Heads up - C4 Worst Place to be a Pilot

[ccr32]

New series "Worst Place To Be A Pilot"

Sky Guide said:

New and visually jaw-dropping series following young British pilots flying for Indonesian airline Susi Air in some of the most breath-taking, remote and dangerous locations on earth.

Worth a watch.

I forget who the chap is on here who is a bush pilot in Indonesia (IIRC) - any association with the series I wonder?

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Yeah I saw this too, should be good hopefully.

Do any of you watch 'Ice Pilots?' It's also pretty good - for an 'American' series, it's quite nicely devoid of too much fluff, filler and sensationalism. Just concentrates on the jobs of guys flying ex-WW2 birds in Antarctica.

Driveway engineers will love the primitive spannering!

[sherman]

Ice pilots is in the Canadian Artic.

[motomk]

ccr32 said:

Worth a watch.

I forget who the chap is on here who is a bush pilot in Indonesia (IIRC) - any association with the series I wonder?

If you look at his blog, he mentions being on the tv soon!

[ccr32]

motomk said:

ccr32 said:

Worth a watch.

I forget who the chap is on here who is a bush pilot in Indonesia (IIRC) - any association with the series I wonder?

If you look at his blog, he mentions being on the tv soon!

Ah ha!

I couldn't remember his username/website, but had a feeling that could be the case..! Good man - I look forward to watching it.

[Moose.]

ccr32 said:

I forget who the chap is on here who is a bush pilot in Indonesia (IIRC) - any association with the series I wonder?

That would be me

Whilst I don't agree with the title it should be worth a watch if you can look past all the over-the-top dramatisation. Sadly in order to make an aviation show watchable for the average viewer it seems they have to do this. I suppose the reality is for most people, flying is pretty boring; if things are getting exciting, you're probably not doing it right!

For a small taste of the bits I'm in, I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post here last week: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/matt-dearden/worst...

Think I'm featured the last couple of episodes

[ccr32]

Moose. said:

That would be me

Whilst I don't agree with the title it should be worth a watch if you can look past all the over-the-top dramatisation. Sadly in order to make an aviation show watchable for the average viewer it seems they have to do this. I suppose the reality is for most people, flying is pretty boring; if things are getting exciting, you're probably not doing it right!

For a small taste of the bits I'm in, I wrote a piece for the Huffington Post here last week: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/matt-dearden/worst...

Think I'm featured the last couple of episodes

Superb! And congrats - I've read your blog with much interest and was waiting for something like this to come along.

Yes, I know where you are coming from re: over-dramatisation, but I guess they have to make it appeal to (or catch the eye of at least) the masses.

Personally, from reading your blogs and watching your vids, I'd have called the show "The Best Place To Be A Pilot "

[WinstonWolf]

That was an interesting watch

[Kempus]

Missed it with time zone difference and that. Is it on catch up? Can't see it.

[ccr32]

I'm sure it will be on 4od sooner or later.

And Moose, you did make a guest appearance in this episode if you didn't manage to see it yourself

Watched the programme with a big grin on my face - girlfriend turns to me afterwards and says "so you're going to get your CPL and head out there now then are you?"

[vournikas]

Moose. said:

ccr32 said:

I forget who the chap is on here who is a bush pilot in Indonesia (IIRC) - any association with the series I wonder?

That would be me

When I was watching the trailer for the programme, I thought you might feature on it (I recognised the airstrips and the Pilatus Porter from your vids on here).

[croyde]

Just watched this. Those airstrips on top of mountains cut out by the local tribes

Now will someone explain to me what sort of training have these guys done before applying for jobs with Susi Air. Full commercial or just PPL.

Sorry if it's a daft question but I'd love to do what they do.

[Moose.]

croyde said:

Now will someone explain to me what sort of training have these guys done before applying for jobs with Susi Air. Full commercial or just PPL.

Sorry if it's a daft question but I'd love to do what they do.

Short answer, you need a commercial pilots license and instrument rating to start out here in Indonesia as a co-pilot on our Cessna Caravans. If you want to get to the fun stuff of landing on mountain sides, it takes a bit longer:

http://indopilot.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html

Glad people seem to have enjoyed the show. Can't wait to see it myself!

[Siko]

Great show Moose....must admit it looks absolutely brilliant fun and what a challenging environment in which to fly. Gotta be way more interesting than FL nosebleed and RNAV to VNAV to ILS to hotel

I've bookmarked your blog and look forward to reading it The Pilatus looks like it has amazing STOL performance too, what sort of distance can you land it in?

[djc206]

I loved that steep uphill strip that the kiwi bloke landed on that had taken the locals 14 years to build. It looked like some fantastic and occasionally hairy flying. I understood from the younger guys that they were using it as a stepping stone into flying commercially back in the UK but do you not think going from that to flying back and forth to Majorca all day would be a bit boring in comparison?

[POORCARDEALER]

Jesus, some of those airstrips.....My hands went clammy watching it on the tv, great show and enjoyed the insight into the tribes of people...bit volatile though arn't they lol, especially the women

[croyde]

Again, out of interest, what bits were over dramatised. Thought it was pretty tame compared to the usual TV fodder and by the end of the first programme, we as a viewer, were becoming completely unfazed by the short, bumpy mountain top landing strips This thanks to how calm and collected the young pilots were.

I thought the bit with the freaked out old fella was the most worrying. Just the thought of being strapped in your seat at the controls with no way of being able to deal with a passenger situation gave me the heebee jeebees.

That and the clearing up vomit and poo bit

Shame I'm in my 50s with no way of getting a class 1 medical as I know what I want to do with my life now

Brilliant stuff and good work Moose and thanks for your links.

[Silent1]

Watching it made me look up how much a CPL costs and it seems it's around the £6k-£8k mark which isn't all that bad and cheaper if done in the states it seems? I always had it down as a £35k-£45k option but didn't realise there was a difference between CPL and a fATPL.

New career time i think.

[anonymous-user]

I can't quite figure out why they don't have rotary ops out there and do away with the dicey approaches to mountain ridges.
Some of the distances quoted are well with the range of even a small heli and although the altitudes are a bit errr....interesting they're certainly not show-stoppers.

[croyde]

Got all excited seeing that CPL price but here is a breakdown of getting your CPL for a helicopter. I know that they normally cost more but from what I have read you will need your PPL first before you do your CPL.

The hours that you need to rack up after your PPL before you take your CPL are going to cost a bomb.

http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/292336-overview-o...