The Fascinating & Dangerous Lives Of Indonesia’s Susi Air Pilots

I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this airline before, but there’s a company based in Indonesia that has hundreds of ex-pat pilots, and it might just be the most dangerous job in aviation…

Susi Air, the airline with rookie pilots flying to remote places

I stumbled upon a fascinating YouTube series about Susi Air, an airline based in West Java, Indonesia. The airline operates a fleet of nearly 50 props, with everything from the Cessna 208B Grand Caravan, to the Pilatus PC-6 Porter. Okay, great… why is that interesting?

Well, for one, the company operates what can only be described as some of the world’s most challenging aviation missions. The airline operates flights in all kinds of mountainous regions, and lands on tiny makeshift air strips on the side of mountains.

Susi Air transports both passengers and essential supplies, including to some remote tribes that otherwise have very little contact with the outside world.

The airline reportedly almost exclusively has ex-pat pilots. A vast majority of the pilots are brand new to the industry, and are trying to build their hours, so they can work for one of the big carriers, and advance their careers. This is an airline for adventure seekers, or pilots who have simply exhausted all other options for finding their first job.

Below are a few videos from the series about the lives of Susi Air pilots. If you’re into aviation, I can’t recommend this enough. If you’re just going to watch one episode, I’d recommend checking out the second one below, because it really gives you a sense of the kinds of missions these guys fly. How unusual to be a sole pilot flying a plane to a tribe that has a history of cannibalism, where you’re met by guns.

Working at Susi Air is legitimately dangerous

Pilots with limited experience operating some of the most challenging flights imaginable? What could possibly go wrong? Well, a lot, unfortunately.

The carrier’s safety record seems to have improved a bit in recent times, but just to give you a sense of how rough it was, in the roughly seven months September 2011 and April 2012, the airline had three fatal accidents, resulting in hull losses.

More recently, in February 2023, the airline even dealt with an extended hostage crisis. A pilot from New Zealand was taken hostage in the Papua province of Indonesia. Papuan separatist fighters abducted the pilot, and set the aircraft on fire.

The captors reportedly refused to release him unless Indonesia would recognize and free Papua “from Indonesian colonialism.” He remained in captivity for over 18 months, and was only released in September 2024. How did I never hear of that?!?

However, some people seem really happy there, like the below video, about why you should become a Susi Air pilot…

Bottom line

Susi Air is an Indonesian carrier operating a lot of flights around Indonesia, with small aircraft. The airline very much operates in the Indonesian equivalent of the “Wild West,” landing on tiny air strips on the sides of mountains, to deliver essential goods to tribes.

The juxtaposition here is that you have some of the least experienced pilots operating some of the most challenging flights, given that Susi Air primarily has ex-pat pilots who are looking to build up hours. While the carrier’s safety record seems to have improved in recent years (minus a hostage crisis), this is still quite a career.

Anyone else find this Susi Air operation to be fascinating?