Hi Everyone,
Thank you for making this thread as I've looked into a few relief aid pilot jobs before in the past, but almost all of them were volunteer, aka free. Well I'm just getting out of college now with a LOT of debt, so although I'd love to do humanitarian aid, I'll have to make those monthly payments too.
I just sent a request for information to PACTEC. As for the AirServ, the pay won't be much, if you want to volunteer, they'll take it. I wouldn't expect more than around 30K US a year. Read
this. Also consider languages. I'm really no good with foreign languages but a little french, and spanish would come in handy. Also, I hate to mention this, but consider weapons. There are some unfriendly tribes in regions that may hostile, and warlords that would love to make you into a ransom tool in others. Search the internet and you'll realize that a lot of aid pilots won't spend more than 5 minutes on the ground and change times to avoid such instances. If you do fly hostile areas, consider the AK-47, parts and ammo are easy to come by, and it's reliable. If you have to overnight at a remote airstrip, lions or cheetahs may come by. If you find elephants... please don't pet, and that is reason to cancel the flight. If they charge, the C208 is toast... and the AK47 will just piss them off.
So consider where you want to be. Some places it will be thrilling to meet new people and change the world one flight at a time. On the other hand, I do have no fly list already (Sudan, Congo, Zaire), as I'm about 80% Irish, and really, I know the areas where I won't be welcome due to the color of my skin. I'm also an American, which doesn't bode well for waring zones.
I'll let you know the response from PACTEC as to requirements, options, and pay if available. They both do offer medical benefits, which is nice considering the complexities of international health care and HUGE costs involved. Tokyo was pricy for insurance for 1 week. I can only image what pennicilin costs in Kenya.
Also, for an idea of Darfur, read this
Darfur.