Hello everybody new member here, and I would like your experienced advice.

Ok about me, I am 28 going on 29, new commercial pilot with single engine land, multi-engine land and instrument rating with tail wheel, complex and high performance endorsements.620 total hours , close to 400 of them are in a 182 doing skydives for a season, currently unemployed and searching job boards every day, not seeing much at my level and Michigan kinda closes down for the winter.

I have just gotten selected for an upcoming ground school to be an FE for a cargo company and hopefully move to SIC of their Falcons after a year of FE. Checking the forums and around they seem to be a good company and when I talked to people there they all seem nice and professional.

Should I take the job as FE and go from there? Or should I go to a state I may want to live and hope to find a skydive job or some other job that would take a low timer like me? Not seeing a lot though on the job boars so it would be a gamble.

The big downside is that the job is here in Michigan, which I hate and am ready to leave (I am from here but left for the military and came back for school), and FE does not add much to my flight hours, but It pays good ,has benefits(18 days on call 12 off, some jump seats),and would be kinda nice to have a real job at my age.

I’m in no rush for the ATP to do airlines, in fact I would rather run cargo or charters etc someplace in the carribean,Florida or places like that.But I know once you get ATP doors open as it seems like a lot of places are asking for it even if it is not legally required.

So what I am asking I guess is would it be better to spend a year doing FE or doing the low time pilot jobs like jump pilot or if very lucky SIC in small cargo plane be better for resumes and career overall? Would a year of FE doing multi crew ops and having the FE type rating make a big deal down the road or would getting the hours and ATP faster be a better idea?

Thanks

 

Tough call. There should be another ten+ years of hiring at the majors, and you don't want to miss that (or get hired late at the back of the wave, and be junior reserve furlough-fodder for a long time).

Assuming the goal is majors (and it probably should be for someone your age in the year 2017), the fastest path is probably regionals. So whatever gets you the 1500 hours soonest.

That being said if you log SIC or PIC time in a 727 or other cargo jet, particularly international ops, that will make you more attractive to some major airlines, and help you stand out from other regional pilots. I don't think FE time will mean much, other than a nice conversation starter once you get the interview (but it's pilot time, not FE, which will get you the interview).

 

Having an F/E ticket will make you 1 in 100,000!

GF

 

Thanks. I wouldnt mind flying for the majors if I could get in, but its not a dream come true for me. I mean if I could make decent money and have fun flying charter or something in the tropics or someplace in the USA I liked I would rather do that than be like some of the stories I hear of people eating ramen noodles living in a van to fly for the regional lines and hope to get into the majors.

The thing is good pay as FE might be good, and if I can go falcons that would be multi jet time which would be pretty helpful I'm thinking, but would it be worth the 2 year or so delay to get ATPs? would multi jet time look much better than ATP mins flying piston or turbine for tours or jumpers?

The other thing is I know I have kinda low hours, 620 is not much, so finding places that have openings is kinda tough. I would love even a part time gig if it was someplace nice and I could fly right stick on my days off from whatever crappy job I could get. I have been checking places listed on this forum, climb to 350, sky diver driver, dropzone etc so far no luck.

 

Since you don't have a job almost any job is better than none.
Skydive time is not worth much besides hours/
Take the FE job and get your cfi so you can teach on the side to build time. Get your ATP as soon as possible. FE time is worth up to 500 hurs towards your ATP, but you can only count 1/3 of hours flown The regs may have changed, but that was not an unusual way to go bag in the day.

 

Thanks Rama, that is what I was wondering, is skydiving or maybe banner towing etc worth more because of the hours though? from what I hear I would maybe do 500 hours a year, more like 300 so 1/3 of that would count as like 100 hundred total time from what I understand.

So I am trying to figure out if I should try to get another skydive, banner tow etc at low pay but build hours faster would be more helpful.
If I stick out the FE for a year and do get into the Falcons the flight hours would not be as many, but it would be multi and jet time,plus a little experience of flying international(mexico, Canada, central america etc)
Where as if I did the skydive or banner tows I would build hours MUCH faster, but I would not get the instrument,night or cross country hours which would be a big downside. Ideally I would love to get a job flying SIC, however all the places that take low timers seem to be word of mouth and I have always been bad at making contacts and networking.

 

IF you got another skydive job, make sure it is turbine... yeah I know most people will tell you that you will have to be closer to 1000 hrs but if you have decent connections you can get flying caravans at least. I have flown KA 90s and otters for skydive ops, its not bad. Also with your time, you could look at something like Plane Sense flying PC-12s. They are hiring FOs at 500 hrs now.

Just think that getting trained as a FE when not many aircraft going forward use them isn't the best route to stay in the pilots seat per se.

 

Buzz, PM me..