I was on this forum a while ago, and I asked a question regarding overseas work opportunities and I think it was taken in the wrong context. I'm a relatively low time pilot currently working on my CFI and I'm interested in working humanitarian or relief operations in less then desirable or compromised environments.

I'm sure their are some organizations and agencies out there who are hurting for pilots to fly their aircraft for relief operations in third world countries. I would be willing to take on a task like this given that they provide food and shelter. Pay doesn't matter. It's not like I have bills or a family to support.

It's just a line of work that seems appealing to me right now. I'm 26 years old and an Army veteran who has a year and a half experience in a combat zone. The grind of pursuing a regional airline job especially at this stage in the economy just does not seem appealing right now and if any opportunities are present where I can use my licenses to see the world and help some people at the same time then I would jump on that immediately.

 

Do a google search on Air Serv International.

God bless.

 

Thanks. I actually found the website for them shortly before reading this.

 

Try MAF; Mission Aviation Fellowship.

They are all over the place in the third world. Generally, as i understand it, you get your local parish etc. to sponsor you. Lots of good flying in Africa, S. America and PNG.

http://www.maf.org/

Good luck with it mate.

 

Do you know what these guys pay for a pilot position? This kind of thing looks very interesting, but I have one concern; as a pilot, will you be just a pilot, or will they expect you to be a prayer leader and crap too? I'm hardly a religious person, but I can certainly tolerate being around those types of people, as long as they leave me along and let me do my thang.

 

I am trying to remember since I last did research, but I believe Air Serv is somewhere around 28k a year and there was a 15 month contract but if you served one contract you could come back for less time in the future if you wanted.

When I was looking at this I basically found out that most of the small operators (christian organizations) require you to have around 400hrs and an A&P license and they also do not give you a salary. It is also small planes and they look at it as more of something you would do for a long time.

Air Serv does look like the best organization to get involved in if you want to do this. From comments on pprune.org when I was looking into this, it seems like NGO's like Airserv are not what you think they are. Apparently it is a lot of flying around people like UN representatives instead of what you think it would be like. Overall from the responses I received when I pm'ed some members on pprune was that it was ok as long as you knew what you were getting into, at that time they said it was probably not the place you needed to be if you wanted to end up in the airlines (that was when airlines were hiring) I could be wrong but from what I gathered the first officers and some of the planes were from a South Africa and apparently this caused some conflict when it came to pay.

It is something I think I would like to do in the future, but probably not in Iraq or Afghanistan which i believe they also operate out of. There is some Air Serv pilots on pprune that were helpful with me when I was asking questions a while back.

warning: secondhand information

edit: Just to add, I remember that everybody said their recruiting department was not the best and to make sure that you continue to annoy them.

 

If you want to do that type of work and still be paid properly you will want to look at Schreiners or Zymix. There is another C208 operator that is meant to be good but I'll have to dig up the name/contact.

 

I looked at Zimex also, you need JAA license.

 

MAF, Mission Aviation Fellowship, looks like a great organization. I just discovered them recently. I wish I had known about them 30 years ago. It's not a stepping stone to the airlines but a great place to use your talents for the greatest cause.

I believe the reward for flying for them would have far outweighed mine as an airline pilot.

Your mileage WILL vary