mercenary pilots

W5 · Post by W5 » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:08 pm

frontside_air wrote:what happened to the pilots of the 727s after thatcher's failed coup in eq. guinea?

Niek du Toit, who was flying a Antonov was sentenced to 34 years in Equatorial Guinea. The six Armenians with him were sentenced to between 14 and 24 years in jail, but were mysteriously pardoned a year later and flown home. Four other South Africans were given 17 year sentences.

The 727 crew were sentenced to 16 months in Harare, but released early. Neil Steyl was charged again in South Africa (after his release) and paid a $25000 fine and agreed in his plea bargain to assist in the investigation.

27pilot · Post by **27pilot** » Thu Mar 01, 2007 3:15 pm

Ok, 180. After reading this post again I see the humour in that comment.

1000 HP · Post by **1000 HP** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:13 am

Hey Cat Driver, sounds like you know something about merc werk, know any contacts?

2R · Post by 2R » Thu Mar 08, 2007 7:34 am

They usually hold a job fair at the Jaguar Club in Funchal ,Second tueday in the month at about 9pm

Boss Hawg · Post by **Boss Hawg** » Thu Mar 08, 2007 9:00 am

I don't know if this is of interest to anybody but I got this email the other day.

I am in touch with the Light Hawk coordinator for Central America (who I met
during my trip to Costa Rica) who tells me that they have a need for
volunteer pilots who would be interested in coming down to fly their Cessna
206 for various conservation projects. They have a hard time finding
qualified people who have experience flying this type of plane, but
apparently lots of Canadian bush pilots are more experienced in this realm.
I volunteered to put the word out up here to people with experience who
might be interested in getting involved with Light Hawk.

Can you tell me who would be good to get in touch with around here to pass
on this request to? To be a LH volunteer pilot they require 1000 hours pilot
in command and to fly the 206 they need at least 25 hours in make and model
and an instrument rating (I don't know what all that means but I'm sure you
do). They like pilots to come for 2 weeks minimum. They could also use
pilots who are willing to fly their own planes down, far as it is.

If you have any ideas and you could give me some contacts that would be
great.

Lynn

Lynn Palmer
Inspiration North Community Dialogue Project Facilitator
CPAWS Wildlands League
Boreal Conservation Office
c/o Confederation College Forestry Centre
P.O. Box 398
2400 Nipigon Rd.
Thunder Bay, Ontario
P7C 4W1

(807) 474-2286
http://www.wildlandsleague.org

[/quote]

Jim N · Post by **Jim N** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:23 pm

1000 HP wrote:If you get caught flying as a merc, be prepared to lose your citizenship. Of course, so what?

As Cat Driver alludes to. be prepared to lose your life. People in war zones tend to play for keeps...

On topic, most of the guys who fly for outfits like Blackwater are by and large all ex-military. Hard biz to crack into if you don't have the right background. Chances are if you have the right stuff for them, they'll basically recruit you through word of mouth.

You would have more success as a previous poster pointed out, if you brought your own equipment. These days Merc flying is pretty much sewn up by the former satellite states of the former Soviet union. The aircrew largely comes with the aircraft in places like Africa. Bylorussians and their Hinds are the backbone of air superiority in some places. Unless you are typed on Com Bloc equipment and can read cyrillic I'd say you are under qualified.

South America might be a possibility though. I've heard of contract spray work in Columbia. Coca interdiction pays well as you basically have a price on your head. The locals survive on growing coca and are not too receptive to those who kill it. Neither are the cartels who buy it from them for peanuts. Get in and get out would seem to be the rule there. Good luck.

Cat Driver · Post by **Cat Driver** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 9:42 pm

Jim N, you have summed it up exactly like it is.

Most of the mercenary pilots I met in Africa were Soviet block ex airforce with a sprinkling of Air America survivors still plying their trade.

Mercenary flying tends to become a life style and you can not or do not want to go back to a normal life, few really ever fit back into normal society.

Some of the South African mercenaries died horrible deaths in places like Angola when they were shot down or captured on the ground...you wouldn't want to even know what they went through at the hands of the savages that captured them.

I was in a unique position to see first hand how these war zones really were flying all over Africa for French TF1...it was not pretty.

I came home after my stay in the desert living like a Tuareg so sick and traumitized it took my doctor here in Canada four months to get me well again.

There are diseases in Africa that we have zero tolerences for and I was one sick animal when I got back home, my doctor told me a higher form of life would have died.

swede · Post by **swede** » Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:12 pm

i would probably last about 1 month there, malaria would do me in..

2R · Post by 2R » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:11 am

' The 7.62 Flu' is just as bad

Mo Noney · Post by **Mo Noney** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:45 pm

Epitaph to an army of mercenaries

These, in the day when heaven was falling.
The hour when earth's foundations fled,
followed their mercenary calling
and took their wages and are dead.

Their shoulders held the sky suspended:
they stood, and earths foundations stay;
what God abandoned, thease defended,
and saved the sum of things for pay.

A. E. Housman