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type of work found?

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What type of work have you found?

  • Flying job (any full time)

    Votes: 260 48.3%

  • Military (active, guard, or reserve)

    Votes: 32 5.9%

  • non-flying job

    Votes: 102 19.0%

  • still out of work

    Votes: 144 26.8%
  • Total voters
    538
After 15 years working maintenance from Rosenbalm, Rich Intl, TWA, Piedmont, Swissair, etc, etc... I got tired of all the lay-offs and recalls. I figured I'd try this piloting thing out. Ha! Since I've hung up the toolbox keys, I've had more fun but job searching is constant..... and I'm way down the ladder from you experienced guys. I'm not sure where I'm going to end up, but I hope it works out somehow.
 
I tried different companies, different types of flying and at the end i got a great job at the fiancial industry, pays good money and i can spend quality time with my wife and friends. i love aviation and i'll keep flying for fun.
Good luck to everyone
 
Started rehabing houses a few months before furlough in May. Sold the first one yesterday. Profit almost as much as a year on the line. Second one will be done in a few weeks. It can be dirty work sometimes, but, nothing beats working for yourself (or your wife, in my case).
 
Home Building

Rudderdog,

I was laid off in winter of 2003 and started building homes for a living. I have made more money in the last two years than in all my 15 as a professional pilot. At this point it would be hard to go back. Are you planning to return to flying?

Skyline
 
Skyline said:
Rudderdog,

Are you planning to return to flying?

Skyline
Click to expand...

Tough question! Right now I have recall rights at AA and ATA. Also, I was scheduled to be in the next Polar class. Which could have worked well with the 2 weeks off in a row. It was cancelled though due to the strike. So for now, I'm busting my ass on two houses trying to make enough bank to put off the flying gigs for a long while. Hopefully this will snowball and I can soon have a reality show to find a good apprentice.
 
Furloughed from UAL took a B727 job at TransMeridian which worked out well for about 2.5 years, got a free DC-9 type before they went CHAP7. I am now looking again!

4 airlines and counting!
 
Ted.........

Welcome to the Club!
It most likely will not be your last as you rightyly surmise. I've done 6 so far and decided self-employed contrator was the best for me. So far, it's worked out fine and I only work when I want to. However, there are a few downsides.......
Good luck in whatever you decide!
 
b757driver said:
Welcome to the Club!
It most likely will not be your last as you rightyly surmise. I've done 6 so far and decided self-employed contrator was the best for me. So far, it's worked out fine and I only work when I want to. However, there are a few downsides.......
Good luck in whatever you decide!
Click to expand...

How did you go about the "self-employed" contractor route?
 
b757driver

b757driver, TED pilot

I thought you were flying overseas these days? I am a self-employed contractor as well. It depends on the state that you live in but I build homes for myself and keep them as rentals. Others do the same and sell them upon completion. The rules are vague here in WA state but you can do these things without a contractors license so long as you can claim to have build the home with the "intent" to live there.

Skyline
 
Ted.........

Easy, go work for any number of crew leasing agencies who hire out your services to airline clients on either short-term or long-term contracts. It's all tax-free (you are responsible for everything since salary or fee, as they call it, is always gross. There are NO deductions of any kind, at least not where I am), paid in USDs plus daily per diem.
The agencies include Parc, Direct Personnel, Rishworth & Airborne, all of them are overseas companies.
It's worked for me for almost 2 years and I've gotten a free 747 type out of it plus the opportunity to go places you would not normally. Mind you, some places you would never want to go back to. Be prepared for long time away from home initially, so if this does not appeal, then it's probably not for you. Having said that, it sure beats unemployment and I have come across plenty of furloughed/laid off US and Canadian pilots in my outfit.
I'm going home next month, 1 month's vacation then on another contract for 2 months with a big fat bonus, lol!
If you want more details, PM me.

747driver - currently based ASI (Ascencion Island, S. Atlantic. If you don't know where that is, look it up in the Atlas. Clue: similar to the Azores, only further S!!)
 
Ted/Skyline:

Lest anyone be confused, my self-employed contractor is as in self-employed pilot, independent contractor, not as in the building trade!
The definition comes from the fact that my fee comes from the agency but I wear a certain uniform and end up flying for a bunch of different airlines. Since I have been on the 747, I have flown both freight only and pax for no less than 3 airlines - all in the last 4 months! How's that for variety?
 
Skyline said:
B757Driver,

Are your initials MB and do you have a southern accent?

Skyline
Click to expand...

Nope, I'm not Mark Brasfield and my accent has been called many things but never southern!:) More like mid-Atlantic.........
 
B757driver:
Thanks for filling us all in on the contract options. Let me ask this, during your time flying contract, what is the longest time you have been unemployed, i.e. between contracts? Also, on the average, what do you take home including perdiem? Thanks in advance.

P.S. BTW what is the website for airborne? I have tried various combinations, but no luck in finding the airborne website. Also did you register with all of them or one particular one that is giving you all the work. thanks again.

Xtwapilot
 
Frontier, the last I had heard.

Skyline said:
Do you know where MB ended up?

Skyline
Click to expand...
:beer:
 
xtwapilot said:
B757driver:
Thanks for filling us all in on the contract options. Let me ask this, during your time flying contract, what is the longest time you have been unemployed, i.e. between contracts? Also, on the average, what do you take home including perdiem? Thanks in advance.

P.S. BTW what is the website for airborne? I have tried various combinations, but no luck in finding the airborne website. Also did you register with all of them or one particular one that is giving you all the work. thanks again.

Xtwapilot
Click to expand...

I have been in continuous employment ever since I left the US to work overseas! The type of work I do is called ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Mx & Insurance) and the company I work for is the largest in the business.
Basically, I am employed by a crew leasing agency who contracts me to an ACMI airline. They, then in turn, get various contracts for periods ranging from 4 weeks to 4 years. In the almost 2 years I have been there, I have flown the 757 and the 767ETOPs from various bases worldwide and late last year the company wanted a bunch of new 747 drivers. So....they paid us to go get a 747 type rating. No previous time on type but does that really matter. Maybe in the US but not elsewhere.
The only long-term unemployment I had was after my last 121 company went belly up. Despite a brand new type rating (courtesy of the WIA) plus time in that type and currency on two types, could not even get an interview stateside - I was not "competitive" enough, ha, ha!! Apparently, I'm holding my own flying international 747s globally.....After 2 UB extensions, I finally ran out of money (and ideas) and it was around this time that I got this job. Was unemployed in the US for around 16 months, never anywhere else. Guess that speaks volumes.
Pay here is OK and is all in USDs with commercial tkts to/from home plus hotel/apartments and breakfast. Apart from that, no bennies. Oh, you can work as much or as little as you want before you take a break. Not may companies do that. I'm taking Nov off then back for 2 months for a special project.
I could have applied to the likes of Kalitta or Southern or Evergreen but I ALREADY earn 2-3 times more a month than what they would pay me and then I would also have deductions on top of that!
Not sure whether Airborne has a website or not. I don't think they will be doing any more hiring (training bottleneck) until the new year anyway. The other agency is www.directpersonnel.com . I used only one and had friends already working at the airline. That gave me a heads up on what it was like before I even got here. Also, try a search on the British www.pprune.com for ACMI work and agencies in Europe. You should find plenty of info - good and bad there. Hope that answers yr questions. Good luck!
 
Doesn't contract flying require high amounts of time and lots of type ratings? Also is there the possibility that you won't like the company your flying for but your stuck since you signed a contract?
 
Yes and No.
Usually you will need a type in the aircraft that they operate. At the very least, some time and currency is prefered. It's like any other flying job in that sense.
If you do your homework before you join, then you should not have too many problems. I ahve worked for one airline which I did not care for but it was a short rotation of 2 months and I will not be going bak there as I had the opportunity to change my fleet as well as base. It's a bit like you scratch my back & I'll scratch yours.
This particular ACMI job IS different from the more normal agency "fixed-term" contract where you go for 1 year, 3 or 5 years with the same airline. Although I work for one ACMI airline and wear one uniform all the time, the aircraft I fly may have different logos. It's called wet lease. I've worked for 5 airlines in my two years but I have not changed my employer, if you follow. I know it can be confusing but this is a unique company and variety is certainly the spice of life. As an independent contractor, I could refuse an assignment (which I've never done although I have been reluctant to go to certain places) but then they will most likely not call you for your services.
The contract is a yearly ad hoc one but I might change it at the next renewal to give a better rotation of 6 on, 2 off.
There is a certain amount of flexibility in this type of work and for me, it works while I'm waiting to see if there are opportunities back home worth taking or stay here a while, get my command and make up for all those months of unemployment when no one would give me time of day. The boot is on the other foot now!
 
LazyB

LazyB,

Hey were you at N7 too? You might have told me that joke about the guy who services the sewer tanks on jetliners and is covered in human waste everday. When asked "why not get a better job" and his reply was "And Leave Aviation"?

That same guy once told me that he "wasted his youth flying seaplanes in SE Alaska". Are you that guy?

Skyline
 
working abroad

There is currently a hiring boom going on abroad, espically in China and in India at the moment. In India they are very short of crews, butr its only for captns. For example, there is one company that need 18 A320 captns as soonb as possiable. %00 hrs min on the type pic, pay is 7,000 us dollars a month, tax free, housing is free etc. Live like a king in India with that, but the problem is is that its not for everyone. You have to remember that its their country, repect their ideas. I currently work for a lowley regional but I have a very good family friend who actually recruits for a few of these places, so if any one is intrested PM me Iand i will forward the resume or get you more info. Its crazy how we are doing so badly here but the rest of the world is booming. Good luck to everyone.
 
psysicx said:
Another question is it possible to do contract work in Europe? It seems most require a JAA.
Click to expand...

You are partially correct, most do but not all. Airborne Personnel and Direct Personnel are just two agencies that regularly recruit ICAO ATPL incl. FAA licensed personnel for various contracts. Matter of fact, I have both FAA & JAR medicals but my license is FAA as are my type ratings and I can fly legally with these because I have a European validation which my company gives me (valid for 1 year because they kinda expect you to get a full JAR license after a while). However, I have been here almost 2 years and they have renewed it once when I switched (@company's behest) to another aircraft type. There are plenty of Americans and Canadians here with similar circumstances. You don't even need a "right to live and work in EU", not sure why but we have many worldwide bases not just in Europe and we do move around quite a bit.
So the answer is it depends on the wording of the contract, If it says MUST have JAR license, then you're basically screwed. However, if it says ICAO/FAA/JAR, then that's different. Ask the company up front.
Hope that helps.
 
wisdom over the years

fly airplanes if thats your passion but always have something unrelated to flying on the side. ive learned not to have my eggs in one basket with anything in this business.
 

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