Who's door can I beat down.....

[pipe]

As Bringupthebird said your value as a 500 hour pilot is minimal. If you really want stability, benefits and QOL, you should stay at the hotel. If you find a job in aviation with 500 hours, it will probably be from a bottom feeder company that wont provide benefits, long term opportunities, or QOL. I can't imagine any aviation company offering benefits for working 2 days a week.

I have been instructing for over 3 years as an indepedent, because the school where I was locally was one of those scheister(sp?) schools we all read about, and I refused to be exploited that way. Once I had enough clients I was making a decent income and had the freedom to dictate my own schedule. I had to work 7 days a week, and no insurance. I did have a lot of opportunities come up as a result of this but only in single engine aircraft.

Looking back on it I wish I had gone to a busy flight school, got my hours and got my next job. If I had done that I would have about 1000 hours of turbine by now instead of only 78 hours of multi. But then again if I look back at my projected career path 5 years ago when I signed up to become a pilot; I should be sitting in some heavy metal, working 12 days a month and making 6 figures, not flying Tomahawks.

Get your hours up however you can, flight instructing is the easiest way to do that. Don't waste time at a school that doesn't provide you a lot of students, flight instructing can be hard enough without waisting years getting nowhere. I know of one in Central TX needing a flight instructor soon, you will get 70 hours a month minimum, if you are willing to fly a Tomahawk. I also know people who flew for Southern Sea planes in New Orleans with 500 hours, it can be a frightening experience but a good way to build hours. PM me and I can put you in touch with some of their ex-pilots if you want more details.

If you really let someone convince you of that you were gonna be disappointed no matter what!

PIPE

 

[highalti2d]

Check out some of the operators (2 or 3 of them) flying scenic tours over the Grand Canyon. Friends of mine have done it and they hire low-timers cuz they figure guys will stay for the hours. Don't know about pay QOL, or flight time. Most are multi, some are twin turbine (otters). That or skydiving flights till you get out of 1000-1200, if you want to avoid the CFI route. If youget a couple of hundred more hours (~800) you can actually earn a decent income flying in AK. Benefits and an okay paycheque, if its a place you want to live. The canyon stuff is surprisingly minimal on flight time, don't discount it.

 

[jaxpilot]

come on down to FL, been loggin 80-110 hours a month since March, went from 350 to 900 hours TT since then. I dont screw my students either.

 

[mcjohn]

Well I just got back from towing banners on the Jersey Shore all summer. Whew! I'm glad I got that one out of me. I'm soooo glad to be home alive and with no violations. They started me at $16 an hour, gave free training and free travel trailer accomodations. I flew the J-3, PA-12, and PA-18 all about equal time. A work week was 6-7 days every week for 3.5 months. I still haven't totalled my log book but I flew somewhere between 4-500 hours during that time. Airport to airport XC was obtained because we refueled at WWD 3 miles south of our field (JY04) almost every day. We'd tow for 4 hours, drop the banner without landing and head south to refuel. That's 4 hours of apt/apt XC.

I learned a lot. I learned just how danerous towing really is (especially on the Jersey Shore.) I'd say the drops are the most dangerous. A friend of mine at a nearby company crashed and burned a pawnee his first day flying it. He's still in the burn ward in Philly.

I learned to hand prop for starts (planes had no electrical system.) I performed general maintenance on the planes I flew. Each pilot was responsible to clean or replace plugs, filters, keeps records etc...

 

[mcjohn]

Nice pictures:

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/mcjohn766/TheFleet.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/mcjohn766/Pickup2.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/mcjohn766/Pickup3.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/mcjohn766/JerseyShore.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/mcjohn766/Yellowtail.jpg
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m81/mcjohn766/Landing.jpg

 

[Master Shake]

There's an outfit called a i r t a h o m a in Columbus. They'll abuse the holy living daylights out of you. They'll also hire you. Why, because as the owner will tell you, "you are just there to fill a seat and meet an FAR". I hope you aren't this desperate.

 

[frmrBUFFdrvr]

Keep instructing, you can build a lot of time if you want it. I had to cancel flights sometimes to avoid going over 8 hours. Milk every 1/10 hour you can, the Hobbs meter is the only instrument that matters in that trainer. Here are some useful tips I picked up for getting the most out of each lesson.

-Actually enforce the suggested "walking-pace" taxi speed
-In flight, say "my airplane" often and for no reason and show them something useless
-Tell them to go around for no reason, even if it is a flawless approach
-If starting out with a fresh private student, teach them to use a slower than normal cruise power setting. they won't know the difference
-Make up a bogus practice area that takes 30 minutes to get to
-After they park and are about to shut down, tell them it would be better to park on the other side of the ramp
-If you suspect the Hobbs meter is going to roll over one more 1/10th (you can tell when it starts twitching) and your student is about to shut down, just begin a sentence and keep talking as if it's relevant to the lesson. Most students won't shut down the engine while you are in the middle of a sentence. You can stop talking once the Hobbs rolls over.
-Oh, and if your school makes you a check airman you can fail lots of people and then they will have to come back to you again for a re-take.

That is the most selfish, dishonest thing I have ever read. If you are going to take a job flight instructing to build time, at least do a good job of it and not just rape your student for YOUR flight time.

 

[big_al]

I think it was a joke... or so I hope

 

[frmrBUFFdrvr]

I think it was a joke... or so I hope

I hope so too. It just sounded more like it was experience talking.

 

[pgcfii2002]

Try Scenic out of VGT...I think their mins are 650/50.