giggity gig
 

Good luck with your flight test. You got the right idea hit the road and the phones, you will be supprised what oppertunities are out there for someone prepaired to look.

Quag_mire,

Check your PMs

FRQ CB

Thanks for the tips and the leads chaps. ;)

Giggity gig-Quagmire. :cool:

Alligator Airways
 

I strongly recommend not coming to Alligator Airways for the following reasons:

(1) Poor maintenance (at best)
(2) Terrible management
(3) Under paid and over worked
(4) No loyality or progression for pilots

Over all a massive thumbs down!!!

I need a VFR carpenter. (Very Fair Rates)

Duh....... Tinpis, looks like you'll have to beat your own wood.

I strongly recommend not coming to Alligator Airways for the following reasons:

(1) Poor maintenance (at best) - the owner maintains them, don't think he wants to see a ship hit the deck and watch the millions he payed for the business go down the tube! plus having 4 aeroplanes that are under 8 years old, two just purchased is pretty good for an entry level job! yeah the 207's are getting a tad old, and have more tech issues, but they are always fixed whatever the gripe! In an ideal world as a pilot you would have an IFR panel with a TSO'd GPS in every aeroplane, in reality that is not the case, or legal requirement!
(2) Terrible management have you anything to compare it to? all GA company's are the same, harden up, it ain't the northshore's in Sydney :D
(3) Under paid and over worked - pay is award, much better than you will get further west, and you fly max hours to move onto a twin pretty quickly after a season!
(4) No loyality or progression for pilots - If 90 hours multi a month 'aint enough for you when you are a senior pilot, then you will never progress anywhere! and they have a P68 as an entry level twin right through to a PA31 along with a 206 on floats for the "float guy's" to have a go :P

Over all a massive thumbs down!!! Many an airline pilot started at Alligator, and you will find them all over the world in just about every carrier. I started there, did my time and got a multi gig straight after. If you have been an Alligator pilot, you know how to work hard, know how to look after an aeroplane, have good mechanical knowledge from hanger work and are generally a very employable pilot.

Wow,

At least this is a big industry where you can burn bridges without ever having to come across people you've pissed off ever again. Thank goodness too that Gator is such a huge company that nobody will be able to deduce who you are (writing disgruntledly in the the present tense and all).

I say this in the friendliest of ways; it's probably a good time to choose another name, mate (shouldn't be too hard with only one post under that pseudonym; no doubt this was your intention).

FRQ CB

Good on yeah green gobling:ok::ok:

To many "I am a pilot so everything should be given to me for free"" type off mentalities around.

Your a pilot, like a taxi driver in sydney. just happen to have wings, Oh boohoo, you studied a bit. Big deal.

It's not like we are brain surgents now is it.

Nothing wrong with a bit off hanger work like you said.

cheers:ok:

Cheers gadude,

Fly boy fly - 99% of Alligator pilot's have a good time, fly hard, play hard and make life long friends, yeah they whinge at any opportunity being typical pilots and all, but take it with a pinch of salt, they all look fondly back on the Kimberley pah'lot days and the drunken shenanigans that seem to follow. I still chat to the guy's on the phone, and some i have not seen since i left Kunnus, but i bet we will all cross path's and random locations world wide in the near future. It's the ones who screw up big time from sheer stupidity, then cover it up that have a bad time, it's a team effort every season, treat it such, scratch each others backs and your back will always be scratched in the future.

It does not appear so, does it now :D

However if I were a brain surgeon i would own an aeroplane and fly for fun :ok:

Perhaps I would ditch the straight tail A36 and give a V35 a go, after all, it seems to be what the Dr ordered!

Its so funny its like once a pilot has the hours the GA company is crap I come across these people all the time no one holds a gun against your head when you take the offer to work for them. If your not happy dont start go to the next town.

Considering the way some of the pilots at Alligator handled their engines, I reckon the company's maintenance did a pretty good job! :eek:

There is one in every company, along with the company messy pilot (windows/belts/cowls/MR). Poor engine handling is usually an ignorance issue, or simply a reflection of the flight training received and/or company CP.

Fly_boy_fly, what's so wrong with good 'ol Gator? I didn't think their management was that bad????? You don't like the owner/CP/Office Manager?? It wasn't too bad when I was there.

As the Green Goblin said, many a sucessful pilot has gone through Alligator.

Damn it Fly_Boy_Fly!, way to overtake my thread, just in case you missed it,
"tinpis" said: I need a VFR carpenter. (Very Fair Rates),
then, wait for it,
I said: "Duh....... Tinpis, looks like you'll have to beat your own wood."


whammo tinpis! :D

We didn't miss it quaggy we just aint laughing.
I hope your flying career goes well 'cause you aint got much to look forward to as a stand up.
Cheers MM

Clearly, if that's the royal 'we' :rolleyes:

Quote The Green Goblin, " I started there, did my time and got a multi gig straight after."

Interested as to why, after you talked the company up so much, you didn't hang around to fly the twin's GG?

Because i did not have an initial Multi at the time, and due to that, and the fact that it was to hard to get an Instructor from Darwin to do it, i was jumped by someone who already had the PN68 endorsement ready to go.

I left and did my MECIR.

This is why i also stress to everyone to go up with at least an initial Multi and a PN68 endorsement for Alligator or a C310 for Slingair, both if possible just in case :ok:

Sorry to steal the thread but i'm in a similar boat.

Currently instructing and looking to make the move "up north" to try and get some charter experience. Im currently working on a Mid March move. Just got to scrounge around for a bit longer trying save $$$ for MECIR :ugh: (yes i know that im not gonna get a multi IFR gig for a long time but want to have it for if an opportunity comes up)

Would the guys/girls who have made the move from "city flying" to remote areas care to provide some info on their list of "must have" items that they took or wished that they did take?

What sort of gear do operators normally supply? Im guessing not much?

Would the guys/girls who have made the move from "city flying" to remote areas care to provide some info on their list of "must have" items that they took or wished that they did take?



Gladwrap and rubber gloves! HAHAHA:}

A personal epirb

Semi decent GPS (ebay special did me well)

A Good Attitude (attitude is everything)

No ego issues - your there to learn, not to tell about how you did it else where no matter how much better you think it was!

Leave the "sipping coffee talking about P.O.F" in the instructor lounge where
you came from, up north is for boozin' pervin' and talking 'da language!

A healthy respect for what an aeroplane can and can't do! (you will sometimes be amazed, other times scared ****eless!)

The same said respect for the weather, it can turn nasty quickly in the tropics.

A permanent escape plan! (accommodation/weather/other pilots/the backpacker you shacked up with/the company) - if you're not working towards something, or you loose sight of it and get involved in the petty politics of the average GA company you can get down in the dumps really quickly! Fly/Eat/Sleep/Study/Booze we have two eyes and one mouth, use them in that order!

Add 30%-50% to whatever time frame you are given! if you will be on the Baron by Christmas, don't expect to be even washing it by March! if you will be checked to line in a week, allow a couple just in case :)

A big **** off tub of vicks vapour rub! you 'aint smelt nothing yet in your cozy little life! be prepared for it all! spew/urine/**** if it can happen, it will happen! You will find grog in all sorts of places, baby bottles and a million other places, some very cleverly hidden, others you just think "what a shame its come to this"

Know your limits and be prepared to say NO - passengers will play dumb when it comes to gear/baggage going on an aeroplane, they know how much they can take as they have done it for years, but they will always bring more just in case, then play you off against the last pilot saying he/she took more than that. Tell them to fly with them then!

The ability to smile, have a beer and talk non aviation related garbage at the end of the day!

A laptop with as much porn as you can cram on it is essential, if you don't enjoy it, the other fellas will on a layover! oh and the Telstra Next G wireless internet is worth its weight in gold, works almost everywhere you go and redtube is never more than a click of a mouse away! (until Krudd gets his way)

Have fun!

Well said "The GG":ok:If I where about a hundred years younger I'd be off up nth right now, what with the porn & vicks requirements who'd wanna stay down here in boringville:E
BTW what about the shieler pilots? Porn & vicks? really for them too?:E


CW

Wally, Wally, Wally - he said Vicks Vapour Rub, not Vaseline!

Dr :8

Am I missing something here :confused:

whoooooops didn't even notice it in my proof read!

Cheers :ok:

What wrong with rubbing a little vic on her chest?:}

Green Goblin, if you're going to take the piss out of someone else's spelling, you need to get yours right.
You've got no idea how to use an apostrophe! :ugh::}

Fair point, but, i can whack one, wherever i like!:ok:

Now now Dr:8 vaso is used more as a lube, or too sooth, not applicable when ya have sumfin' 'stuck in yr throat':E

'GG' never mind the spelling police, their everywhere, most likely in QF:}

Even though I never did go down the route of flying up nth when I was green (lucky down sth) would those that have passed thru that environment know whether the same level of experience today is required as to many years ago? I realise that times have changed re shortage of drivers but it seemed at the time (years ago) that most headed nth due to low hrs anyway for a first gig. d still beb the norm I guess but is it lower that say 15-20 yrs ago?
When I last passed thru that area (Kunna's) a few months ago it looked pretty much the same as it did all those years ago. Still lots of sick bags in the bins, that part hasn't changed I see...yuk:bored:



CW

Bring on the brain surgent's!

There's nothing like a bit of spelling and grammar to squeeze out the best in a thread...

To the original poster, you've always got a choice. Once you've made it, there's no points to be gained in bagging the choice you've made. At the end of the day you'll find you get along with some operators/employers/employees/women/whatever some of the time, others you'll not get along with at all. It's rare, if non-existant, to find someone you get along with 100% of the the time. Just keep your head down, do your time, and take the good things out of the job with you, leaving the not so good behind, and chalk it all up to experience.

Hey Quag mire
 

Go for it!
Head north, clock up 350 hrs with Alligator and you will be more experienced than the current CP of Air Frontier.
There must be a pilot shortage....
Good luck :ok:

Alligator Airways is an excellent company to work for. Reasons as follows:

1)Good Maintenance
2)Good management
3)Good hours for pilots


And now they have a PA31 as well.

Enough Said.