speaking of pilots

[freaksister 0]

i just read that post about aviation pics and it prompted me to write this:
i have always wanted to be a pilot, mainly small aircraft...but one of my bros tells me you can't make money doing it unless you go commercial...true??
so pilots of the dz.com world, talk to me! even if i'm broke can i still be a jump pilot and live at the dz or something? i tend to look at life like this: i would rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable, so i am seriously considering a change...
sis
"What we're all really seeking is something where we can feel the rapture of being alive."J.Campbell

[Krishan 0]

Sis. I'm a pilot. I fly Cessna 172's. It is the coolest thing I have done after skydiving.
Sadly it is true, that commercial pilots that dont fly for big airlines dont make that much at all. But if it is something you love, that's all you need.
It's awesome, you oughta check it out.
Later.
Krishan

[Shark 0]

Pick your poison....BTW, why DO they call geeks propeller-heads??

[Monk 0]

Heya Sis!
Long time no see. I hate to be the one who dashes your dreams...so I won't. But I will give it to you straight. First to get your private pilot license you will prolly spend anywhere from $3000-4500. And that is on the low end. Then you need your commercial ticket. That will run you anywhere from $7000-$10000. And most places you want to work for will require an instrument rating. That will cost around $4000. So...it is VERY expensive to get your ratings. And my DZ pays it's pilots around $100 per day. That's not bad coin...and if you took out loans to pay for the certificates $100 per day can allow you to pay them back and still have some kind of expendable cash. But here is my BIGGEST peice of advice! If you want to do it....DO IT! Don't ever let something like this be the thing you talk about when you are in your rocking chair. You'll deep down be soooo disappointed with yourself. And the other peice of advice is....WHY NOT GO TO THE BIG AIRLINES!??! You get to make A LOT of money and fly to any DZ you want for free...AND have multiple days off in a row to jump as much as you can. That is my route...and I LOVE IT. I couldn't possibly think of a better life.
So I say DO IT! But if you do...do it all the way! It's a great life and there is a shortage of pilots now.
Love My Freaksis!
Ciao
Monk

[MC208B 0]

Hi Sis. I work as an airframe and powerplant mechanic in Portland Oregon. I soloed when I was 16 and got my private license when I was 17. Planned on being a pilot for a living but started getting high to much (hey, everyone did in the early 70's!). Anyway, you can make a living outside of airline flying these days. Once you get your IFR 135 minimums, you can make around 40 grand a year flying freight and such. Actually, I am now 47 and am seriously thinking about getting my comm and inst ratings and pursuing that old dream of being a pilot. Tired of bending wrenches! I checked out at the DZ where I jump and will start hauling jumpers there this weekend (if it doesn't rain to much). Free flying time in that old 182 ratwagon and free jumps to for doing the flying. And if the FAA is watching, naw, that isn't "compensation" LOL!!! Mike

[Dutchboy 0]

Flying is way more expensive than skydiving. Getting a private pilots license takes an average of about 70 hours. You can expect to pay an instructor for 30 of these hours $30/hr. Even a small two seat plane (Cessna 150) will cost about $45-50/hr to rent so your private pilot's license is going to cost you about $4k.
Guess what, you need 250 flight hours to be a comercial pilot which means you can get paid to fly other people. You might technically be able to fly other people if you aren't paid, but if you crash the insurance company probably won't cover you and you might have problems with the FAA.
I don't want to discourage you from following a dream, but you should know what you are getting into. A comercial pilot's license is easily going to run you $15k. You could do it for less if you buy your own plane (figure $20k for a Cessna 150) and then sell it when you are done training and then buy something else (like a Cessna 182).
Jump pilots and charter pilots don't make much. If you want to fly something that is multi-engine that requires an additional rating. You'll likely want to pick up an instrument rating as well along the way.
To make the big dollars you need to get an ATP (airline transport pilot) license which requires 1500 hours. Then you can be a first officer making practically nothing for a few years till you make captain and triple your salary.

[FreeflyPlaymate 0]

Sis,
Pilot's do NOT get paid alot of money, regardless of what rating they hold. You'd be amazed at how many jump pilot's have their ATP and still fly jumpers...it's so they keep their freedom. Airline pilot's have a very strict schedule...jump pilot's fly VFR...and get to keep alot of "freedom"...the freedom that drives most pilot's I would imagine, myself included....still a student pilot in 172s actually. I've sat co-pilot many times in the otters out here....it's very hard sometimes to watch everyone leave and still be in the plane...but then you just nose it over and race them down lol nothing like watching the jump from the plane lol....go for it sis!
**BLUE ONES**

BITE ME.... :P

[Slowfaller 0]

Quote

i tend to look at life like this: i would rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable

Sis,
Thats exactly what i think and when i tell people i plan on living in a trailer, skydiving, and loving life, they always have a puzzled look on their face and ask, " live in a trailer?" i say hell yeah, i work 5 days a week right now, in an office, next to a window. All day planes fly over my head ( right by ohare airport ) and its pure torture!! All this crap is not needed to live. I'm pretty unhappy and i make good money ( for my age ) and i dont feel its worth it. I just needed to share w/ my fellow skydivers. What's your thought on this?
Blue skies, cold beer
chris

[flyboy62000 0]

Sis,
There is good money in the major airlines, large freight haulers (UPS, FedEx, Airborne, etc.) and in Corporate aviation. It will cost about $4000 for a private pilot's license which allows you to fly VFR with passengers, but not for compensation. The Instrument rating allows you to fly into and through clouds which greatly increases the flying you can do. The commercial pilot's license requires at least 250 hours under FAR Part 61 reqirements and allows you to fly passengers and cargo for hire. You definately want to get an instrument rating if you are planning on getting a commercial pilot's license or you can't fly passengers outside of 50 miles. All told a Commercial license with Instrument and Multi-Engine ratings will cost about $20,000 - $25,000 it is expensive, but if flying is what you want to do I would say go for it. I am currently working on my instrument rating on the way to a commercial license with multi-engine and CFII ratings. It is costing me an arm and a leg and I will be in debt for a while, but there is nothing in the world I would rather do than fly. I hope the info helps you. You can't make any money as a private pilot, but you can have lots of fun traveling to places and flying friends around (carrying friends help make flying cheaper because if you bring 3 friends along you can all split the cost of the airplane 4 ways). If flying is what you would like to do, go for it. The money is in the places mentioned above, but to get there you will need to get the ratings and build time at jobs that don't pay a whole lot.
In the big jobs you can make $40,000 as a first year First Officer and up to $200,000 as a senior captain for some airlines. To get hired as a first officer you don't need to be an ATP, just a commercial pilot. To be a captain you will need an ATP. Corporate pilots need a commercial pilot's license with appropriate ratings for the type of airplane you will be flying. I hope the info helps you.
Blue Skies,
Adam

[freaksister 0]

Hey guys! Thanks for all the great responses! I am going to go for it, but not immediately. I knew the private pilot's license would be around four or five grand but didn't know commercial ratings cost that much. It will take a few years to get all that under my belt.
Hey slowfaller, I was talking to my friend Heather last night about this same thing! We were like, yeah we just want to be dz heads who make our living that way and don't have to work a normal job anymore. Its hard to make money skydiving and as a pilot, but I would be the happiest person in the world if I did!
Sis
"What we're all really seeking is something where we can feel the rapture of being alive."J.Campbell

[BFK 0]

Hey Freaksis!
Only thought I would add-
If it costs conservatively 27,000 to get all the ratings you need to be a pilot, that is the equivolent to 1500 skydives (assuming you are paying $18 a jump).
That's the thing that keeps me from learning to fly.
If I ever give up on skydiving for some reason, then I will definitely learn to fly. But as long as I am jumping I can't afford both.
But follow your dreams no matter what and if you really want to do ANYTHING, you should do it. We all get only one chance at life.
Brad Koch

[SpeedRacer 1]

Personally, I just prefer to jump out of them at 14000 ft. If I became a pilot, this would be awfully hard on the planes I flew.
Speed Racer
"Blue Skies, Red eyes, Sore thighs!"

[SpeedRacer 1]

It would be cool if someone could invent a robot pilot which could just land the plane for you. Then the pilot would get to jump!
Speed Racer
"Blue Skies, Red eyes, Sore thighs!"

[miked10270 0]

Hi Sis,
Just a stray thought, but why not apply direct to airlines? The reason I suggest this is that I know that BA has just started to take "Cadets" again - that is people with ZERO flying experience & they're training them from scratch).
Apparently the reason for this is that the supply of ex air force leavers has dried up to the extent that they can no longer rely on the forces to train the next generation of commercial pilots as happened during the '70s & '80s! Defence cutbacks = smaller airforces = less pilots leaving forces year on year = shortage of commercial pilots!
One other (sneaky) option... Is your local Air National Guard recruiting? Just don't do quite well enough to get "fast jets", get "trash haulers"... Not so glamorous, but guess what the airlines want?
Mike D10270.

[Deleted 0]

What is BA?
What airlines are offering this training?
Are they paying for it?

[Monk 0]

Hey Mike,
Unfortunately NONE of the Airlines in the states have caught on to the idea of hiring and then training pilots from Zero time. And BA has this nasty aversion to hiring us Yanks. Go figure. By the by...your BA boys get trained right next door to Lufthansa (My Company) and your boys just had a wing ding (literally).
Ciao
Monk

[dove 0]

Sis,
I am not a pilot but I had this conversation with one before at a DZ. It was his day off and he was making FREE jumps all day long - an incredible perk! FREE JUMPS!!!!! All you need then is enough income to eat and sleep! Can I be on your first load?
Elisa

[miked10270 0]

Heh Heh heh!
I guess the BA pilot is in deep Smegola for not "getting on the Jerry's tail" . Either that or (if he has any sense of humour) he could always try & say his Gandfather used to knock out V-1s in the war so doing this is in his genes!!!!!
Mike D10270.

[Dirtsucks 0]

Freaksis, just for an alternate perspective, I became a private pilot with no intention of making any money off of it. I just loved the idea of cruising around in the sky in a little airplane going wherever I happened to want to go at the moment. And I did just that. If you don’t want to make a career out of it, being just a private pilot is really awesome. I need to say that I gave up flying for skydiving, but it really was a close call, if money was no factor, I’d still be flying now. I really want to skydive more than anything else, but I really miss flying around in my little Cessna I rented almost every weekend. I still remember the last flight I was on, over two years ago. I didn’t file a flight plan or anything. I departed Anoka County airport, MN and just told the tower “departing North”, not having any idea where I was really going. I loved that freedom. I ended up going kind of north eastish, over Forest Lake and a remember cruising over the lake at about 1000 feet with the window open, and my arm hanging out of it, like you’d do in a car, and thinking “this is where it’s at!” My point is, if you want to make flying you’re career, if that’s what your dream is, then, absolutely, go for it!! But I’d also like to say that if you have second thoughts and think that it’s just too much, then get your private license anyway, it will open up a whole new world to you. It really is awesome!!
Damn, I kind of miss it know…
Josh

[Aviatrr 0]

Quote

so pilots of the dz.com world, talk to me! even if i'm broke can i still be a jump pilot and live at the dz or something? i tend to look at life like this: i would rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable, so i am seriously considering a change...

Flying is not cheap, that's for sure.. I have read all the posts in this thread, and the costs seem pretty accurate to me.. I have been flying for 7 years now, and I have just over 5,000 hours of flight time, an Airline Transport Pilot certificate, 4 type ratings(ratings to be Captain on specific turboprops and jets), and a Flight Instructor certificate.. I am a Captain on a corporate jet(BAE Hawker 800) for a fractional ownership company.. It's kind of like time shares in a condo, but we do it with corporate jets.. I love to fly - I wouldn't be doing this for a living if I didn't.. I make decent money, and have every other week off, but I spend too much time away from home and shoulder too much responsibility to do it if I didn't love it.. The passenger jet flying can get boring at times, but it can also be quite challenging.. I fly jumpers on occasion, but I hate being at the DZ on a nice day and not jumping, so not often.. I fly aerobatic airplanes now and then, and plan on buying one in the next few months..
To fly for any kind of a commercial operation, whether you are being paid or not, you must have at least a commercial pilot certificate.. That requires 250 hours under FAR Part 61.. If you're lucky, you could probably find a plane to rent for $45 an hour.. That is not including instructor, which will obviously be required for some of the time.. Once you get a Private certificate, an instructor will not be required for most of the flying you do towards a Commercial certificate.. It's just a matter of building time and experience.. Go to a local flight school and ask about a demo flight.. Most flight schools will do a 30 minute demo flight for $25-30.. The isntructor will takeoff and land, but you will fly the airplane once at a safe altitude.. It's kinda like a Tandem - just to get your feet wet..
Good luck.. If you do go through with it, and you come up with any questions, feel free to ask.. There are several of us here that are accomplished and experienced pilots that will be happy to answer your questions..
Mike

[Aviatrr 0]

Quote

so pilots of the dz.com world, talk to me! even if i'm broke can i still be a jump pilot and live at the dz or something? i tend to look at life like this: i would rather be poor and happy than rich and miserable, so i am seriously considering a change...

Flying is not cheap, that's for sure.. I have read all the posts in this thread, and the costs seem pretty accurate to me.. I have been flying for 7 years now, and I have just over 5,000 hours of flight time, an Airline Transport Pilot certificate, 4 type ratings(ratings to be Captain on specific turboprops and jets), and a Flight Instructor certificate.. I am a Captain on a corporate jet(BAE Hawker 800) for a fractional ownership company.. It's kind of like time shares in a condo, but we do it with corporate jets.. I love to fly - I wouldn't be doing this for a living if I didn't.. I make decent money, and have every other week off, but I spend too much time away from home and shoulder too much responsibility to do it if I didn't love it.. The passenger jet flying can get boring at times, but it can also be qu