Jobs with day trips?

[jes77jes]

I'd really like to get into aviation and i have a long way to go. I am wondering if there are very many companies that only fly day trips. How likely is it to get jobs like this, and if so can you make enough money?($60k a year or so) thanks for any help.
Jesse

 

[khsgt]

ROTFLMAO

60K/yr....hmmm.....yea.....right......I love a good laugh...good luck maybe third or fourth year with a regional.....

now day trips....you might have a little more luck there, but the difference between no chance and a miniscule chance (think lottery) is very little.

greasy side down.

 

[Timebuilder]

Maybe if your dad is on the board of a furtune 500 company, and likes to be home every night.

Then you have a slightly better chance of getting a job like that.

 

[SheGaveMeClap]

Jesse,

Instread of being a sarcastic ba$tard, I'll give you a straightforward answer. Once you get all of your ratings and build the required time, you could probably find a decent Part 135 charter company to work for who does mostly day trips. I flew Part 135 for a year and never spent a night away from home. It really depends on your location and the size of the charter company.

I've met some freight guys on the road flying Metros and 1900s that had a scheduled run and they were home every night. Most of them (the Captains anyway) were making somewhere in the 50k range. With a few more years at the company, they'd make in excess of 60k.

You won't find a cushy corporate job that does strictly day trips, and the airlines are out of the question. They won't be the most glamorous jobs, but in the long run you could easily find what you are looking for. Good luck.

 

[Timebuilder]

Here's why I gave you the answer I did: both myself and a friend flew piston twins for a charter outfit, making day trips for about six months. Under no circumstances were we EVER gong to make more than 20k per year there.

As cost go up, charter co's keep looking for the hungriest young pilots, the ones who still believe that they will have a great job waiting at a major airline, even in this trend of growing regionals and fractionals. These small operators hope that you are willing to make incredible sacrifices now for a great career later. I think you will see far smaller numbers of pilots who actually achieve that dream in the next twenty years. While it is good to dream, and great to have persistence, you must temper your dreams with wisdom and insight.

My two cents.

 

[khsgt]

Instread of being a sarcastic ba$tard, I'll give you a straightforward answer





sorry, I coudn't resist. As a young guy trying to break into the industry, i would feel very lucky to manage 30K next year.

 

[msw]

Become a professional helo pilot. The "up side" is that a very high percentage of them probably always spend their nights at home. And $60K a year is easily possible for tenured, experienced corporate or public sector (forest service, fire-fighting, etc) helo pilots. The "down side" is that the number of jobs available is miniscule when compared to the fixed wing community. And most of those jobs will go to the highly experienced helo aviators that come of the military.

 

[LrBob]

Hey i did a contract flight for Wal-mart-and the guy i flew with said he flys 5 days a week and is home almost every night-not bad

 

[jes77jes]

$60 k

Thanks alot for the replies, I'm always open to more info. As far as the $60 k/yr statement. I would never in a million years expect that kind of money early on. However, I should have stated, in 10 years plus, could a person earn somewhere in that range?
thanks,
Jesse

 

[Timebuilder]

If you mean 10 years of flying before 9-11, I'd agree. If you mean 10 years of flying from now, I'd give a qualified maybe.

There are many qualified pilots trying to get the available jobs. As more time goes by, many pilots will decide that their old seniority number is nothing more than a memento of their former job, and will press harder for the positions that they are passing up right now. We are looking at least 20 years of downward pressure on the industry. Sure there will be jobs, and pilots will get hired. Downward pressure means that there will be fewer jobs and less progreession in careers. This means, highly competitive markets, low pay, and long upgrade times.

If you are in any way surprised by the tenor of some responses here, you must realize that you are a 90 hour pilot who is asking about a job that most expereinced pilots would like to have, but don't.

Myself included.

 

[YaMama]

One daytrip operator that comes immediately to mind is Cape Air (based on Cape Cod, Mass.) I don't know what their senior pilots make, but I bet it's closer to 60k than 20k. In general, there is greater demand for short-haul flying in areas where surface transportation is difficult - Cape Air's whole raison d'etre is to transport people from places like Boston and Providence to islands that would take several hours to reach in a boat. So think in terms of coastal/island areas like that, the Caribbean, maybe Indonesia if you're feeling adventerous. Alaska of course has many towns that are inaccessable by road, even though they're on the mainland - and there's a correspondingly high demand for short-haul flying there. Also, there are CFIs around who make in excess of 60k by being experienced and knowing how to market themselves.

Good luck, and don't let the naysayers get you down - anybody who pretends they know where this industry is going in 10 or 20 years is full of shellack.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

I agree with the above..

you can make 60k doing a lot in this business..will you be flying a 747 or a shiny GV..no..but still.

If you spend 10+ years as a pro pilot and dont break 60K, something is very wrong.

 

[Timebuilder]

One daytrip operator that comes immediately to mind is Cape Air (based on Cape Cod, Mass.) I don't know what their senior pilots make, but I bet it's closer to 60k than 20k. I

I could be wrong, but I thought Cape was around 35k. Any Cape guys have the year 2003 amount?

Good luck, and don't let the naysayers get you down - anybody who pretends they know where this industry is going in 10 or 20 years is full of shellack.

You might be right, but consider this: anyone who tells you that the careers will be as rosy as they were in 2000 is full of something else. There is a hard road ahead, and there is no question about that.

If you spend 10+ years as a pro pilot and dont break 60K, something is very wrong.

I'm not sure when you become a pro pilot. I'd say that I started seeing myself that way when I stopped instructing and got a full time charter job. Getting hired by a cargo, corporate, fractional, or other operator might be another similar milestone. If you become a full time instructor, the "professional" level might happen when you start making more than 25k a year, or log more than 4 hours a day consistently. I sure didn't feel very professional making less as an instructor than I am right now on unemployment from my charter job. I felt like a highly repalceable part in a machine that was losing speed at an alarming rate.

At any rate, when you DO become a professional pilot, you may very likely make 60k. If you can do that using 2003 dollars as a reference 10 or 12 years from now, that's all the better.

I am one of the most optimistic people around, but I am also paying a lot of attention to what is happening in our world, post 9-11. I caution all young people to go into this well informned and with your eyes wide open. If you are drinking the Kit Darby Koolaid, you will be disappointed.

 

[Pickle]

jes77jes asked: "I'd really like to get into aviation and i have a long way to go. I am wondering if there are very many companies that only fly day trips. How likely is it to get jobs like this, and if so can you make enough money?($60k a year or so) thanks for any help."

I had a job flying 727 freighters for Amerijet that was all day trips, I flew only two days a week, making about 60K per year in the right seat. But of course, that was before AJT had that whole bankruptcy thing, and who knows what the trips are like there now. But while I was there, pretty much all the flying out of MIA was day trips.