Light on the end of tunel

This post should actually read "...from deepest darknes you can see every tiny spark of light..."

Last weekend I finally managed to bring free time, available Cherokee and gorgeous weather over snowy England together and took of from Andrewsfield for flight to Beccles. I think I have mentioned Beccles in my previous post - another small airfield in Suffolk just a few miles off the coast with tiny but cosy club house and Sky Diving outfit who operates C208.

And those guys were my real reason for this little trip. I was hoping to leave my CV with them and ask for job as a jump pilot - how naive I was...
Well I did not expect them to be overwhelmed with my CV or visit but my reasoning behind this was if I don't try I won't get - right? The wake up call came in form and shape of incredible rudeness of chief pilot who did not even turned my way when I asked him about possibility to leave my CV with him and get my hands on their Caravan.
OK his minimum requirement for this job is much more that I can offer, 500TT and at least 250 on turbine but he was not able nor willing to answer simple request for advice if he has any idea where to get this kind of experience.
I have smiled and with "thank you and have a nice day" closed the doors.
Later the day friend asked me if I would want to work for guy like this                     - Sure I would! It's on Caravan!

I have tried and for now that's all I can do but most importantly I have enjoyed whole day and flight.
The views were spectacular - for once you don't get much snow in UK and after landing at Beccles, this beauty was parked in front of the club house.

1951 Cessna C-195A 

Flight home was un eventful and we all enjoyed views form five thousand feet and landing on snow covered runway 09L at Andrewsfield.

Experience of the day left me bit surprised that night but the day was great and as tittle of this post outlines, something positive was on its way.

Later that night, actually at two o'clock in the morning, an email arrived on my phone and woke me up.

Normally I don't bother to read my e-mails during the night and have it silenced but I did this time and it was from before mentioned SusiAir in Indonesia :-)

Dear Mr. Osmyk, Thank you for your interest in joining SusiAir... 

Very thorough e-mail requesting a general information form to be filed and explaining four stages interview and other information about working for SusiAir shall I be successful on first screening based on the information in this form. 

Do I need to mention that I was and still am all over the moon? Form is under the final revision at the moment and will be going to SusiAir later today or tomorrow. Exciting times! :-)

Cheers FrankO

MURPHY ELITE on UK register

Yesterday was very eventfull day! Wake up at 0400, catch taxi to Halim airport at 0500 and here we are in the departure hall bunch of guys from all around the world - actually six of us, all eager to get on board of Grand Caravan and get going with selection process.
Firstly we went through the security and check in desk where not just our bags have been weighted but we were as well :)
Few steps accross the road and we are in Susi lounge where there are two sofas and few arm chairs just to fit ten passangers - enough to fill Caravan to its legal max.
Some ten minutes later minibus arrived and took us on to the apron - here they are, two Avantis P-180 and three C208 in Susi colours. One of the C208 is ready for boarding and two guys with huge umbrellas are helping as much as they can. Bags are already in cargo pod and I manged to squeeze myself in to the front pax row so pictures and video will be available later when I get home...
Our flight to Nusiwiru (Pangandaran) is actually diversion of flight to Calicap but three pax going to Calicap doesn't seems to be very bothered...
C208 is climbing like a home-sick angel and in no time we are cruising at 9500ft above most of the clouds. It does not take long time and terrain is raising and we are clearing number of peaks by no more than 2500 ft. Awesome I love it already!
Arriving to Nusiwiru, we can see hundreds of fisheries that were starting point for Susi to build here little empire...
Visual approach and landing on the hard runway was uneventful but amazing same time.
Before we could say bye to our crew and hi to ground personel, everyone was gone and we found ourself alone on deserted airfield - sorry airport ;)
Anyway we made our way through the terminal building and meet our driver who took us to SusiAir compound at Pangandaran.
What we expected to be few minutes ride proved to be nearly hour long trip through number of vilages - this is not possible to describe but I promise I will post the video later on...
Accomodation that has been prepared for us was much better than we could ever imagine (better than my $100 hotel in Jakarta) and after two hours of relax we have been split in to two groups and led by Filipus our coordinator, walked in to the exam room to started first test.
This was pretty basic CPL/IR and C208 knowledge base so it was quite anoying to find out that I have scored 83%
I still do not know what questions I got wrong but my final interview is tomorrow (today is day 2) so I guess I will have chance to ask...
By 1500 we were all ready to explore nearest area and targted Bamboo cafe 'n bar on the beach as recomended ;)
After first Bintang we had to taste the waves ;) Black sand slopes very slowly in to the sea so it is great place for surfing and body boarding...
After second Bintang (no, there wasn't third one) we decided that we are hungry again and slowly walked back to SusiAir compound for dinner.
What a day!

Targeting right companies...

My job hunt is not full time job yet, but it is in a full swing.
I spend on it two hours every morning and something about three to four hours every afternoon plus some time during the weekends, especially now when there is weather that keeps me grounded.
Most of the time goes in to search for companies where I can send my CV and than bit of research on each operator before I send the CV.
As I made it clear in my head that flying big shiny jets is not what I am primarily after, I am searching for operators with C208/206 or similar size utility planes in their fleet across the globe.
This is where websites like pilotcareersusa, bestaviation and similar comes handy but even those do not list every single operator, especially in Africa or Asia.
So where else to look? (any suggestions?)
I have tried to look at travel agencies that offer safari trips as they do have connections to bush flying operators but so far this appears as a dead end.
So far, I have sent twelve tailored applications to C208 operators in Africa and this weekend I will be focusing on Asia market. To date I have one answer explaining that local citizens takes priority over foreigners and two confirmations stating that they will keep my CV for six months and if the need will arise they will be in touch.
First company in Asia I have already approached is SusiAir in Indonesia. This was my very first application after completing IR and company I hold biggest hopes for first job right there but only future will show :-)
Aside of job hunt I am looking at broadening my flying experience on types I would like to fly whilst still in UK so plan is to get in touch with some skydiving clubs.
There are few companies who offer jump pilot course approved by British Skydiving Association but most of the established skydiving companies do it in house anyway.
I have now printed number of copies of my generic pilot CV stick it in to envelope together with my business card and decided to fly my Cherokee to the airfields where these guys operate from and hand it by hand.
You cant beat face to face communication...

Again - will see if this works as there are dozens of "hot shots" like me who are trying to break in and get first flying job, build hours for free or just enjoy landing with less passengers that on take off :)
Weekend is promising more snow so Andrewsfield will possibly remain closed but I guess this is part of the game...

Flyers day in non flying weather - from UK with love...

I'm wondering what other pilots do in weather that forces us to stay on terra firma.
Obviously I am job hunting but also I read and I read everything if it mentions wings, propeller or flying.
I was hoping to fly to Beccles today, small airfield in Suffolk to hand my CV to local skydiving club but instead I am in caffe nero watching low cloud and reading my two newist addition in to my library.
First one is Cessna Caravan POH i have dovnloaded from http://www.smartcockpit.com/ (very useful site btw)
and book that just landed on my dorstep together with latest issue of Pilot magazine.
I have read few pages and love it - it is quite easy reading but gives good insight in to technical aspects of flying Caravan as wel as its constructions.

Cheers FrankO