tm135

Just curious, are there any active airline pilots out there holding a second job (part or full time) with another employer? Only civilian second jobs only (no Guard/Reserve military duty). Also no home businesses, because I'm sure there are plenty of that as well.

If so, please say what airline/position/year you hold, what your other job is, and how you make it happen (drop trips, only do it days off, etc.)

Just curious, thanks!

milmil34

This is an awesome thread!

marcal

My side job is flying. I live in base and I pickup one day trips. More enjoyable than any other side job I can think of and certainly more lucrative. Extra flying represented almost 20% of my gross this year.

PotatoChip

^^This^^

And I’m a volunteer Fire Police Officer.

Deathwish

Substitute teacher in your local school district is a very flexible part-time job. You won’t be paid much but you can pick up shifts at your leisure and also contribute to your community.

tm135

I think substitute teaching is a worthy activity on your off days (I've looked into this where I live as well). Volunteer firefighter or reserve police officer as well. I personally like to seek occupational type activities not related to flying.

Having said that, I'm curious how others approach this personal objective of mine. Assuming I'm a line-holding commuter at a major airline, my personal goal would be to drop trips to reduce my time away from home and make up for some of the lost income by doing a part-time job, with flexible hours of course to account for month-to-month changes to your personal schedule. I'm looking at picking up a gig as a contract engineer to work on various projects but not on a full-time basis or as a direct employee. If it works out financially, then I would drop as many trips as my airline would allow per month (or even go LWOP). The only reason I'd keep the airline job active at that point is to really keep those pass riding privileges, the employee bennies, and the fact that you can go back and fly a few trips if you need to quickly boost your budget.

I hear of stories where pilots also work as lawyers, professors, even doctors. Also seems most of the pilots on the airshow circuit are airline pilots (thought I don't know if they lose income doing that).

captjns

[QUOTE=tm135;2745171Seems most of the pilots on the airshow circuit are airline pilots (thought I don't know if they lose income doing that).[/QUOTE]

But they get their drinks half price.

captjns

But they get their drinks half price.

RhinoBallAuto

I hear a great number of airline pilots could be divorce attorneys.... the training is fast due to work life credits

DarkSideMoon

I’ve gone back and forth on it but open time is plentiful and I can make more money flying than any side job. I really can’t justify the legwork to find and maintain another job. Thought about doing some aerial photography with drones but it’s not worth risking my ATP over (they’ve gone after fixed wing certs for drone “violations”). Anything physically taxing just doesn’t seem worth the risk of hurting yourself and not being able to fly for a period of time.

Maybe in the future I’ll do some woodworking or other craftsman style work and sell it for fun, but that’s more of a hobby than a real side gig.