working the line

[John2375]

I'm am where I am today because I worked the line @ SRQ.

Forgot to ask.. where are you today?? Judging by your avatar are you flying for a corporate?? How did all that come about?
thanks for your time...

 

[Capthuff]

Working the line, you meet the pilots and the people in the back. They are the two people you need to know. Work hard, ask questions and be helpful. Before you know it someone will taxi in in a King Air or something and need a copilot.
Alot of the pilots/airplane owners based there are looking for someone to fly with them. Whether it's a 172, 210, Seneca or an Arrow, you can learn alot from doing X-Cs with friends you make at the airport.
Another thing is to read every aviation magazine and sales magazine you find cover to cover, even ProPilot. Most of it is rubbish but someone new to aviation can learn from it. This way you'll be knowledgable when you have conversations with potential bosses (everyone you see on the ramp is a potential boss). They will see your knowledge and desire and not care that you are perhaps lower time then someone else.

Above all work hard and you will prosper.

See you in SRQ someday. I'm not based there but I get there from time to time.

 

[jaxpilot]

Ive worked in Line service for almost 2 years now. What everyone else said is pretty much right (except pay might be a little on the high side, most places ive seen start at 8-10 an hour). Smaller GA fields are better for networking unless you have high time. I used to work at a GA Airport and pump Avgas all the time but now I work at an Intl airport and never see a piston. Once you have experience as a line tech, it is easy to find jobs doing it because it takes a long time to teach someone that has no aviation background to tell the difference between airplanes, let alone fuel the differnet types. I can honestly say that I never dread going into work though, it beats working retail or restaurant.

 

[AKMac]

Everyone is pretty much spot on. I'm a line supervisor at Million Air SLC. Like everyone said, expect a lot of complaining from your co-workers, working weekends, and a lot of time working in the weather. Also expect the fbo management to get on your case a lot. Management's attitude gets really old after a while, and they tend to keep the turn-over rate pretty high and morale very low.

Those are the bad things, here's some of the good.

You'll get to meet some of the coolest people/crews which if your good at networking, will go a long ways when you need a job flying. You'll also see some of the coolest airplanes. I've been on AN-124's, a TU-154, every biz jet, and almost every airliner. You'll get to know the in's and out's of every biz jet and piston real quickly.

All in all, it can be a fun job if you work with the right people. I love my line crew, but management takes it toll on me.