Originally Posted by
Ewfflyer
I wouldn't lease one, I doubt it'd work. $140/hr anyways, a might as well buy the thing, spend $500/month on payments, and resell the bird after you get your time.
I would say this opportunity would give you something you could talk about in an interview. Not something too many people have done. Now it's actual benefits as far as hours are going to be a nice "filler," but you should really look at getting something once you hit 500hrs as an actual commercial job. Something to consider is obviously the CFI rating, but there are all sorts of jobs out there that with the experience of this trip you could potentially grab. Surveying/photo jobs would be fitting to this exp I think, but I honestly have no idea
I have been thinking about this. I know the director of flight ops for a small local airline, which shall remain nameless, that I have known since before I soloed, flew with on several occassions, and like being around. He told me in an off-hand remark that he would hire me as a FO in a C-208 once I reached around 650-750 hours. They would send me to a caravan sim school to learn how to fly the caravan, then I would fly right seat for new captains and night time until I could upgrade to captain myself.
To be frank though, I am thinking of not doing this because of what I have read here on the forums. Flying has been in my familys blood since World War Two (I think the current count of pilots is around 5 total), but the state of the airline industry has me hesitant to jump in head first. Buying this airplane would send me back to 0 dollars in the bank and another 10,000 in debt including the loan for the airplane (I have decided that I would buy it if I do this; I found one in DE for 15,900 listed, but might be able to talk down to 12,500) and fuel and associated costs. I have run the numbers, and the real cost, not including opportunity, would be right around 27,000 if I was not able to sell the aircraft after I was done running it across the country a few times. I am aprehensive to say the least about going further into debt after all of my school and flight time.
I will make a final decision about this in the next few months, but I appreciate all of the input that everyone has to offer. Please lay it all out, the good and bad, so I may make a more informed decision instead of what I feel.