Happy Monday everyone,

Trending lately have been questions about building time abroad, the opportunities available for low time pilots and so on.

I do not know *that* much about the topic, but I used to want to do that too. So today, I’m sharing what I know about flying jobs outside of the US.

But first, we have some higher-time jobs hiring (with minimums over 500 hours total time). Shoutout to Scott Lawler from the Low Time Pilot Jobs - FREE facebook group* (link), a goldmine of “niche” job opportunities. If you want to fly float, tailwheel, skis or in remote AK, you should join us. Of all the low time pilots groups on Facebook, I think his is the most active. In fact, a lot of the job updates have and will come from there.

Seaplane operators are starting to fill their seats, lot of that coming up I guess. Hiring season for DZ should be next, and survey a lot later. Don’t give up!

*this is not an affiliate link/ad

GLIDER TOW PILOT for the USAF

• Requirements: 500PIC, 50PIC on tailwheel, 10PIC aircraft towing during the past year, CSEL with Second Class medical, Valid Driver’s License, COVID-19 Vaccination

• Responsibilities: perform glider/sailplane towing operations at the U.S. Air Force Academy (KAFF) Airfield. These operations include area tows, pattern tows, wave tows, and high altitude (12,500’) tows on USAF owned and operated gliders.

Cessna 206 Pilot/Tour Guide Position

• Requirements: 750PIC, 150 AK hours, 20 hours on C206, relocation to Homer (AK), able to lift over 50lbs, work long summers, in various weather conditions

• Responsibilities: PIC for Part 135 on-demand flights, bear viewing tour guide and other duties as assigned

• Compensation: $47k - $70k DOE

• Commitment: Seasonal, from May through September

• Start date: Training class in late April or early May

Part 135 Pilot

• Requirements: 500TT 100XC 25XCN, CSEL with Instrument Rating, 1000TT preferred

Words from a Spirit FO who used to be an african bush pilot

This is an account from Ryan Ball, who briefly talked about his experience flying outside of the US, in one of the low time facebook groups. I later dm-ed him for more information.

[Little geography lesson. If you didn’t know, I’m from Madagascar, which is in Africa. So getting comfortable with the culture or the lifestyle would’ve been a breeze for me]

“I flew for Flying Mission in Botswana to build most of my 1500. I initially got hired at 340tt in 2013-2014. Botswana raised the FAA license conversion requirements to 500tt in 2015. Namibia is still 250tt as far as i know. We lived there again in 2019-2022 (loved living in Maun so much we moved back lol). Visa will be sponsored by an employer. They handle most of the paperwork and pay for the visa. It used to be show up in person and hope for an interview. Now it has been some email and digital contact post COVID-19.

Minimums typically seem to be 700-800tt to be competitive to get in the right seat of the C208. C206s still might be lower. Typically takes a month to get released to flying solo there. There are a lot of strips with their own procedures. Very sparse ATC environment. Very little weather reporting. No single engine night or IFR flying. A lot of 500’ AGL, looking down at palm trees, elephants, and rivers. Best flying I've ever done. Ever. Honestly, I'll probably pay off debts from flying here at Spirit, and drop my trips and live over there again part time. Loved it there that much.

The main flying in Botswana is out of Maun (where we lived for 4 years.) Some out of Kasane, Francistown, and Gaborone.

Main Namibia flying is out of Windhoek, also an incredibly nice area.

Both Maun and Windhoek are safe, heavily Western influenced, and English speaking. Both are very hot. The airstrips there are dirt and sandy. The density altitudes can skyrocket in the summer, 3500’ elevation and +115°F in the deserts. Overnights at very expensive safari camps happen all the time.

Botswana:

• Mack Air (largest and new C208s)

• Major Blue Air

• Wilderness Air

• Kavango Air

• Safari Air

• Air Shakawe

• Moremi Air (might not have survived COVID-19 shutdown)

• Helicopter Horizons (heli safari)

• Okavango Air Rescue (PC-12 air ambulance)

Windhoek:

• Wilderness Air

• Desert Air

• Scenic Air

• Bay Air

South Africa: don't know as much but can ask some close friends down there.

Some safari flying also happens in Zambia, but not sure of the details.

I absolutely loved my time there. Honestly, it's ruined me for stateside flying. I loved the safari life and go to southern Africa a few times a year.”

(thank you for the rundown Ryan!)

But Africa isn’t the only option, let’s talk about Susi Air, in Southeast Asia

I think the flying on this side of the globe is more documented than it is in Africa or South America. You can google Susi Air and a lot more information will pop up. I’m sure there other companies, but one I’ve closely looked at was Susi Air, in Indonesia.

[Now for a little history lesson. Among the people living in Madagascar are a good chunk of southeastern asia sailors who never went back home. That was hundreds of years ago though. So again, culture-wise or lifestyle-wise, living there would’ve been like living at home. I keep saying this because the culture shock from living in a western society to a “third-world” one can be crazy. Just a reminder to do your research if you actually want to leave the US]

So first is to get your application through. I never went past that, was at about 320 hours at the time. After asking current employees, they advised to keep applying frequently. Decided to go another route, but I heard it’s a great gig.

Now, the information I have is pre-covid, so it might have slightly changed. Still, here’s what I’ve been told:

- 2 year commitment, $2500 training bond. If you leave early, they keep the money. I guess contracts are a thing everywhere nowadays.

- Pay is commensurate to flight experience. At 500TT, you get paid around $1100 a month as an SIC, 50% of that during training. That seems awfully low, but I think that’s decent considering the low cost of living there (it’s a third-world country, and as someone from a third-world country, one thousand bucks is more than enough to live comfortably)

- pretty long screening process, if you pass it, you have 2 weeks to get to Indonesia for an actual interview. You pay out of pocket, so planning it as a nice little vacation can be the way to go.

- interview is over 3 days: aptitude check, sim check, board interview.

- Pilots there seem happy, always hanging out together, beach bar every saturday. There are a bunch of them very active on LinkedIn. Just look up Susi Air.

- Early starts at 5 AM, usually done by 1 PM

- They fly the PC-6 and the LET-410, you usually start on the C208. I personally would love to fly the Pilatus Porter one day!

- Mostly passenger trips, occasionally cargo

- Flight durations vary from 20 minutes to an hour and a half

- they take care of most of the paperwork once you are there & hired

Off the top of my head, I can also think of Trans Maldivian Airways. They fly Twin Otters on floats in the Maldives. It’s not as much of a low-time-friendly job for foreigners, but if you have seaplane time, or better, DHC-6* float time, you have a good shot!

If you want my humble opinion though, I think I will stick to US flying when I’m done here in Madagascar. I just wanted to experience the pilot life at home and now that I’ve done it, I’m ready to move on. It’s cool, but life is about new experiences, isn’t it?

That’ll be all.

This, like most of the other emails, will be up on the website, if you ever want to reference it in the future.

Until next time!

🛫