by Darcy » Fri Sep 09, 2016 10:46 am
Not so easy now I'm afraid. Unless you've got the hours you won't get hired directly. Right now in the helicopter world the EU companies have most of the African exploration work tied up, with mostly Spanish or French based operations taking all the juicy work (Heliconia, Inaer, Heli-Union) but PHI just landed a big contract in Ghana. They are based out of Florida somewhere I believe, though I'm not sure if they have any fixed wing ops. Ghana is lovely! Depending on your hours, you may have better luck finding American operators in Africa to get in, as for some reason many pilots carry an unhealthy fear of everything Africa, so sometimes you get lucky. I know I got tagged with being an "Africa" pilot and that was all she wrote for me. I love Africa but wanted to see some of the far East. Hasn't happened yet. With the present slow down in oil, I can't get back there to save my life. Found a gig in Kazakhstan instead. Bristow is now American owned and have operations in Nigeria, and some in Angola I believe, but there are few ex-pats pilots left. Almost everywhere is pushing heavily for solely National pilots. Malaysia just let go of 15 of our ex-pat pilots and those seats are all being filled with Nationals. Good for the Nationals and I wholly support their Nationalization programs, but it does seriously reduce job prospects for someone like myself. Or yourself.