Originally Posted by rpatte1637

I'm not sure about that company, but I fly about 3000 miles of pipeline a week from NC to LA and make a little less than that a year. I have talked to some of the other pipeline pilots that I have met along my lines and most do start out at around $35,000 to $40,000 a year. Also, some companies work on salary and some work off of miles flown, some pay bi weekly some monthly, as for me, I am the later of both, but I fly the same lines each week, so unless weather prevents me from flying part of a week or if the month has either 4 week or 5 weeks, I know about what my check will be each month. Check what type of benefits they have, pay is going to be about the same at all of them, but benefits do vary. The company I work for is very easy going and I have full control of my flight schedule, as long as the pipeline companies are happy they are happy. I usually fly about 4 1/2 days a week and average around 8 hours a day in the air and another 2 hours doing paper work to send to the pipeline companies. I have flown pipeline for the last 3 years and built over 5000 hrs, the pay is good, all flights are VFR and the flying is usually 500' or below for most companies. There are a few companies that have air conditioned airplanes, other wise be aware the summers can be very hot and the winter very cold, since the cessna 172 is not the best insulated. With that said, I still can say that this is one of the only jobs that I have actually looked forward to getting up and going to work at every day.