Tweet
Originally posted by oldmako69
View Post
I started driving the fuel truck. I moved up to mowing the tie-downs and cleaning hangars, painting the office washing and waxing planes etc......
While I was doing this I got my tickets and began teaching. This is a fairly common path. Unfortunately, we only had single engine planes. What I needed was multi-engine experience. Without that, you're not going anywhere.
Eventually, I get a charter job which consisted mainly of hang ing around the office and answering phones. I would also work up quotes and arrange trips (broker) when someone needed a plane with capabilities beyond ours or when we couldn't help them. This was most of the time, unfortunately.
Paydays were random and seldom, but every once in a while I'd get to spin the radios in someone's Baron, 421, Chieftain, etc. Eventually, guys would trust me and let me fly the empty reposition legs. I made about $6000 that year working full time out of National Airport in Washington DC. That was some serious glamour. I flew with a wide variety of pilots in a wide variety of (mostly) beat up and marginal airplanes. I managed to stay alive and logged some hours.
On weekends, I flew jumpers for ten bucks an hour. There's a reason jump planes have an easy open door and the pilot wears a parachute as well. The planes are junk and you want an easy way out. One wing green, the other white, the tail blue. Holes in the panel where instruments and avionics are supposed to reside. If it will hold fuel and jumpers it goes up. Good luck. On this Cessna, the fuel selector was located just behind you on the floor where the jumpers were. It would get kicked to the OFF position during their scramble to get out. Sometimes the jumpers would intentionally select it off on their way out. They thought this was funny. Others thought it was funny to try and take the magneto key with them as they left. So, one hand guarded the key as they left. And then went to the fuel selector to verify ON. I managed to stay alive.
I finally built enough time to get a job with a regional airline. For the princely sum of $1070 per month, I got to fly all the time. Sometimes 8 and 9 legs per day. After a year, I upgraded and managed to haul in $1500 per month. Some of the planes were junk. Some of the Captains were dangerous idiots. The weather was frequently horrible and we just went anyway. That's part of the job. Sometimes the planes are busted and the company pushes you to fly them anyway, safety be damned. That is also part of the job. You need to pick your battles in order to remain both employed and alive. And not subject yourself to scrutiny from the FAA.
We went out of business. I was two shorted two paychecks, vacation, sick leave and per diem. Aviation enterprises only go out of business on payday, or shortly after.
I got another commuter job. And, a huge raise. $1800 per month! Yippee. I got stuck there for a while. Airlines were coming in and then going out of business like gangbusters back then and the market was saturated by guys with jet time, which I lacked.
Eventually, I got hired at a decent, large airline and have flown a mess of planes, domestic and international.
I've flown for 7 different companies. 5 of them have gone out of business. I've been through several bankruptcies. I've been involuntarily furloughed and bumped down to lower paying planes multiple times. It's been interesting but not always lucrative. I still enjoy flying, but I'm growing weary of the hassle associated with it.
While I was doing this I got my tickets and began teaching. This is a fairly common path. Unfortunately, we only had single engine planes. What I needed was multi-engine experience. Without that, you're not going anywhere.
Eventually, I get a charter job which consisted mainly of hang ing around the office and answering phones. I would also work up quotes and arrange trips (broker) when someone needed a plane with capabilities beyond ours or when we couldn't help them. This was most of the time, unfortunately.
Paydays were random and seldom, but every once in a while I'd get to spin the radios in someone's Baron, 421, Chieftain, etc. Eventually, guys would trust me and let me fly the empty reposition legs. I made about $6000 that year working full time out of National Airport in Washington DC. That was some serious glamour. I flew with a wide variety of pilots in a wide variety of (mostly) beat up and marginal airplanes. I managed to stay alive and logged some hours.
On weekends, I flew jumpers for ten bucks an hour. There's a reason jump planes have an easy open door and the pilot wears a parachute as well. The planes are junk and you want an easy way out. One wing green, the other white, the tail blue. Holes in the panel where instruments and avionics are supposed to reside. If it will hold fuel and jumpers it goes up. Good luck. On this Cessna, the fuel selector was located just behind you on the floor where the jumpers were. It would get kicked to the OFF position during their scramble to get out. Sometimes the jumpers would intentionally select it off on their way out. They thought this was funny. Others thought it was funny to try and take the magneto key with them as they left. So, one hand guarded the key as they left. And then went to the fuel selector to verify ON. I managed to stay alive.
I finally built enough time to get a job with a regional airline. For the princely sum of $1070 per month, I got to fly all the time. Sometimes 8 and 9 legs per day. After a year, I upgraded and managed to haul in $1500 per month. Some of the planes were junk. Some of the Captains were dangerous idiots. The weather was frequently horrible and we just went anyway. That's part of the job. Sometimes the planes are busted and the company pushes you to fly them anyway, safety be damned. That is also part of the job. You need to pick your battles in order to remain both employed and alive. And not subject yourself to scrutiny from the FAA.
We went out of business. I was two shorted two paychecks, vacation, sick leave and per diem. Aviation enterprises only go out of business on payday, or shortly after.
I got another commuter job. And, a huge raise. $1800 per month! Yippee. I got stuck there for a while. Airlines were coming in and then going out of business like gangbusters back then and the market was saturated by guys with jet time, which I lacked.
Eventually, I got hired at a decent, large airline and have flown a mess of planes, domestic and international.
I've flown for 7 different companies. 5 of them have gone out of business. I've been through several bankruptcies. I've been involuntarily furloughed and bumped down to lower paying planes multiple times. It's been interesting but not always lucrative. I still enjoy flying, but I'm growing weary of the hassle associated with it.
Comment