It's all about the ride!

I'm no dreamer but if you lived in Eastern Europe with the same flight training fees as in the western part of Europe but with far lower incomes you'd have no illusions. Working your guts out (and I mean working in pretty serious business) just to fly a bit and build some hours - besides having to pay a load of other stuffs and having a family - you'll become hell of a relistic guy. You'll realize that if you want the ride then you have to go where the ride is. If that place is the Antartctica then go there. Or anywhere else. And from this comes that if you want the ride then you need to sacrifice a lot of things. 

 

Yepp, as I previously wrote ol' donkeytown isn't downtown New York, not even downtown Nyíregyháza (badass Hungarian city), but it could be the center of the world for some dedicated guys. I see this like it were Muroc (now Edwards AFB) back in the late 40's. One of the last few places where dedicated starters can hook up seriously into the world of aviation. If you get there it will give you all that you wanted. But you won't get anything without givin (up) something else.

So for me Maun is like light at the end of the tunnel, which I never hoped to really see, but was too fanatic to confess it to myself. And I know that it is the place where I must go and try to find a flyin' job, 'cos if not I'm going to regret it my hole life (there's always going to be that what if). And I can't be pessimistic about it and cannot stop smiling even if I look like a dumbass. Even with the economy down for the moment.

Good luck to you all. 

Take care, and my mom told me to fly low and slow!

And hey, here's my beauty little chick, already 6 months old

Rain, rain, rain

Ugly stuff, 4 degrees and it's raining since almost 24 hours continuously. I hate this weather...

And then there is flying in Namibia too

Yess boy, but more on this topic a little bit later as I'm hard working on the magazines february issue.

Pictures from facebook.com Pilots of Namibia group

Muli bwanji

There is flying in Africa and there is flying in Africa. And there's a lot of opportunities for the low timer.

Muli bwanji? is chichewa for: How are you? (Thanks Mike for the question) Me, better and better.

I managed to exchange some info with a guy in Malawi. And yes there is hiring even at this moment. What they want you to have? 250 TT, CPL license with an IR and preferably an ME rating. What they fly? Piper Cherokee's and Seneca's, Airvan's, Beech Baron's.

So if you really start exploring the possibilities you'll find that fortunately there is flying in Africa for starters. Over beautiful scenery.

Oh Dear God

While I'm planning the possible future I got over Maldivian Air Taxi and Trans Maldivian Airways pilot jobs.

Now that would be something.
Guys and gals go there, get to fly airplanes and get paid for this.

It would be a nice next step after a few years Africa.
Getting to fly a Twin Otter in paradise.

Did some research and found that it is possible to get a rating in Canada. For seaplane too. Then who knows...

What they require? Well Trans Maldivian Airways require this:

ICAO Commercial Pilots License with Instrument Rating
Total Hours: 250 for Junior First Officers
Float Rating
Multi engine rating
Instrument rating
DHC-6 float experience preferred.

No coment on these ones, just enjoy

Hey-hey

125 hours, not bad for a start.

And still keeping wings level...

I just love to fly

Finally today I had some good practice. Winter weather with freezing fog. Waited 5 hours in -4 degrees for better visibility and when things went up to 2500 m horizontal and a cloud base of 500 feet I took off with a Cessna 152 at the ex-military airport at Kalocsa (LHKA). One of the worst runway surfaces with a not too friendly weather, but perfect for practicing 3 hours of touch'n'go like mad. 

Here's a few pictures:

Pretty bumpy surface.

Between layers at 600 feet

That's what I love most in the C152, looking back and seeing the empennage...

Passing low

Taking off 10 minutes prior to sunset

Some good news even if not from Maun

A belgian guy from PPRUNE went to Windhoek, Namibia on the 6th and was allready on a few interviews. This is cool, becouse it means there is still demand and opportunities for lowtimers. 

But the most important thing from his story is that I'm gonna need that C210 rating. I allready found an early 1960 bird. Hope it'll be okay. See picture. Pretty nice machine with retracted gears.

January 13th

Not friday, but crappy weather. No flying since 4th of January.

For Budapest:
2009/01/13 08:00
LHBP 130800Z 11006KT 3000 -SG BR SCT001 OVC008 M07/M08 Q1030 NOSIG

Compared to the weather in Maun:
2009/01/13 08:00
FBMN 130800Z 36008KT CAVOK 30/21 Q1014

Good to see that...

people all over the world are interested in this site. Maybe it is even helpful for some.

Since I've placed the ClustrMap here I can see how wide the range of Maun wannabees is.

Feel free to comment on this blog, or drop me an email, so that I know if it helped or if it's just crap. If you liked it or not.

Just the first few days:

Hungary (HU) 13

Spain (ES) 6

France (FR) 4

United States (US) 4

Poland (PL) 4

Austria (AT) 2

Croatia (HR) 2

Netherlands (NL) 1

Norway (NO) 1

Canada (CA) 1

United Kingdom (GB) 1

Botswana (BW) 1

Japan (JP) 1

Lebanon (LB) 1

India (IN) 1

South Africa (ZA)1

First flight 2009

Awfull winter, low visibility, low cloud base, cold, but hey flying we must... And fun-fun-fun!

See it for yourself...

Had some more iron flying

Weather was also near minimums, needed to brutally photoshop the picture taken with iPhone, but now it really has some '70 print feeling. And seems like it is summer... 

I just can't wait to hop into the 210 or 206, but still have to accumulate some more Cessna time to get more used to that yoke feeling.

Not much nowadays

Present situation doesn't really work for us wannabies, presently there are a couple of guys out there, but with this economical situation there's not much hireing in Maun. They say it won't be until February or so. Maybe we who are preparing to head there at the end of this year and still have to complete our homework are in a lucky situation, becouse probably by then the situation will improve and we can see more clearly. And maybe there will be more oportunities and possibilities.
And for my luck I've found a Hungarian guy flying some humanitarian flights in Congo and stuff.

Maun airport sat view