Seasonal Pilot Gigs
 

Seasonal flying opportunities are limited. Summer in Alaska winter??? Anyone have advice, experience, feedback?

Not sure what you're asking, but there are plenty of seasonal slots in Alaska. I've spent the last 10 summers flying there for three different part 135 carriers. Then Winter in the desert southwest doing CFI and contract work. There are some part 91 float jobs in Alaska, but most ask for lots of float experience and often with radial engines. Float pilots get the best tips. PM any questions.

I guess my question is, what do people do the rest of the year? Are there flying positions elsewhere during Fall/Winter/Spring?

If you have IFR 135 mins, you may find seasonal Winter "peak" work with the FedEx & UPS feeders. Apply by August to get a class date that's timely enough.

I've done a lot of years of seasonal flying, largely firefighting in the summers, with other activities in the winter, that included charter, fractional corporate, freight, various utility, ag work, foreign work, instruction (classroom, flight, and simulator), and various other duties, and a lot of turning wrenches while doing both.

I know an individual who is a doctor who flies fires in the summer. Another who flies fires, but fertilizes pine trees in the winter, flying about a thousand hours each winter putting fertilizer on pine plantations. Others who travel overseas. I know an individual who edits and compiles porn videos in the off-season. Numerous pilots who turn wrenches. One who instructs in gliders. Some years I've jumped from a single engine airplane to a learjet, back to a single, then to a 747. Radial engines one day, turbojets the next, then light turboprops, back to heavy, yada, yada. Others who sprayed drugs in Colombia part of the year, or for certain time periods, and did other activities at other times. A few musicians.

Frankly, looking for work, or changing jobs to something radically different in the off-season, isn't as enjoyable or attractive a proposition as one might imagine, and it tends to grow more burdensome over time, rather than easier. The transition from very different kinds of flying and aircraft becomes a dance of constantly re-learning the same things, and it gets old. Some places look for instructors at certain times, Others for pilots of multiple skillsets. Find a few seasonal operators or pilots, see what they do in the offseason. The broader your skill base and experience, the more you're qualified to do and the more options there may be.

I enjoyed strapping a float plane to my back and shuttling Pax around, for a few days of my time off, after flying across 12 time zones to get to my home base. Took the monotony of long haul flying.

I just ran into a guy at the Hampton SJU a couple weeks ago. He flys fires in the summer and cargo in the Caribbean in an SD360 (or whatever he can find) in the winter. He was flying with a guy from Ghana. He looked at me like I had two heads when I offered to switch jobs with him.

You can’t buy an “interesting life” no matter how much money you have. You have to earn it.

"Interesting Life"
 

Some day long away, would you rather tell your grandchildren that you were a Bush Pilot in Alaska, or you flew a CRJ in Minneapolis? No shame in either. I can understand climbing the ladder to build a career. I'll choose a little adventure.

I did that for a while: Flew contracts in Alaska hauling fish off the beaches summer and fall, then Caribbean Island flying in the winter with Aztecs, C-402s, Twin Otters and DC-3s.
Also lived on a sailboat in the islands.
Fun for a while, but ended up hauling International cargo on DC-8s, which led to other jobs and here we are 66 years old and finally retired.
Glad I did it, fun to think back how crazy one was as a youngster..:cool:

Sounds like an amazing career.