Flying for UN, Aid missions etc

[ILSstud]

So lately I have been thinking of trying to tie my desire to help people with my passion of flying. Does anyone know of any organizations that would allow me to do this? I vaguely heard of a French organization called Pilotes Sans Frontieres (pilots without borders), but googling has revealed no results. This might sound cliche, but how does one say fly 310s in the middle of Africa say? I am just trying to do my part to give back and while I know it would be incredibly challenging I think it would be life changing....any help would be appreciated. I have participated in Angel Flight, but my real desire is to go fly in Africa or S. America......I apologize in advance if my post is a little incoherent, it is my first day back on midnight shift and I am about to fall asleep :/

[dingo222]

try airserv, or naturelink out of SA

[SpiraMirabilis]

Almost all of this type of flying is done by contractors and it ebbs and flows as funds appear and dry up. A friend of mine flew King Airs and Cessna 525s in relief efforts in Africa just after Rowanda for a company contracted by the U.N. -- after a while the UN money dried up or went somewhere else and he started doing the same thing but for a contractor from ECHO. He said it was really interesting and that all you needed was a CMEL.

I'll email him and see if I can get the company names that he worked for.

[Boris Badenov]

I looked in to Airserv a couple of years ago. Sounds like good flying. Mostly positive reviews from former employees, provided you know what you're getting in to. They come up fairly often on www.pprune.org

[Cool2Fly]

A few of my friends fly for DAC aviation based in Kenya and the DRC. They all had Dash8 experience before they went out there but the flying is pretty sick. Some months they do over 150+ hours easy. Capt's make $10K US, F/o's I believe $5K. Like most contract gigs, you defintely earn the money you make. Good Luck

[tonyw]

You need to google correctly.

It's Aviation sans Frontieres.

They had a booth at the Paris Air Show back in 2005. I'm sure they had one there again. In fact, one of their Cessnas was one of the static display airplanes there.

From what I recall, they had a lot of Air France pilots doing the flying for them. I recall something about one of their retired captains starting the organization and still being active.

I could be wrong, it's been three years!

[ILSstud]

Thanks for the replies guys...definitely sounds like I have quite a few options. I have gotten in contact with AirServ and they seem to be very happy at answering questions and what not. Not that I would be doing it for the money by any means, but I didn't really realize most of these gigs are contract based ($$)...a nice perk for some really incredibly rewarding but difficult flying it seems. And yes, Tony, I need to google correctly...I stand corrected :-)

[BajtheJino]

Airserv quoted a salary? If so how much. I've got the itch to do it, but no matter how much I'd like to help someone I still have bills. They're on my short list-come May 31st.

[ILSstud]

I just asked a few general questions about pilot bases and such. I am in no position to apply yet (only 400TT) and they require around 1500. I am curious how their flight ops works in these sorts of arenas too. If I find out anything though I'll PM you man :-)

[BajtheJino]

Originally Posted by ILSstud

I just asked a few general questions about pilot bases and such. I am in no position to apply yet (only 400TT) and they require around 1500. I am curious how their flight ops works in these sorts of arenas too. If I find out anything though I'll PM you man :-)

Word.

[ASpilot2be]

Lane Wallace did some awesome write ups about Air Serv in Flying Magazine. Sounds like some interesting flying they do.

[ILSstud]

http://www.flyingmag.com/article.asp...article_id=899

http://www.flyingmag.com/article.asp...2&print_page=y

very interesting read... :-) Thanks for the heads up!

[Polar742]

If it's adventure you seek, check out Presidential Airways. They operate Casa's. This is all google would turn up....http://www.blackwaterusa.com/aviation/aircharter.asp

Also there is some operator that bought alot of military C12's and operates them in interesting places, or mundane dropping sterile fruit flys in SoCal. I flew with a cat that worked there. I forget the name of the outfit though....


Good luck....

[ILSstud]

Not sure how much I want to work for Blackwater..... but cool flying though it seems!

[TXaviator]

yeah any leads on this kinds of gigs would be great.

i know about airserv but im looking for an entry level gig right out of college here in about 9 months or so..... something dangerous enough that theyll take 250 hour wonderboys like me ;-)

any tips? im totally game for working for small operators or one-off type deals as long as i have my bills covered and getting some adventure.

[ILSstud]

Did y'all take a look at the photo albums accompanying those articles from FLYING. AMAAAZING pics...

[ASpilot2be]

Originally Posted by ILSstud

Did y'all take a look at the photo albums accompanying those articles from FLYING. AMAAAZING pics...

No kidding. Thanks for posting those articles. I enjoyed all the pictures that werent published.

I think I will do my community service of sorts by flying back in the home state of Alaska.

[ILSstud]

some bush flying...that'd be awesome!*mentally notes to get sea plane rating

[BillErvin]

Originally Posted by ILSstud

Not sure how much I want to work for Blackwater..... but cool flying though it seems!

Blackwater is not as bad as the media played it up to be. They got max effect out of that, just like they like to do on any story. They (BW) had a few bad boys and didn't stomp on them when they should have. I have a few friends that still work for them in the sandbox and most of their people are very professional.

The guys that fly for blackwater are mostly former military pilots, a lot out of the 160th SOAR (Special Operations Military regiment) and Navy Spec OPs sqaudrons.

[dingo222]

Originally Posted by Polar742

If it's adventure you seek, check out Presidential Airways. They operate Casa's. This is all google would turn up....http://www.blackwaterusa.com/aviation/aircharter.asp

Also there is some operator that bought alot of military C12's and operates them in interesting places, or mundane dropping sterile fruit flys in SoCal. I flew with a cat that worked there. I forget the name of the outfit though....


Good luck....

dynamic aviation is the company that does the overseas work. they also drop strile fruit flies in Socal with old beech 18's and king airs.

[Polar742]

Originally Posted by dingo222

dynamic aviation is the company that does the overseas work. they also drop strile fruit flies in Socal with old beech 18's and king airs.

That's the one!!!

[dingo222]

Here's a small list of humanitarian flying companies. Most are in Africa.

www.maf.org
www.airserv.org
www.naturelink.co.za
www.norseair.co.za
http://www.kingair.co.za/
www.solenta.com
www.fedair.com
www.safair.co.za
http://www.qwila-air.co.za/
http://www.zimex.com
http://www.transafrik.com
http://www.swiftair.com
http://www.aimair.org
http://www.jaars.org/aviation04/avia_home.shtml

for the more exotic type flying, try these:
http://www.triplecanopy.com/triplecanopy/en/home/
http://www.blackwaterusa.com/
http://www.dyn-intl.com/
l-3 comunications, I dont have the site handy
http://www.flyingmission.org/personnel.htm

good luck with the search. Africa is an experience in itself. You will either love it or hate it. I didn't do any flying over there, so I'm not so sure what its all about. I did spend a lot of time working with different relief type workers though, and they were all pretty cool. Maybe not such rewarding work, but the ppl and adventure will make up for it. Make sure you do your homework before you go over there though. Parts of Africa can be unforgiving, and the health risks are much different than we face here. Good luck

[Boris Badenov]

I ran across dynamic on climbto350 the other day, looking for kingair pilots, IIRC. Anyway, they're hiring. No idea on the mins and that stuff, as the opportunity to go abroad and be crazy has pretty much passed my old ass by. I'm pretty sure not having done AirServ will score high on my "woulda shoulda" list some day. Good luck!