Multi time building

[Steve]

Why go out and spend tons of money on buying multi time? If you a CFII try and load up on IFR students and work on meeting the Part 135 IFR mins. With the way the regionals are hiring you shouldn't have too much trouble getting a job with a 135 cargo outfit like Amerifreight or Flight Express. They usually dont care how much multi you have as long as your instrument skills are good.

 

[BushwickBill]

getting those hours can be as simple as coming up with a rather modest amount of money. hopefully your future and your career are hinged on something more significant than that

casper1nine

Well I would hope that myself. Although multi seems to be very important to all those employers out there. Seems like thats how the whole career thingy is going to start. I'm not sure if you ever did work as a cfi but the way you speak of "modist amounts of money" makes me think you didn't. Lets put it very simply I would be lucky to save 1000 bucks over a 6 month period.

 

[casper1nine]

my point to you is this:

-if you are counting on getting hired at a regional with 600TT and 100ME, good luck. i am sure it happens for some folks, and we all hear about JOEpilot who go ON with crazyazz low time, but realize who you are going to be competing against for those jobs. if it were all 600 hour pilots, great, but in reality you will be astonished by the variety of experience levels that a 600 hour pilot has to compete against for a job at a regional. i am not saying that you won't make it, but just be aware.

-more than likely, with your total time in this post, there are no GREAT career opportunities for you, even with 100 hours of seneca time, or what ever, you need more than just multi time. when i had students and was instructing regularly (over 100 hours a month sometimes) many of them were aiming for a career in aviation, and were always getting hung up on the multi thing.... should i go to ATP? they do all their training in twins.... should i go to ABC school, when i finish, i will have 200 hours of seneca time..... blah blah blah. the thing to consider is that even if you get the coveted twin time very early in your flying, it may be quite a while until you will actually get to fly a multi-engine airplane. will you even be current, let alone proficient in twins when you are actually competative for good jobs in terms of your total time?

-at 500 some odd hours you are barely halfway to being "employable" in all but fluke circumstances or third rate jobs. as a previous poster stated, a good goal with your hours might be aiming for the P135 mins. while your are building your total time (make it diverse and instrument rich), save your money, get a job tending bar if your must, and when you are around 1000 hours total, then buy what multi hours you still need. chances are that between now and then, small opportunities will pop up here and there to contribute to your multi-total, and you won't have to buy nearly as many hours as you need today.

-step up your flight instruction. if you are not flying at least 50 hours a month, and billing at least 80, you might consider changing schools. you may also want to consider instructing outside the school to augment what they are paying you. when i was instructing thru a school, they only paid me $17 out of every hour i billed. when i instructed on the side, i charged $50/hour and shared it all with ME!

-if you lack your multi ratings, get those. all the way thru mei. that will enable you to take advantage of opportunities as they come up. the only other hours that i would recommend "buying" right now, would be enough to meet the insurance mins for twin rental where ever you fly (provided that they are at an attainable level). you never know when being ABLE to rent the plane might come in handy.

-quality NETWORKING should be your primary goal right now. look around for the post about the "rouge v. professional." identify persons in your area that have the characteristics of the latter and befriend them. avoid the rouges at all cost. bend yourself into the patterns and ways of the professional.

-in the grand scheme of things, the money is insignificant. if you find yourself in some great position to grab an opportunity, but lack those 50-100 multi hours, get creative. you WILL find the money.

i am not trying to bust your balls on this, and my advice is probably totally irrelevant to your personal situation, but i hope you can see the bigger picture, in that there is more to getting hired than just 100 hours of bug smashing in a seminole.

-casper1nine

 

[BushwickBill]

i am not trying to bust your balls on this, and my advice is probably totally irrelevant to your personal situation, but i hope you can see the bigger picture, in that there is more to getting hired than just 100 hours of bug smashing in a seminole.

Well I would hope so. Although that much bug smashing would cost you 20,000 bucks. Which brings me back to what I was saying: only spoild rich kids or people with family that have access to free flight time will be involved with flying in the future. SO all you guys who have 3k of time and aren't worried about it, the likelyhood that your going to be working with some guy that never had to lift a finger to get where he's at will be quite high. Or you'll be working with someone who was able to buy his seat. Like all the pay for training people going into Express Jet and ASA delta through FSI - which I decided not to do. Mostly because I coudln't afford to.

 

[casper1nine]

after paying off over 30K in debt from getting ratings and buying some multi time, and after giving over 800 hours of dual instruction, i can say that "i feel your pain" on the multi situation. in a sense, your are right, that as time goes by the percentage of "pay to play" pilots is ever increasing, but that is a trend that would take a major action to break. all i am trying to really say to you is that at 550 hours, the multi time can wait. who knows, maybe after flying another couple of hundred hours, you may be in a position better able to afford purchasing a block of twin time, or you may find that you don't need as much, due to the bits and pieces that for most of us seem to accumulate along the way. just my .02 cents, 'cause i've been there. best of luck.

caZper1Niner

 

[CaptO'Brien]

Hey Casper..im trying to find that post on the "rouge v. professional" and i cant whats it all about? another question for you...one more problem i have is that i am American/Canadian citizen and have done all my training in Canada...the rules and procedures are olmost identical between the United States and Canada but i was wondering what an employer would think about hiring a instructor that did all of his training in Canada except for the conversions and instructor ratings? The market in Canada for aviation has to be one of the worst in the world..all pilots end up working the ramp up north for a year or two getting paid welfare wages before moving into a flying position and getting even worse wages..not to mention this is up north in the freezing cold...i have flown down to the states quite a few times both IFR and VFR because i trained right on the boarder...i have recieved some advice on this but i am still contimplating saving up the money it will take to convert and deciding if it will be worth it for me to make the move down south (any where)...i dont want to pay for an instructor rating and have nobody want to hire me because i have mostly Canadian idents in my logbook...but i really want to move down south and live in the United States and i have allot of family that already does..thanks for your answers!

 

[wheelsup]

MIts next to impossible to find a flight school that has a multi engine airplane you can teach in.

You're looking in the wrong places. I signed off a fellow MEI for his checkride and a week later he was instructing in our barons (58). I wanna say he had around 25-30 multi TOTAL.

I worked at 2 other flight schools before I finally found one that was a keeper.

The school I was at before this one had no multi requirement to teach, just 200 dual given (in singles first). The school before that had no twin (hence why I moved on ).

~wheelsup

 

[casper1nine]

man captainO'.... i don't know the first thing about conversion of canadian credentials to FAA.

i do know that all other things being equal, if you have an F double A issued CFI, and are otherwise legally able to work in the US, i (as a potential employer) would give no special or additional consideration to that fact that the majority of your flying was done in canada. now, if you had been flying in let's say... france, well that is a different story! seriously, i don't work for or own a flight school, and am not in a position to hire cfi's, but i have run two flight schools in my "career," and don't think that your canadian flight hours would be frowned upon by a potential employer.

best of luck to you and bwbill

 

[CaptO'Brien]

yea i have found out how to convert my licenses (its very easy since eveything is so similar) and i am unrestricted to work in the United States...i just dont want to spend money buying an instructor rating and then find out its no use because i didnt do the majority of my flying in the United states...i will eventually live and work in the united states but i just want to start my career in aviation down there because up here its just a joke...Tossing bags for less than minimum wage for two years for a not always promised flight position...anyhow thanks for your imput i appreciate your help..im sure whatever i decide i will make it...i always seem to find a way

 

[BushwickBill]

Captain O' B,

Bro Im laughing my ass off because when I was in Canada I wanted to work up there because of all the opportunity for young pilots who wouldn't mind flying bush. I guess the grass is greener. Best of luck to you.

And thanks Casper19,

Seriously being told not to be a winer is cool. I dont mind. I just feel like it isn't fair that people can buy seats at the airlines while I slog away in a 152.

 

[HMR]

Seriously being told not to be a winer is cool. I dont mind. I just feel like it isn't fair that people can buy seats at the airlines while I slog away in a 152.

It wasn't that long ago (relatively) that I was slogging around in a 152. Now I have a better job than any of my airline buddies (including captains). Keep your chin up!

 

[CaptO'Brien]

Bushwick..times must have changed since you were up here cause people are working for free pratically and getting treated like crap flying planes in the bush...my one buddy works near the artic circle flying natives around in a 207 for $3 dollars an hour!! and he gets millage but it isnt very much he said even if he maxed out on it he wouldnt even make min wage (the opperation he works for is extremely sketchy)...i have talked to a couple people down in the US whom have converted and are making more than they would in the same position in Canada...also if you go on a Canadian forum like this one most people talk about not having jobs or how hard it is to get a job...on here ppl mostly talk about which are the better jobs..im pretty sure the grass is truly greener down south...otherwise i would definately save the money and get my ATPL up here and convert...only prob is i wouldnt get enough hours for my ATPL for awhile because i would be working the ramp forever. Out of 5 friends that just finished training 4 are working the ramp and the one i mentioned above only got that position because he has 1300 hours on a cessna because he owns his own!! Anyhow i just want to do whats best so yea believe me i am willing to do what it takes i am more than willing to work in the bush to earn my time i just want to use my dual citizenship to my advantage...

 

[casper1nine]

bushwkr, you're not whining, the situation IS really screwed up.

 

[tuna pimp]

...i have talked to a couple people down in the US whom have converted and are making more than they would in the same position in Canada...also if you go on a Canadian forum like this one most people talk about not having jobs or how hard it is to get a job...on here ppl mostly talk about which are the better jobs..im pretty sure the grass is truly greener down south...

I totally agree with this. I did a few years of undergrad at a college with a good aviation program in Canada and bolted first chance I had for the USA. Though I still love my home and native land, (and return regularly for my 'double-double' fix at Tim's) the aviation job market is night and day to how it is here in the Southland. No comparison.

 

[tuna pimp]

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