UN Helicopters
 

Hi!

I wondered wether it is possible to fly for the UN as a commercial helicopter pilot. Or are all the pilots provided by the military? I tried to contact them myself, but it is a huge organisation and not so easy to get in contact with someone who knows about the helicopter pilots.
Thanks a lot!!!

NI

As far as I know the UN does have Civ pilots, not sure what the requirements are though.

not sure how much that will help you, but I know of one german company which flies 205's for the UN and US/Aid since 1995: http://www.agrarflug-helilift.com/

Maybe its worth shooting them an email and ask for a direct contact?

I am led to believe that http://www.helog.at/ fly for the UN in sudan using pumas as I have met 2 people who claim to have done this (both as co-pilots)

regards

CF

UN Helicopters
 

I operated for them in Mogadishu where we had numerous helicopter, all from civilian companies on charter. I did know one ex RAF officer who worked directly for UN in position of co-ordinator. Cannot imagine they have any helicopters of their own as such.

There are no UN pilots as such...You work for an outfit that gets a contract and there you are..Or you join an operator already working for the UN.

Beware of what you ask for though !

It can be, and usually is, the most frustrating kind of work around. And if you hold any sentiment that you'll be helping humanity in any way. You'll probably be really disappointed...The principal client of the UN is the UN (and NGO's) but that's a whole 'nother story...Good luck with it though! Along with all the BS you'll have some fun from time to time and a few war stories for the grand kids.

Do a search for worldwide UN ops and look for the operators name. Try to get on board with them and the rest just follows...Whenever you meet other crews, the talk is not about the job, it's mostly "what's your base pay and bennies" All the per diems are mandated for the specific operation.

Once you have the important pay questions out of the way the next subject is "are they looking for drivers" Contact details etc....Finally you get around to discussing what a shambles the operation is...:ooh:

Cynical but that's the way many people feel after exposure to the UN /NGO world ;)

170'

UN Helicopters
 

Couldn't agree with you more 170' They are a complete shambles when it comes to operating helicopters. I saw a Mil26 scheduled to carry replacement printer cassettes to one of their outstations while people were starving right there.

I totally agree 170'.

I was flying 61's in Cote d'Ivoire last year providing SAR coverage to their operations and had a great time even though there wasn't a whole lot of "helping humanity" going on around us.

All the pilots I worked with were civilian although several had military backgrounds.

bb

Hello,

All you guys that have been working for the UN, can you please tell us which operators you were working for?

regards,
Jonasraf

The cheapest ones! :}

Thanks a lot for your imput!

I guess I was a little bit naive, thinking that it would be much nicer to do something for the people, than working hard so the boss can drive a big mercedes.
But it must be an unique work environment and maybe a good life experience.

NI

Pal, the whole point of the UN is so that the boss can drive a big Merc. They all have them (or huge Land Cruisers) so they can go from "meeting" to "meeting" in sufficient style in famine areas to impress the locals/dying/employees/donors that they are so hugely useful.

There is a book you should read - Lords of Poverty - Amazon will send it to you, read it and see if you want to be involved in this obscene charade of "aid work".

Been there, did it, threw the medal down the long-drop latrine where it belongs.

I did the UN thing in Kuwait / Iraq UNIKOM after the first fracas, UNISOM 2 in Somalia ( our mascots were Mickey Mouse and Goofy ) and UNAMIR in Rwanda.
Went searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq just before "Operation Frequent Manhood part Deux".
Did lots fun flying and met some excellent people. Collected lots of T-shirts and hats.

Aside from the Medevacs ( Mostly UN Vehicle accidents with the odd gunshot and mine casualty thrown in ) I certainly did not leave with a warm fuzzy feeling from helping the local population. Saw a few things I liked and a lot I did not.

Lots of dedicated people unable to do their job because of UN rules.
Lots of abuse of the system in the higher levels.

I flew as a military pilot for a UN mission for 6 months, but I was also employed as the air liaison between our unit and the UN HQ to coordinate the taskings. Eye opening and not in a good way. On one side of the airfield we thought we were there to save the world (naive perhaps), the other side of the airfield was occupied by career bureaucrats who lived like kings with very little apparent concern for the country we were all there to help. Playing tour guide to the senior bureaucrats on their annual visits from NY didn't help in my cynicism. If I was to do it all again, I wouldn't.
If you want a sense of accomplishment perhaps a good NGO is the way to go, because I didn't get that from the UN.

A good NGO?
Name one please.:E

Good NGOs?

There must be some - they'd source all their materials and personnel locally to boost the economy, encourage locals to devise and deliver practical low tech solutions themselves, add little or nothing in the way of freebie handouts, and above all, get out as soon as the solution started to work and let the locals take pride in work and self help.

They wouldn't drive around famine zones or (more likely) expensive Nairobi restaurants in huge climate criminal's 4X4s with the aircon on and gigantic "my willy's bigger than yours" whip antennas, and act far worse than the caricature Colonials they so love to deride, without any awareness of their irony.

Orrocks! I see the problem. There really aren't any!

I can only echo what has already been said. I did a couple of years, on and off, and I was really disappointed with what I saw. There are a few well intentioned people, hamstrung by the system, but the majority are out to get their "field time", and contacts, in order to climb a very complicated promotions system and so secure their job in New York. The amount of money spent on "support services" is fairly outrageous. No one (that I saw) was ever vindictive to any of the locals, they were just being used as part of a system, but some nationalities treated them deplorably. In one case the whole of a countries armed forces working there were sent home, their contract "came to an end!" It was never publicly stated but everyone knew it was because of various events that occurred involving treatment of the locals. A lot of the poorer countries around the world get involved in UN operations so that it earns them brownie points and kudos in New York and they also get a refund on their donations to the UN. Call me cynical or naive, I know I was disillusioned.
If you fly at all it is just for a contracted company or military (quite a number of those globally) and they are not necessarily only flying for the UN. As already said some of the flying is interesting, standard stuff if you've been in the military, and you'll end up with some good stories and meet some good people. At grass roots level you'll probably help some people, but if that's your intention then NGO's are your best bet and that's something else altogether.

Bar the pilots, i presume that is the same for rear crew? (i was looking into the UN)

In all my UN experience we never had any rear crew.

Usually flew single pilot in Kuwait / Iraq ( UNIKOM ) except for night Medevac and also in Somalia (UNISOM) and Rwanda (UNAMIR). we flew dual pilot in Iraq while looking frantically for the legendary "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

We sometimes carried armed guards in Somalia and Rwanda and taught them how to open doors ect but they were not crew as such. Their job was to exit and protect the helicopter they were always the first out and last in. They were there to do that and that alone and any UN pax who told them to get their bags ect got a brief concise corrective interview on the spot.
Usually Indian Army in Somalia and Gurkas in Rwanda. Great guys but you had to be careful of the instructions you gave them. They were inclined to do exactly what they were told / asked / requested ( not being military I would not call it an order) to do. They usually took whatever you said as a direct order so you had to keep that in mind. "Stop everyone from approaching the helicopter" for example could lead to an armed standoff between a Gurka and a curious 3 year old waif. I do not think he would have actually hurt her but one wrong move and she would of had a bad day.
"Stop anyone dangerous from approaching." led to the question "But captain are they not all dangerous?" I miss them still.:ok:

Try this email address
[email protected], this is a couple of years old but he was the ops officer for the helog operation in Sudan there are operating 330J Pumas in dafor area of Sudan. if that fails drop me an email and i will speak to a friend of mine who is still there with them
they normally are looking for JAA Licenced pilots pref with and IR and Pref with multi time however please accept that this information is old.

Sincerely
B99