chritz1179

Any thoughts for a guy with 1350tt 62multi. Live near Philadelphia. I need to step up from this C182 part91. Basically 150hrs short of ATP mins written already passed. Any thoughts would be great.

DALFA

Try this...

http://www.flycapeairjobs.com/

Turbine

Pipeline patrol sucks ! For some reason people do fly that crap for a career. You can make okay money and have good benefits doing it, although I can't imagine why someone would want to torture themselves for that long.

USMCFLYR

Exactly what is it about Pipeline Patrol flying that you find so distasteful?

USMCFLYR

Turbine

Well first of all you are just putting yourself in a bad situation from the beginning by flying that low all the time. 200-500 ft. AGL! It's thrilling at first but if you lost an engine you would be screwed in a lot of situations. The planes are usually old and have been flown hard their whole lives.

In the summer it will be hot as %$&* and you will get bounced around all day. In the winter you have to worry about getting trapped under a low ceiling with potential ice or rain.

I think the worst part is that you are not going anywhere. Typically it's just flying around all day spotting oil rigs, pulling units, rednecks on tractors etc.. It gets old real fast.

USMCFLYR

A lot of that sounds just like my job (but not quite so low usually!)

USMCFLYR

Turbine

If you are "flight check" At least you're in a King Air though, which I would imagine has air conditioning and a wx radar.

USMCFLYR

Correct.
It does have air conditioning....but sort of like my old airplane - the cool air is used first for the electronics - second for the occupants.
It is very warm during these days down low for a few hours in the Texas/Louisiana summer days for example.
It does have weather radar too, though most of the time we don't have to fly in bad weather which is a big plus!
I like the 'mission' aspect to it though instead of the going from Pt A to Pt B being the mission.

USMCFLYR

lifter123

You have to find the right company to work for. The good operators operate well maintained equipment and give you the tools to keep you safe. Things like gps with obstacle database, tcas, weather radar, are all things that I have on board.

Also, most pipeline flying is done at 500-600 agl. Nothing you can't see from 600, that you can see at 250.

As far as the experience, its great. If you only one line it could get old fast, but the bigger companies fly for a lot of pipelines. I personally fly over 8000 miles of pipeline every month.

Panzon

ACE is small enough that they don't need to advertise for pilots. Like many Alaska outfits, you have to make a trip to Anchorage and walk your resume in the door yourself. Talk to the chief pilot, maybe try to meet with some of the pilots for a burger. Then follow up politely and persistently. Persistence definitely pays off. Resumes sent by snail mail or email do not - this is the kind of place where a face and a name need to be connected.

Because hunting hasn't started and because we are now in the shoulder season (so prices have come down) this is a good time to visit Anchorage and Fairbanks (and maybe Nome and Iliamna) to make the rounds.