dxu1210

Looking to make career change. During high school applied to flight school but parents said absolutely not. So I went the medical route and became a medic while earning a B.S. in Physics and Chemistry. Twelve years later, medicine sucks. Time to do what I actually want to do. Luckily I am only thirty so I am probably at a good age to get started.

My goal is working fractional or corporate. NetJets or something similar. My job now I fly medic in the back of a Citation 550. Love the small to midsize jets. Turboprops, especially the PC-12 and King Air, are great with me too.

I plan on doing accelerated training with Double Eagle or AFIT up through my Comm ME and CFI/CFII/MEI. Seem to be a lot of CFI jobs out my way in Pittsburgh area. Instruct for awhile to become a better pilot and build hours. After that, I am not sure which way I will go.

Thats my question (and probably one addressed before):
with Comm MEL and say, TT 1000, ME 500, IFR 100 where does one go to gain the coveted PIC or turbine time? Do you go for a regional to build the time or can you go someplace like Boutique Air to fly SE Turbine or do you fly Ameriflight for ME Turbine PIC?

Sorry for the long post. Nice meeting everyone.

rickair7777

1. The majors will be hiring at absolutely unprecedented levels for at least ten years due to mandatory age retirements. The only thing that will stop this is WW-III or asteroid impact.

2. As the airlines suck up all available pilots there should be plenty of entry-level turbine opportunities so I doubt you would need regional time. In 91/135 networking is the way to get job leads, and you should have ample opportunity already as a flight medic. Keep contact info for all pilots you meet and stay in touch.

3. All that said...are you high??? Given the airline demographics you could have a great QOL and be making $180K+ in ten years in 121. Or you could be working for some fly-by-night 135 prop outfit making $60K, hoping the airplane got maintained correctly, and hoping you don't get fired any day now because the boss doesn't like the way you part your hair, or the fact that you don't like to fly planes with expensive maintenance problems.

Corporate can be a decent alternative when the airline industry sucks, but that's not the case right now. For most folks airlines are a better option if they're hiring.

dxu1210

Thanks for the advice.

It's reassuring to know there will be ample opportunity to achieve my professional goals in the next ten-fifteen years. 121 or 91/135 or whatever it may be.

155mm

I've been flying for 30+ years and and went back to school to become a Medic and love both!

dxu1210

Been doing it over ten years. but the field and medicine has changed enough to make me move on from it as a career. Nothing is perfect though.

Quarryman

With the above times you can easily find a job as a FO on one of those citations you flew in the back of as a medic. I don't recommend a career change, though. Continue in your present line of work and fly for fun. NEVER go into debt for this profession. Ever. The costs of training have gone up dramatically while the pay has stagnated over time. NEVER sign a contract for anything. A training contract, also known in some circles as a promissory note, exists because the incentives to maintain retention do not. Most regionals have stopped this garbage. Most 135 operators have not.

Once flying becomes a job the passion is tempered by realities of the work. Once you fly for a shady 135 operator, and believe me you stand a greater chance of working for someone who is than not, you'll hate it even more.

If you absolutely want to do this career change I'd recommend the regional route.

dxu1210

Before I fell back in love with aviation, I considered medical school. Talking to my physician friends, most of them said don't do it.

If someone asked me if they should pursue becoming a paramedic I'd tell them absolutely not to do it.

You're right, when the shine is off the apple, the passion becomes a job. That's the reality for most people. But if you can at least gain some enjoyment from your chosen career, you're doing better than a lot of folks out there. And I've not enjoyed medicine for a long time now so it's time to do something that will at least not keep me up at night dreading the next shift. That's my hope.

teamflyer

Like everyone else has said. Use the networks from the pilots you work with! I work with an air ambulance company and we had a flight nurse change careers to be a pilot. However, when she came back she got washed out of training.

dxu1210

I was thinking about something and not sure if I'm on the right track.

Since my company is 135 I need the 135 IFR mins. But the company requires a co-pilot. Can I fly as SIC and build time that way to get to ATP mins and then move over to PIC?

155mm

Too bad the operation isn't single pilot for the vacant front seat! As a CFI, if I were the Captain, on part 91 non rev legs, I would have the medic sit up front and give dual and enter it in the logbook even if one was a student pilot!

As far as your question, SIC time counts towards an ATP but you still have to meet all the ATP or R-ATP requirements. 135 SIC IFR minimums are a commercial instrument rating. There are 135 SIC's flying Caravans on scheduled flights. If the aircraft is a twin then you obviously need the multi rating however, the maximum passenger configuration is now 9 seats.

BTW, my first PIC VFR135 job was at 500 TT flying air ambulance operations in Arizona, Utah and Nevada in a Cessna 206. It was great flying and the patients were very stable from already dead, to old folks transferring to another nursing home.