State flying
 

Does anyone have any experience flying for a state government? Was it worth it, fun, etc. Is it difficult to get into? Any special non pilot requirements?

I had a buddy who did that for a while. He didn't get to fly a lot and the work rules changed so that he had to be in the office 40 hours a week. So basically he ended up doing nothing most days and flying irregularly. He said it would be great if you were retired/leaving an airline, but wasn't great as a forward step in his career.

I fly for a BIG state with several aviation units, and it's a dream job for me. We operate Kingairs and 95% of our trips are daytrips. Typical stage length is around 1 hour with 3 or 4 legs a day. Pax are great, people who work for a living, not a rich guy going to play golf. We fly mid- to high- level pax, typically HR, lawyers, engineers, environmental, law enforcement, etc...Pay is decent, bennies are superb, aircraft are great (new and well maintained). I did ten years of 135 flying before this, and I'll never go back willingly. I may not go to glamorous and exciting places, and I may not get to run up the bar tab on the bosses dime anymore, but I'm home with my babies almost every night and weekend, and that is worth more than anything to me.

If I wanted to get in contact with my state to inquire about the flying who would I contact ? The aeronautics branch of the state department of transportation? I'm not really sure.

Probably depends on which state.

I second the depends on the state statement.
I knew some pilots flying for the state. They had to be in the office 9 to 5 Mon. to Fri. They usually flew doctors for outreach to smaller communities then sit there all day waiting for them to go back home late in the day (usually after 5). They also flew university people around as well as the governor and state officials. They had a KA 200 and a KA 90 as well as a Cessna 206.
North Dakota a year or 2 ago had the feds come down on their state fleet because of maintenance issues. Wisconsin was flying Queen Airs until 2000 or so when they bought PC-12s to replace them (they also had a KA350).
It all depends on the state. If you are interested go in a talk with the pilots. Being a government position there is usually a long hiring process that may make little sense in hiring the right pilot and more sense on hiring a snow plow driver.

[quote=trafly;427790]I fly for a BIG state with several aviation units, and it's a dream job for me. We operate Kingairs and 95% of our trips are daytrips. Typical stage length is around 1 hour with 3 or 4 legs a day. Pax are great, people who work for a living, not a rich guy going to play golf. We fly mid- to high- level pax, typically HR, lawyers, engineers, environmental, law enforcement, etc...Pay is decent, bennies are superb, aircraft are great (new and well maintained). I did ten years of 135 flying before this, and I'll never go back willingly. I may not go to glamorous and exciting places, and I may not get to run up the bar tab on the bosses dime anymore, but I'm home with my babies almost every night and weekend, and that is worth more than anything to me.[/quote]

I hear you! I passed on a job like this a while back and have regretted it ever since.