Meat bombing
 

Hey there Aussies & Kiwis

Will be down under at the end of the year with a lovely new PPL and am wondering what are my chances (0%-0.5%!) of getting a 'job' doing the above or anything like that?

Thanks for all your replies in advance.....

PS Irish Rugby is gonna kick some ass later this year!:} :ok:

Simple question, simple answer.

I would think somewhere between 0% and 0% - plus or minus 0%!

As it should be.

:hmm: OOOooooo..dont hold back there Torres:E

Can you meatbomb with a PPL anyhow?

Plenty of jobs pullin grog fer luverly cheeky Irish boyo.
:}

Yes you can meatbomb with a PPL

Irishwingz as previously stated Your chances are slim as there are not enough flying jobs to go around in oz, vacancy's are low and job competition is high. Australia is a great place and you will me more than welcome I'm assuming your trying to build hours in which case you can get a good 172 or PA 28 to tour around in for around $120 to $140 oz dollars = 45/50 pounds ( bring a mate pick up other travelers to lower the cost).

Should you decide to try and find meat bombing work (futile but you never know) you will need 200 hrs total time and 10 hours on type as a legal minimum. Established no no's are flying for free, flying without a slimpack, dropping in IMC and flying without a fuel reserve. Please do not do any of these things.

Hey Irish Good luck mate<BE in the right place at the right time.Ive done about 250 jump flying and If you work with a good crew you have a great time.Try tandem ops you get to meet heaps of Chicks!!!If you come thru Alice Ill have a guiness or two with ya

I think you might need a minimum of 100 command hours also.

You can work on a farm or cattle station with a PPL - not as many big t@tted toursits out there tho. Be sure to take some sunscreen ... its hot out there!!!

thanks Guys, I really enjoy reading the post replies on this forum. Full of craic, just like the Irish!!

Right place right time sound good, I'll do anything but of course will abide by your laws.

Planning on going to Perth - maybe Alice now! - Melbourne - Sydney and then onto NZ....


Thanks again and may pop up another posting closer to the time
:}

BIK_116.80 I wasn't talking to you, I don't know the euro exchange rate so pounds should give him some sort of a gide and there is no rule that jump pilots be paid but only scum do it for nothing - some of us are trying to earn a living.

Throttlemonkey

I dont appreciate the scum reference - hours are hours - we all have the same goal at the end of the day, perhaps you are lucky enough to be there, good for you. Thanks for your previous advice though and english pounds are a good indication relative to our own euro

Thanks Also BIK;)

Irish welcome to Dunnunda GA. Throttle and BIK are going to give eachother a bashing now. Do not be alarmed its SOP for GA.

To help you out I'll give you some background.

Jobs here are hard to get. Lots of Pilots not many spots - same over your way only heavier metal I imagine. The problem with this scenario is that as a result working conditions can be a little tough to put it mildly. One of these conditions happens to be money or the lack of it. Some operators exploit this some don't. Its up to you to find the ones that don't. If you don't and just fly for free be sure that some chap somewhere else is getting paid to do your same job and he's out on the piss while you are at home with 2 minute noodles.

Have never done any meat bombing but my mates that have were paid for their efforts. And by the stories I heard they earned their money. Good luck to you.:)

Spot on Mr Hat :ok:

The flying for free debate has been doing the rounds for some time and yours truly was a major contributor to the affirmative as to whether or not we should be paid.

The old days of true skydiving 'clubs' where everyone was in it for the love of the sport are well and truly over. Today you are talking major financial investment in aircraft, facilities, marketing and skydive staff wages. However until recently the poor old pilot was left out in the cold and at many DZs was conned into the fact that he/she was getting a good deal by spending their own time and money to fly for free in a clapped out overloaded C182 or 206.

Ask yourself how many AFF or Tandem masters would do their job for free? I'd suggest none and nor should they. They have a huge responsibility for themselves and their students throughout the descent. The pilot carries a similar responsiblity from the time his meatbombs present themselves to the aircraft on the ground until they exit at whatever height.

It is good to see that the thinking around the country is changing in relation to remuneration and from info I have received, very few DZs are not paying anything to their pilots.

I'll just have to disagree with BIK, I get a bit hot when it comes to the pay issue.

Irishwingz Just out of interest how much is it to hire a four seat light aircraft in Ireland ?

Its about EUR 130 for a C152 - thats 232 aussie dollars....or is it english pounds doen there? :p

Of course our temperate climate means you could go 3 or 4 weekends with unsuitable weather so its sucks! Then when it is ok its really busy. To add insult to injury Dublin airport is not the friendliest place to fly into - expensive and could leave you waiting for ages for clearance.

I'll stop ranting
:zzz:

Come on throtlemonkey. I happen to know that you dropped meat in return for no payment some where on the NSW coast. You did it, others do it. They get some hours and then they f*&# off to somewhere where they are appreciated.

So why are you spitting chips at the young fella?

In NZ
 

You'll need at least 200hrs plus type rating on the aircraft and a CAA endorsement. Don't forget your sleeping bag - the queue is long! BTW you'll need 200hrs for your CPL - why not get that first and then get into it? Just get a vast bank loan and never go back - perhaps fraudulent, but hey it's a career move, right?

Im actually learning too jump at the moment and must say the skydiving industry is very safe here in oz.But you do have a few exceptions as we do in GA.The parachute fed and casa are planning new rules and regs for jump pilots,By what the last news leter from the APF said you will need to do a jump pilot indorsement.When I first flew for a tandem company I took payed leave from work and flew me ass off to gain min hours for cpl.I wasnt payed for the flying but i did get a free Tandem ,which was worth 400 bucks.And i did get the hours i needed for my CPL.There are still drop zones not paying pilots but this practice is slowly dissapering.When I work part time for Petes Parachuting here in alice i was payed $20.00 per hour(wheel off to wheel on)works out around $10.00 a load.
Cheers

Irishwingz,

You'll also need to convert your IAA PPL by either taking a flight test/Law exam and Nav ex to an Aussie one, or by applying for a "Special Pilot Licence" which is issued for short term stayers in OZ.

I've no idea what the requirements to meat bomb would be, but I'd hasten to suggest they may want a bona fide Aussie ticket instead of the SPL and a minmium of a few hundred hours - 200 seems about right.


You might get lucky, then again you might get something in the back end of nowhere with really crap pay or none at all! It's a sure thing that there won't be much craic nor any female backpackers to play with........ 2 min noodles is so true.

There are just too many low time unemployed looking for the same thing, so competition is tuff.....

I'm orig from Tralee (hence the callsign)

Drop me a line on my email if you have any more questions : [email protected]

slainté