John Carr

Agreed. But unfortunately, the interwebz has proven that people mince/peace a post without fully comprehending what it means.

epicadv

Thanks for the feedback all. Kind of what I expected to hear. Certainly given my late start, getting to the widebody stage is not realistic.

Most encouraging comment is the one about feasibility of doing something like this at NetJets.

Kenmore is probably in the category of similar Alaskan seasonal jobs, and as I said originally, might be fun.

... the 4 months a year is the "semi-retirement" part! One can always dream.

JohnBurke

Really?

There are a lot of seasonal jobs out there.

Six figures and the fall, winter and spring off? Yes, it's absolutely feasible.

John Carr

Well, the OP did mention the "large flight department at a major"......

JohnBurke

The original poster mentioned a lot of other things too, but the salient question, and the title of the thread was the feasibility of working nine months out of the year as a pilot and taking winters off. The original poster asked:

Quote:

My dream drop would be a pilot job where I could take off 3-4 of the winter months each year. Is that something that is at all feasible working as a line pilot? I'm sure I could do it as a CFI, but the pay cut is so hard to stomach! I don't image that corporate or most part 135 operations would be able to accommodate something like that since they tend to be smaller operations. But maybe the flight department of a major can? Another option would be some type of seasonal work in Alaska, which very well might fit the bill for me.

Curious if anyone can give some perspective of whether there is any precedent for something like this, especially at the majors.

There's much more to the world of aviation than working for an airline, major or otherwise. Working a few months out of the year is do-able if one wants to, especially if one has other supplementary income, other things to do the rest of the year, etc. It's possible to take leaves from airline jobs, too, but in those cases, it's year round work, just different kinds.

I've done a lot of seasonal, temporary, contract, and other jobs, some repetitive, some one-time, and some of them pay exceptionally well. Some don't. Many of those jobs require specific qualifications; a type rating, a particular skill or background or experience, etc. They are out there, however, and they are do-able.

gringo

Well, if you can get into it, aerial firefighting is a highly seasonal job; I have no first hand knowledge but everything I've read and heard leads me to believe it's pretty much a summertime job only.

But rather hard to break into that field.

galaxy flyer

Cobtract work if you have time in one of the bizjets would work. Schedule is up to you and can be lucrative-north of $1200/day

GF

JohnBurke

Depends on the job. Some are year-round, most are not. The summers can get long, though. I've had them go ten months.

NYC Pilot

At 39, you still have time to become a widebody first officer at a major airline. Who says you must retire as a Captain?

Denti

Interesting question. Part time is a basic right over here in germany and therefore all airlines offer different part time schemes. Those that i do know offer full months off, up to six per year, however usually not more than 2 consecutive months to save on simulator requalification. Base pay will be reduced accordingly and in those off-months no hours will be paid. Another option would be pro rata part time, which reduces working days each month, minimum of 10 working days which is around 50% part time.

Those that have a large part of tourist destinations will usually try to give incetives, so that pilots take more months off during winter as there is a lot less to fly. The last two winters my company for example offered a take one month off and get a second one off free of charge deal. A great deal that allowed me to take a nice 7 week vacation in australia last winter while still having 35 vacation days in the other 10 months of work (FO on narrowbody back then), i got november and december off and topped it off with another week of vacation in january, one of those monts i got my guaranteed minimum hours and my base pay was only reduced by 1/12th throughout the year.