Fresh commercial, now what?
 

as the title says, passed my CMEL checkride today (very stressful... haha). Taking my CSEL next week. Other than climbto350 and here/jetcareers, where should i be looking for jobs? ive been trying to come up with a list of aerial surveying companies. I live in Atlanta, so it would be nice to get a local job, but it seems like most low time involves me moving somewhere. I have my Instrument, CMEL and take my CSEL this coming Wednesday.

I have 250 TT(50 in a sim), 200 total flight time, 110 SE, 93 Multi


p.s- I am not sure if i would make a good Instructor... i am at ATP and could have an option to go through the 3 week course but i do not think i will be able to do it honestly and i would prefer to not make the student suffer or fail checkrides etc. because i am a bad instructor.

Get your CFI. It will open up a lot of doors and you will learn a lot. Your commercial certificate is a certificate to learn. The CFI is also a certificate to learn. Trust me on this one.

Get your CFI! I never thought I would be a good instructor either and almost passed on ATP's CFI program myself. I'm really glad I didn't. During the recession it was the only thing that kept me flying.

You will learn a lot during the teaching process. I also made a lot of contacts through instructing. Some people who fly little planes also fly big ones. I've met more than one chief pilot, director of operations, current airline pilot, etc., through flight instructing. I landed my current gig through a referral from a former student.

If you can get a job at ATP then put your head down and build time as fast as you can. As soon as you hit 1500hrs you'll get a regional job.

Yeah, i am just not sure i will be able to handle the firehose to the face of information in their program. The checkrides also scare me.... 6 hour oral minimum? I will get the pleasure of learning from Todd Shellnutt though if i do end up doing the CFI course since my home location is LZU, which i might while i look for a job just so i can at least try for the endorsements and maybe figure out if i would like it or not.

Look into American Flyers CFI program in Pompano, and Addison I believe. I went the day after getting my Commercial and was done in a month. It is a lot of studying, but mainly stuff you probably should have known in the first place. You dont know if teaching is for you or not until you do it, cause its like no other flying you have done before. If you are scared of the studying and the 6 hour oral, then aviation may not be for you, because the studying never stops, you'll be doing recurrent retraining like twice a year as an airline pilot, you dont think thats stressful either? The odds of you getting a job flying anything with anything under 500 hours thats NOT instructing are incredibly slim. Just get the CFI and start building hours and flying, because the demand is there. It will open up tons of doors

The studying part isn't really the issue. i could study for a checkride and the whole recurrent thing, everyone just talks about how hard the CFI course is, and 4 of the 9 that started are already kicked out on the second week. not sure what it is but im gonna give it a go. see what happens

trust zondaracer on this one, but just on this one ;)

Even at 500 hours it is still incredibly slim I am finding out the hard way :mad:

I have to disagree, I have not one but two jobs and Im at 300 hours. A lot of it depends on your background, resume, and where you learned to fly. If all of your time is in a sim instead of an airplane you for sure are less likely to get hired. I literally when to every Airport with 50 miles of my house found every company and went and talked to all of them. I took resumes, I dressed for the job I wanted, and I showed up early not just on time . Every person I met said you really lack in hours, but your look professional, speak professional, and you showed up on time, yea ill give you a chance. I flew 17.2 hours just last weekend and I wasn't even scheduled to fly, but I have become there "Yes" man, as long as Im not exceeding my personal limits I am always there for them. Put your nose to the grind stone, be polite, be proffesional, and when someone tells you to call them when you hit 500 hours, do it.

And everything else I say.