Skydiving Gigs
 

Anybody know how to go about getting a job flying skyjumpers in Florida?

I am also curious. The guys over at Sebastian airport fly the Twin Otter. That thing is amazing.:)

i know deland has one the riddle club used it all the time. give them a look.

dropzone.com classifieds. Or visit the places and talk to the owner. Usually places want 500tt for piston singles (182's, 206's, etc) and 1000tt for turbine stuff such as caravans, PAC's, Twotters.

Skydiver firms are of two varieties- the C182 mom n' pop kind operating from a small hangar on the one hand, and Twin Otter or King Air, crank 'em thru high overhead operations on the other.

As for the mom n' pop firms, they need 25-50 hours in type (C182) and some sort of training in skydiver pilot ops. This is to get you approved with the insurance firm. There are schools for the skydiver pilot ops but it will be a cold day in Zimbabwe before I would pay for this sort of training. Just keep asking them until they agree to let you ride along on loads and when you have done this long enough to convince them you are serious, they will let you show them you can do it alone and then you are off an running. The mom n' pop firms are easy to get on with but they don't pay very much and they usually have several hobby pilots like me already on the roster because it's fun and not very formal. If you want to find one of these firms then just google up where they are and go visit them.

I don't know what there are in terms of the high-overhead operations in Florida, and there are none in Kansas, but there are several in Georgia and getting on with them is difficult unless you are already fairly experienced in turboprop operations.

great post and information. Thanks Cubdriver

Thanks for the reply Cubdriver. Guess ill head over this weekend to the skydiving airports and see what i come up with...

Hang out and get to know everyone. Skydivers are a good bunch of people, little strange, but good people. It usually works like anything else in aviation, its all who you know...
Thats how I got my first gig.

Turbine operators will laugh at you if you have less than a couple thousand hours and turbine time. They will give you a ride along though...

Look for a small operator and have at least 500TT, then keep bugging the hell out of them until they give you a shot! Its a fun gig. Just remember, boobs for altitude and you'll be just fine!

I fly for a skydive op a few times a month... I just hung out there and harassed them for a while and they checked me out to fly for them when I had 270tt, they didn't use me that much then. this year I came back with 600 tt and now i'm actually on their schedule. Insurance?! ha, they definitely don't have it. So sometimes when they say for insurance mins you need ___tt, they could be blowing smoke.

It's a fun little gig, they've got a STOL kit, and an stc for wing extensions that raises gross by 550lbs. Make sure if you do fly that you save the engine... Just don't go full power all the way up to altitude and then chop'ndrop back down to the airport. It's a good way to shock cool the engine and you never know when the thing is going to go. There was a DZ just the other day that threw two rods and had to dead stick it, lucky for him he was close to the airport. And on a last note make sure you've got gas too. The same place that blew their engine has also had two dead stick landings because they ran out of fuel (made it back to the airport both times) and then ran out of fuel on the taxiway another time.

I second what WMU said. It is a blast, I got lucky though. A DZ took a chance on me with 280TT and brought me on full time on two 182's and a 206. My best advice is to get to know the people at the DZ, most skydiving jobs are gotten through the buddy system. Just take care of the planes and they will take care of you.

Also, dont be pressured into doing something you dont want to do or feel safe to do, managers and DZO's may not be pilots and that cloud layer might look like 'industrial haze' to them. :D Watch the jumpers too, at least at my DZ, the guys would occasionally climb on the plane at altitude and one particular guy would pull on my aileron control cables during climb. Put them in their place as necessary. And... if you heard nothing I just said, remember this: Boobs for extra altitude. I saw more titties per weekend flying jumpers than you could at a strip club.

I know Skydive Newport it looking for a jump pilot. Season starts in April and goes till end oct. i think hes looking for someone for 2 seasons now. just google to find his website skydive newport RI. owner is marc and only tandom ops

Drop Zones

Heres a list of places in florida that might help get you started. I fly the twotter and the skyvan for a dz and can agree with what everyones saying.... lots of boobies, but to get the job I met a tandem instructor and just started showing up until they let me fly the 182 by myself.... I think thats how most people get started in these gigs.

I flew skydivers for a couple of years part time in Caravans and King Airs. Know that you are walking into a community, and that as a pilot, you are scrutinized until you put your time in. It's like a corp gig. Flying is important, but working well with others is just as important. Maint is bare bones so be careful. Most turbine operators in FL require lots of hours and some want you to be a skydiver on top of it. It's not as easy as it sounds, but not too difficult. Showing up in person, resume in hand is the way to do it. You'll sit for hours on a slow day to log 2.0 for the day at .3 or .4 at a time. Most operations will pay $8-$12 a load in a turbine. Maybe as low as $4 a load in a 182. On a busy day you can fly in excess of 20 loads, (from morning until sunset). Training programs are weak at best and safety is what you make it. So be vigilant. It is great flying and very cool people.

Would any of you guys happen to or use to fly skyjumpers out of zephryhills, FL ?

AustinSkyDiving Center is looking for jump pilots. They've got a cabin/utilities paid for. C182's $16/flight hour.

Would you happen to have a email or any contact info ??? Thanks

Found the website and thanks for the info. But i currently live in Florida and i dont think it would be any help to me. Would you happen to know any in Florida that are looking?

Care to share the website? I googled but only found the generic skydive (insert city name here) websited. Thanks in advance.

This is what she emailed me. I can't take a pay cut at this time so here you go guys.


Contact Cindy Gibson [email protected]


info : "The position is flying skydivers in central Texas. You would need to relocate to Lexington, a small town about 45 min. east of Austin, and be available to fly
except for when we schedule days off (which you can certainly request time off - no problem with that).

A small cabin is provided. It has a single bed, small couch, satellite TV, microwave, small refrigerator, hot plate, kitchen area, etc. There is no charge for rent or utilities, so your living expenses will be minimal.

The maximum weight for our jump pilots is 185 lb.

We fly a C-182, normally to 10,000 or 12,000 AGL, and back down to pick up another load of skydivers, in a
30-minute timeframe. We are entering our slow season (winter), but
activity doesn't cease. Some weeks we fly jumpers on Saturdays and
Sundays only; some weeks we fly jumpers both weekend days plus maybe
three weekdays. We may fly all day from 9 or 10 a.m. - dark, or we may fly
just a few loads. It is highly variable, depending on the weather and time of
year. As an example, we flew 10 loads Saturday, 15 loads Sunday, and
we have a few loads during the week this week; there are also ferry flights for maintenance, and you get paid for those as well.

The pay is $16/hour for flying, which works out to $8/load, plus you get paid for ferry flights and also for keeping the plane and fuel pad clean.
In the past two years, we have flown 750-800 hours per year. Keep in mind, though, that it does vary from week to week and from month to month.

The other issue is that jump-flying is a pretty aggressive style of flying, so be sure you would have the personality to suit that. Not saying that you have to be an aggressive type of person, but this kind of flying is very different from most kinds of flying, especially different from flight instruction. Jump flying requires a lot of working with the plane to keep the best possible climb rate, and then the best possible descent without shock-cooking the engine. We are also aggressive with weather - we don't stop flying just because there are thunderstorms "in the area," since all of our flying is at this field."



And requirements - Single Commercial & H.P. Endorsement

AustinSkyDiving Center.com

Being a diver driver was one of the most fun jobs I've ever had, and definitely a great starter job. Too bad the pay sucked so bad...

Care to give some airport ideas for a fellow WMU student?