mention of whether or not the endo will be paid for. Furthermore, the interviews were in mid 2005 when there was still a fair bit of civil unrest, that even the interview panel eluded to, stating in the interview that it was not a good idea at the time for white people to be out after dark...
And as far as Co-pilot, cos you are a co-pilot, not an F/O. I'm sorry, no matter what you compare it to, PNG, Borek stuff, under 5.7 is only worth half the time, literally. As far as multi crew, unless the aircraft is certified as a two crew aircraft, most larger companies won't take it seriously, trust me on that one!
But at the end of the day, airaholic, it's your choice. I may have completely gotten the wrong idea about the place. But going on holiday to the place and living and working there are perhaps completely different things. IMHO you would be better off getting a job smashing around in a single somewhere for a bit and moving up the tried and tested food chain.
j3
j3pipercub I have also spent some time in the Solomons alittle while ago....
Yes co-pilot time is only worth 50% but plenty of my former co-pilots have gone on to major airlines and their logbooks must have been taken seriously.. trust them on that!
Also in a previous life I smashed around outback oz in light singles & twin therefore IMHO track direct SolAir
Pack your boardies SCUBA gear and get involved
Yes co-pilot time is only worth 50% but plenty of my former co-pilots have gone on to major airlines and their logbooks must have been taken seriously.. trust them on that!
Also in a previous life I smashed around outback oz in light singles & twin therefore IMHO track direct SolAir
Pack your boardies SCUBA gear and get involved
F/O on a twin otter is no different to a 1900 or a Metro. Any of these at 19 seats are allowed to be flown single pilot, but who is flying any of these aircraft around in pax configuration with less than 15 seats?
Under those circumstances the aircraft HAS to be crewed by 2 pilots, thus it's a 'legit' 2 crew job. Just because the aircraft can under 'some' circumstances be legally flown single pilot means diddly squat, if the a/c aren't even fitted with autopilot, have 19 seats in pax configuration they are always going to be a 2 pilot a/c. Big diff to a broken autopilot than the a/c not even having one.
Aeropelican operated them on RPT for years and you needed back then the usual 1500 TT and 500 multi command for an F/O job! (and I believe theirs had an autopilot too)
Lots of guys out there with Metro/1900/Twin otter F/O jobs have been taken seriously in the job market in the past, a lot of ex 1900 F/Os flying A320s with Jetstar these days! Impulse back in the days used to fly the 1900s on night freight single pilot, and RPT during the day 2 pilots.
I do agree the money on offer is a little low, but you have to except that when you go to a foreign country that the wages may not be up to our standard, by our awards this job isn't legal interms of award wages, but it ain't our sandpit over there! Don't like it, don't take it.
At the end of the day it is legally allowable co-pilot time in the logbook, it's not like RHS time in a Caravan or a PA31. It's worth 50% total aeronautical on a twin otter as it is in the A380.
Under those circumstances the aircraft HAS to be crewed by 2 pilots, thus it's a 'legit' 2 crew job. Just because the aircraft can under 'some' circumstances be legally flown single pilot means diddly squat, if the a/c aren't even fitted with autopilot, have 19 seats in pax configuration they are always going to be a 2 pilot a/c. Big diff to a broken autopilot than the a/c not even having one.
Aeropelican operated them on RPT for years and you needed back then the usual 1500 TT and 500 multi command for an F/O job! (and I believe theirs had an autopilot too)
Lots of guys out there with Metro/1900/Twin otter F/O jobs have been taken seriously in the job market in the past, a lot of ex 1900 F/Os flying A320s with Jetstar these days! Impulse back in the days used to fly the 1900s on night freight single pilot, and RPT during the day 2 pilots.
I do agree the money on offer is a little low, but you have to except that when you go to a foreign country that the wages may not be up to our standard, by our awards this job isn't legal interms of award wages, but it ain't our sandpit over there! Don't like it, don't take it.
At the end of the day it is legally allowable co-pilot time in the logbook, it's not like RHS time in a Caravan or a PA31. It's worth 50% total aeronautical on a twin otter as it is in the A380.
no worries, each to thier own... good luck. Just a comment. If it means didley squat, maybe someone should tell ANA that when they're looking to hire crew for their q400's
Last edited by j3pipercub; 14th Nov 2008 at 01:29.
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"Under those circumstances the aircraft HAS to be crewed by 2 pilots"
ummm
I know of 20 seat aircraft being flown single pilot in Australia.
Day VFR Charter.
Requires a second crew member not necessarily a pilot.
Read the VB application form very carefully -
"Multi Crew Operations: means you have operated as a fully qualified crew member on an aircraft certified for operation with a minimum crew complement of two pilots."
ie: The aircraft operation manual requires a minimum of 2 pilots in any circumstance, not the regs for a specific operation type or config or load ect
Doesn't mean the time is useless, just need to know who will or wont recognise it.
ummm
I know of 20 seat aircraft being flown single pilot in Australia.
Day VFR Charter.
Requires a second crew member not necessarily a pilot.
Read the VB application form very carefully -
"Multi Crew Operations: means you have operated as a fully qualified crew member on an aircraft certified for operation with a minimum crew complement of two pilots."
ie: The aircraft operation manual requires a minimum of 2 pilots in any circumstance, not the regs for a specific operation type or config or load ect
Doesn't mean the time is useless, just need to know who will or wont recognise it.
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Would be more appealing if you went straight on the Islander for the command time
Believe me Solomon flying is no walk in the park either. Placing you on the right hand seat of the twotter is an excellent way to pick up local knowledge which is essential for bush flying! The last thing you want fresh out of school is to come home in a box.
safe flying
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j3pipercub,
Japan is a whole different planet. Comparing ANA or any other japanese carriers attitude to the real world is just not possible. But in the current climate, there inflexible entry criteria means the crew numbers are much lower than they would like.
Japan is a whole different planet. Comparing ANA or any other japanese carriers attitude to the real world is just not possible. But in the current climate, there inflexible entry criteria means the crew numbers are much lower than they would like.