Susi Air

A good friend of mine recently went to a Susi Air interview, in Indonesia... self funded. He didn't get the job either

That's an expensive vacation!

You dont seem to see many north americans at susi. Plenty from europe, south africa, australia, and new Zealand.

If you want you can interview in Europe now, they have a pass rate of 30%, the real deal is not much if you can fly the Caravan or not, the real thing is: are you gonna be able to live in Indonesia? when they first started they use to have many US pilots, few are still there. When I was there the training capt was from the US and all the Piaggio Pilots where from the US too. Things have changed many US didn`t adapt too well to the country and left, this is the reality! Kiwis, ZAs and some EU adapt better to this places...They want you to come to Indonesia to see how motivated you are and how you take living there for a week, for me it was a shock at first, and imagine I grew up in 3rd world countries. It`s a big investement for them to pay your ticket and find out you don`t like the food or the constant screaming muezzin early in the morning. I`m sure most fresh CPL can do the job just fine, but very few can actually adapt to the place and stay there long enough for the company. Back in the days you would get 2 days of accomodation and food paid...now things have changed and you can even do the interview in Europe. You don`t fly for free, when you start the salary is bad but you don`t have any bills, and if you stay long enough you will make more then a regional capt in the US.

There is no good surfing in most of the bases, but you have plenty of time off to travel to good spots..

I lived in Indonesia for a little over a year. I can definitely attest to the culture shock aspect. I would love to fly over there but I don't think my girlfriend would handle the change well as she is the bread winner in the family.

I know that when my friend went to the Susiair interview, they said that one of the conditions of employment was that no girlfriends/spouses were allowed to come down (basically they wouldn't be sponsored) and that there was no internet

Back in 2009 some of the Papua and Borneo bases didn`t had internet, but already back then they were working on having all the bases covered, which they do now. Many pilots back then would buy a 3G usb stick. Now they have internet everywhere.

The reasons you can`t bring your girlfriend/wife are simple, for the first year/or until upgrade to capt, you will be changing base all the time, at times you will be in a place for just 2 weeks, some mine contracts will have you staying at the company accomodation too, you move around a lot, so that you gain experience in all the places they fly, makes sense. In the bases housing they started a no-women policy, you are in a south east asian country with lots of beer and pretty easy girls, you can figure out what has happened in the past, I mean you really share an house withe the rest of the crew and it`s also easy to get in trouble with the cops, that`s why no women are allowed, unless they are pilots or work for SUSI. This does not mean you can`t have a girlfriend there, you will have lots of time off and time to travel, some pilots have a girlfrined that lives in Jakarta and stay in an hotel when they are there.

An other issue has to do with the work/residence permit, when you first start there you are on a temp permit and you have to move in and out of the country a lot, so it makes it impossible to take somebody with you.

Keep in mind you have a LOOOT of time off, it`s not impossible to have a LDR, I did for 2 years, so many other pilots that are at SUSI.

I met some American pilots that fly for Lion Air while in Jakarta, some tried to get their wifes over, but didn`t worked out so well. This in Jakarta, which has everything you need and some really nice and western areas.