Skydive Kaui Needs Pilot

[Steve]

Is it possible to make a living in Hawaii only flying skydivers?! Sign me up then.

Probibly not at $5/load which seems to be the average pay.

 

[mcjohn]

$5 per load? WTF?!

 

[Steve]

$5 per load? WTF?!

Welcome to the skydiving biz. The highest i've heard for flying cessna dropping meatballs was $10. That was in a 207. $6/load was the best I ever got and that was after a few months and about 150 hours of flying them.

 

[mcjohn]

How many loads per hour?

 

[Steve]

How many loads per hour?

To 10,500 and down took me .5 on average so you'll be luck to get 2 an hour. Any faster then that and you'll start shock cooling the engine. That was in a clapped out 182A. I'd be interested to find out how bust this place is. Kaui is in the record books for highest rainfall on earth (460"/year on average). Not sure how that affects business.

 

[mcjohn]

Interesting. How about getting down. Any techniques? I like doing the ol emergency decent every now and then. Full flaps, pitching for the top of the white arc in a 45 degree bank. I think I can decend about 2000 fpm in a 172 that way.

 

[Hand Commander]

I was getting $12.50 per tach hour flying pretty nice (I know, sounds weird for a jump plane) 182's. Anything higher than 10,000' feet usually equates to 2 loads per hour. Definitely a time building job to be supplemented by something else that can pay the bills. Now if you can find a gig flying a turbine, you can actually make enough coin to live on. Bigger operations usually pay 15 bucks a load and you can do 3 loads a hour if its an efficient operation. Do that 20-25 times a day on the weekends and its not that bad of a payday. I actually get a weekly minimum no matter what, so if we get weathered out for weeks on end, I can still eat.

 

[Ill Mitch]

I was getting $12.50 per tach hour flying pretty nice (I know, sounds weird for a jump plane) 182's. Anything higher than 10,000' feet usually equates to 2 loads per hour. Definitely a time building job to be supplemented by something else that can pay the bills. Now if you can find a gig flying a turbine, you can actually make enough coin to live on. Bigger operations usually pay 15 bucks a load and you can do 3 loads a hour if its an efficient operation. Do that 20-25 times a day on the weekends and its not that bad of a payday. I actually get a weekly minimum no matter what, so if we get weathered out for weeks on end, I can still eat.

When I flew a Twotter, I was getting a buck a head, but we carried 20+ jumpers at a whack. I averaged 3 loads per hour.

 

[Hand Commander]

When I flew a Twotter, I was getting a buck a head, but we carried 20+ jumpers at a whack. I averaged 3 loads per hour.

Dammit! Sounds like I'm getting hosed. I need to renegotiate because a full load for me is 23. Anyone have the number for Jackie Chiles? "It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous."

 

[Steve]

Interesting. How about getting down. Any techniques? I like doing the ol emergency decent every now and then. Full flaps, pitching for the top of the white arc in a 45 degree bank. I think I can decend about 2000 fpm in a 172 that way.

No flaps, we like to get down fast. In the 182 its about 20" and 2200 while pitching for the top of the white. The VSI only goes to 4,000FPM and its always bottomed out. I usually do a rec. course down or whatever it takes to keep the canopys in view.