270 TT commercial AMEL/SEL with 4 year degree
 

Hello Everyone,

I am fairly new to this forum and just wanted to make a post and introduce myself. I currently have 270 total flight hours, 100+ in the Cessna 172, 100+ in Piper Archer (pa-28-181) and 40hrs in the Seminole (Pa-44-180). I am an Embry Riddle grad with a degree in Aeronautics! At this point of my career CFI is not an option for me due to my financial situations so I have been actively looking and applying at every place I could think of. I am very flexible with re-locating and working hard hours and my main goal is to build time. Is there anywhere that you guys would recommend me applying to that I might have missed out or anyone I can get in personal contact with would be much appreciated. I have looked at places in Alaska, Hawaii, Marianas and just haven't had any luck with my total hours. I'm willing to do any job that would help me build some time and take the next step in my aviation career. I would appreciate any help/comments.

Best,

Soheil

Almost impossible to get a DZ job with under 500TT, unless you know someone.
0 to 500 hours is the hardest time to get if you choose not to get your CFI. After 500, there are tons of options.

Your best bet is get on with a flight school that pays for your CFI.

Unfortunately, a lot of "entry level" jobs want at least 500 hours, sometimes up to 1,000. I didn't have money for CFI when I graduated, and I tried my best to get any job I could. I had a few leads but ultimately nothing worked out. By then, I was able to save up some money and get some from family as well, and just sucked it up and got CFI and then CFII. Now I'm getting paid and getting hours, it was hard and sucked getting here, but it's finally paying off.

If you're down there in Florida, one of the survey companies is based out of there. Air America. Granted, they've got a...reputation. Most people have a pretty polarized opinion of their operation, and at least a few people here and on jetcareers have worked there. They hire fresh guys, and might even have a summer season. But usually they and other survey companies start up in the Fall.

Another option to look into is Grand Canyon/Scenic Airlines. They fly caravans and twin otters. I think the summer is their busier season, so they might even be actively looking for FOs. A friend of mine was fortunate enough to get a job there at the end of last summer, even though they were rolling into the end of the busy season.

There's also a company or two in Alaska that might hire lower time guys. I've heard Ravn/Hageland does. I'd look into some of those options, and start scouring sites like climbto350 and bizjetjobs and whatnot. They require a paid membership unfortunately, but I got several job leads from those sites last summer when I was in your shoes.

Additionally, some schools advertise paying for or subsidizing the CFI cost, in exchange for a minimum commitment. I can't think of any specifics off the top of my head, but I know I've seen and heard of options like this. For example, after I got CFI, a couple schools wouldn't hire without CFII as well but they offered to pay for it if I committed a certain amount of months or hours. One school wanted a 12 month commitment, the other wanted 600 hours of dual instruction given (or somewhere around that). Honestly an option like that is probably going to be the best. CFI is a guaranteed job and hours once you get the certificate, so if you can find a busy flight academy with something like that, that's a potentially good setup.

GCA needs 750 for their Caravans (no FOs) and 500 for the Otter FOs.

My company in North Carolina has hired 4 new FOs recently (all under 300 hours) to fly Citation Jets, King Airs, and Citation Excels. I know of at least one FO that is leaving soon. Not sure if they will hire to replace or just keep the FO list at the current number once he leaves.

I can ask and find out, but there are plenty of operators that never advertise job openings that would hire someone with less than 500 hours. You either need to know someone or do a lot of research.

I have used two successful methods of finding companies that hire but dont advertise.

1) Download the Part 135 list of Operators off Google. It has all of the part 135 operators. I then google the name of the company I find in the area I want to live to see if they have a website and then find an email address to contact and go from there.

2) Target a specific area or airport you want to live/fly out of and look at the arrivals and departures on flightaware. Eventually you will notice the same tail numbers flying in and you can find out who owns the airplane or which company it is registered to. Then just follow the last sentence of method 1.

Some people might think it is "stalkerish" but I can personally say that I received a job offer recently due to this tactic and impressed the interviewer with my persistence.

The jobs you see advertised on APC are great, but they are just the very tip of the iceberg.


Good Luck in your search!

What is this name of your company in NC?

Hawkeye Helicopter is looking for Fixedwing Pilots, 40 to 50k/yr, no hour requirement as per their ad. Might have to move to Oklahoma or Texas though. :eek:

Careers | Hawkeye Helicopter

Silver Airways helps sponsor CFI/CFII training and US Aviation Academy is hiring. PM me and I can make the connection and see if that's an option for you.