Originally Posted by
rdneckpilot
I agree with everything you said except for the crop dusting for time building. That job is not for someone disinterested in the work. It is rather difficult to get a seat with no ag experience especially as a low time pilot. If you want to work in aerial application then go for it. If it is not a long term career goal to work in the ag industry I personally think the barriers to entry and level of dedication required to get a seat pretty much rule it out as a time builder environment. Just my humble opinion.
I should have made it clearer, my fault. Ag isn't for the fresh commercial, 250 hour pilot. However, with many higher end jobs in the airlines/corporate industry looking for guys with 2,500 hours Ag is a great stepping stone.
Do some of the other options to get 1,000-1,500 hours and then go and get into Ag. You can sit in Ag for a year or two and build another 1,000-1,500 turbine time making you a great candidate for airline/corporate jobs.
Work hard and do it rights you could follow a path something like this: get your commercial (2-3 years) > build 1,000-1,500 in pipeline survey/banner towing/etc (2 years) > AG 1,000-1,500 (2 years). Now, in 6-7 years you have 3,000 hours and over 1,000 turbine time. Just my IMO as well, and only one of 100 options.