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Army Pilot to Corporate Pilot?

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FlyArmy11

Got Drag...Go Guardrail!
Joined
Oct 27, 2004
Posts
43
Good evening Flightinfo.com Corporate Pilots;

I have been reading your posts and studying your advice for over a year now and I am finally posting my first message as I start my transition from Army Pilot to Corporate Pilot this winter. I know you all state that the secret of Corporate Flying is to "NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK" and I have been trying to network with all of my Army buddies, but they have few or no connections in the Corporate World.

I am currently flying in Europe as a PIC of US Army VIP C-12s (King Air 200s equipped with: FMS/EFIS/EGPWS/TCAS/etc.) I am sitting at almost 2000 hours TT, 800 FWMET PIC (FAR Part 1), 1500 FWMET, 1700 FW, 150 HELO, etc. with my FAA COM/INST: AMEL/ASEL/Helicopter ratings and a B.S. Degree in Aviation Management. I have flown US Army Guardrail Reconnaissance RC-12s (King Air 350s) as well as VIP C-12s (King AIr 200s) throughout the USA, Balkans, and Southwest Asia with Trans-Atlantic crossings. Most of my experience is in King Air 350/200 International flights with almost 1500 hours logged flying throughout Europe. When I get back to the States this winter I plan on getting my ATP/CFI/CFII/MEI/AGI/IGI to complete my resume, but I do not have any jet time.

I do not have the access to "NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK" at the local US FBOs and flight department hangars in order to chat with corporate pilots since I am stationed overseas, so I am asking you through this board the following questions.

1. Do any of you have any mentorship advice as to what my next step should be for an aspiring Corporate Pilot in order to land my first flying job outside of the military?

2. Are there any recruiters or headhunters I should talk to about jobs?

3. Are there any pay websites worth investing in for corporate pilot jobs?

4. Should I pay to post my resume on those websites?

5. Should I fire off as many cover letters and resumes as possible to cheif pilots or does it only matter if you have a connection through networking or hand walk it in for a face-to-face meeting?

6. Will a corporate flight department look at a guy like me with no jet time, little civilian time, and not a lot of type ratings?

7. How should I go about getting my foot in the door in the States from being stationed overseas in Europe?

8. Does anyone have an NBAA directory they would like to sell?

I am open to any words of wisdom you may have on these topics or others. I am willing to live anywhere in the States and fly any type of aircraft in order to start my career in Corporate Aviation; in case you have any suggestions of where to start looking. Please feel free to post to this topic or PM me if you do not want to post on this board and I will forward you my e-mail address and/or phone number if you would like to talk in depth. I greatly appreciate any advice or direction you can point me in order to get my career jumpstarted.

Thank you in advance for all of your help, time, and effort!

Respectfully,

Matt
 
FlyArmy11 said:
1. Do any of you have any mentorship advice as to what my next step should be for an aspiring Corporate Pilot in order to land my first flying job outside of the military?
No
2. Are there any recruiters or headhunters I should talk to about jobs?very few. could try: http://www.jet-professionals.com/

3. Are there any pay websites worth investing in for corporate pilot jobs?here is one http://www.avcrew.com/

4. Should I pay to post my resume on those websites?probably not

5. Should I fire off as many cover letters and resumes as possible to cheif pilots or does it only matter if you have a connection through networking or hand walk it in for a face-to-face meeting?face-to-face is always better. no don't send off a mil letters. it is usually a waste of time.

6. Will a corporate flight department look at a guy like me with no jet time, little civilian time, and not a lot of type ratings? yes, quite possibly. right place, right time. anything is possible.

7. How should I go about getting my foot in the door in the States from being stationed overseas in Europe? good question. not easy.

8. Does anyone have an NBAA directory they would like to sell?

i can tell you how one army pilot i know did it-- when you get out, go to savannah and get a job at fsi as a gulfstream sim instructor, then make friends with clients and wa-la--you find yourself in a g5.

or another i know--do a tour on army gulfstreams. :)
 
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I know one Army pilot (C-12) who went and did a stint at NJA and is now at Jet Blue and USNR (B737....C??)

Another 29 year vet, UC35, flew for us for a while and is now doing a single pilot gig on a CJ.

A DOM who is a former UH1 pilot.

Need more? There are many companies who would hire you. Just have to search them out. Start off with freebies like avcrew.com or pilotpointer.com. Also, chat with Raytheon. Every now and then they advertise for test and demo pilots. This is another great avenue to a corporate job. Who better to hire than a demo pilot! FlightSafety, as semper said, is another route, however I'll tell you this, many a chief pilot has been turned off by instructors schlepping resumes during initial/recurrents. If you go this route, use it as a networking position and don't push resumes at work.

Ask lots of questions on this board. You have a wealth of experienced aviators on here who are always looking to help folks out.

Good luck in your search.

2000Flyer
 
It can be done. A guy in my flight department got on with us with no jet time, no ATP and flies King Airs in the guard (prior to that a rotor head). It seems to me that he knew a guy who knew a guy...... The point is that it can be done perhaps with a little luck but also with determination.
 
Get your ATP, it's not that much money. Forget the pay job sites- pilotpointer.com has a list of free ones.

You have good quality time, if not a lot of it, and should have no problem getting a PIC turboprop job or an SIC jet job.
 
Most of the ex-army guys I have know were corporate helo pilots. We have several former USMC helo pilots flying jets for us now, so I don't see why somebody wouldn't hire an Army dog that has been flying fixed wing props to fly jets.
 
One of ex army rotorhead friends, who was fixed wing rated before going in, now flies out at Kwajalein, making great money. No housing to pay for, cant have a car there, so almost everything goes straight into the bank account.
Flies fixed wing and helo out there.
 

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