Africa

ppragman

FLIPY FLAPS!
I'm thinking about maybe going to Africa to fly for some safari air taxi place, anyone got any ideas?
 
You could do some humanitarian airlift with organizations like Air Serv. I don't know if Air Serv is hiring right now, though.
 
pprune.org seems to have a lot more info on that area of the world, or any area of the world for that matter.

My own research has turned up Air Excel as someplace I might want to check out. Apparently 1000 TT gets you into a 208. I know nothing else other than that.
 
Flying over there would be pretty fun I think, but on the other hand I don't think I would enjoy sweating that much. I have yet to sweat in an airplane.
 
What are you flying? How often are you flying? Will they pay for your housing while you're out there along with travel expenses? How much dinero would you be getting? Is there any contract basis of employment? What would be the cost of living? Will you be in debt while you're out there or living the high life?
 
Getting tired of Alaska already?

I was born here, and raised here, did all of my flight training here. I figure after the first 2000hrs is alaska time, it'l be time to move on to something else for a little while.
 
I got pretty serious about Africa about a year ago. After four months of exchanging emails with several operators in central Africa I came away with a bad taste. Most of these operators are dirt bag. They all want you to pay out of your pocket for license conversion or pay for some ridiculous "checkout" in the plane. Plus no one offered me more than $2000 month-some offered a lot less than that. Over there, they get a lot of Kiwi's, South Afrikans and the like. Guys that have no hope of building time in their own countries so they all head over to Africa.
I found a couple of operators on Caravanpilots.com. They've redone their job board so I don't think any of these places are still advertised on there.
I did not apply to Airserv though. So you might still check them out. They've got the 'Van and 1900.
Good luck.
 
I'm leaving for Africa in about a week. I've been researching for months, so I kind of know a little about how things go on there. You aren't going to get a job by sending emails or anything like that. You have to show up in person, which is what I'm about to do. You also have to understand that money goes a lot further down there than here. $2000 a month in Africa would be like making $10,000 a month in America. Where I'm going, I'll most likely be making $1000 a month, but it'll put me in the upper 10 percentile for that area. Anyways, you don't go to Africa to fly to get rich.

To the op: look into Maun, Botswana. There are about 6 operators there who fly 206's and 208's into the Okavango delta. There's a thread at pprune.org with a ton of info.
 
pprune.org seems to have a lot more info on that area of the world, or any area of the world for that matter.

My own research has turned up Air Excel as someplace I might want to check out. Apparently 1000 TT gets you into a 208. I know nothing else other than that.

pprune is the best bet to get info. tons of guys there...LOTS of operators...seems like "show up" is the way to get a job in that part of the world. i wanna go next year too.
 
I got pretty serious about Africa about a year ago. After four months of exchanging emails with several operators in central Africa I came away with a bad taste. Most of these operators are dirt bag. They all want you to pay out of your pocket for license conversion or pay for some ridiculous "checkout" in the plane. Plus no one offered me more than $2000 month-some offered a lot less than that. Over there, they get a lot of Kiwi's, South Afrikans and the like. Guys that have no hope of building time in their own countries so they all head over to Africa.
I found a couple of operators on Caravanpilots.com. They've redone their job board so I don't think any of these places are still advertised on there.
I did not apply to Airserv though. So you might still check them out. They've got the 'Van and 1900.
Good luck.

Thanks man! I'm not really worried about the license conversion stuff, I found out that for about $500 you could get all the stuff done, and not worry about, then for $2000/month you could live like a king in Africa. In a country where the mean income is less than $500/year I think I could live pretty well on 4 times that per month. I'll be careful, but might just have to jump on it.

-pat
 
I would advise you to take a little vacation there before you sign up for anything. It is not for everyone. I thought I was the adventurous type, but after flying for a while in Mali....


There is no force, on earth or heaven, that could get me back on that continent.


Then again, the peace corps types that I met over there were looking forward to their two year stay.

To each his own...but I would visit first.
 
I would advise you to take a little vacation there before you sign up for anything. It is not for everyone. I thought I was the adventurous type, but after flying for a while in Mali....


There is no force, on earth or heaven, that could get me back on that continent.


Then again, the peace corps types that I met over there were looking forward to their two year stay.

To each his own...but I would visit first.
Isn't Mali in the middle of the Sahara? The operators I was looking at were in Tanzania which would mean flying tourists in and out of a lot of National Parks, etc. Seems like it would be in a little different atmosphere.
 
Based on my limited knowledge of Africa I'd probably say Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, and Namibia are the first tier choices. I would put Mozambique, Zambia, and Angola on the list as they are reasonable places. Mozambique has come a long way since the civil war as has Angola.

Some are probably wondering why not South Africa. Worth a shot and it might be a place where you can make contacts, but the job market there is most likely saturated by South African pilots already.

Good luck,


Typhoonpilot
 
I'm thinking about maybe going to Africa to fly for some safari air taxi place, anyone got any ideas?

Make certain that you are familiar with health issues and disease in Africa. Malaria is the #1 disease killer of humans in the history of the world.
 
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