Complete list of surveying companies
 

I've been looking at surveying jobs, currently sitting at 510 TT, 93 multi, 54 instrument.


Most surveying is 7 months on the road at the time. Which im alright with, but if i could get a rotation schedule that would be nice too.


So far the only companies ive found are,


-Skylens(2nd pick)
-Landcare
-Williams
-Sandhills(top pick)
-JAVimagery, which I cant find a website or anything for as far as mins and applications
-Air America, Which apprently is dead last on the surveying pole now.


are there any other companies i should be looking for?

Aero-Graphics, Inc.
Aeroptic, Inc.
Atlantic (theatlgrp.com)
Keystone Aerial Surveys, Inc.
Kucera International Inc.
Northern States Aviation

Not sure if they are hiring, what their mins are, how many hours their pilots log, or how much they pay. If anybody has any of this info, that would be helpful.

I know survey season starts in October, but does anybody know when the best time to apply would be?

Let me just start off by saying Sandhills will get you the rotation you desire but at a huge cost. They pay minimum wage+ overtime for all after 40 with a guarantee of 56 hours a week. $460 a week.( it will be very hard to go over 8 hours a day for several months due to the survey window) Other companies pay by the flight hour with daily min and pay anywhere from 20-35 a flight hour. On days with no flying minimum wage is better but once you start flying 5 hours a day flight pay is better. Also Sandhills won’t let you pick your hotel and most of the time they use a 3rd party site so you will get no benefits or points. Trust me, after living on the road for 6 months being able to pick a nice hotel when you want makes a huge difference in moral, the other days you can pocket the perdiem difference of the cheap hotel. Sandhills will alway pick the cheap hotel and take the extra money themselves. Also having a crap load of points will allow you to go on vacation for free after the long season if you get to book your own hotels.

Thanks for the info. I'm kinda desperate for a job right now so I will take whatever I could get.


I recently stumbled upon Aperture with a 8 on 6 off schedule, and about 38k starting with full benefits etc etc... I barely meet their mins though. So I guess we will see what happens.:o

Aperture Aviation out of San Jose, CA works an 8-on/6-off schedule, with solid pay ($38.5k salary when i started last year, plus per diem).


Home based, and they fly your commercial to and from your assignment each rotation. Good company with decent benefits and IMHO, a great staff that respects pilots and safety.

Sounds like a good gig. How much flying every month is there?

Northen states is dead. All the planes fly under Ground Imaging now. Which is part of Williams.

JAV usally post the 35 when they are hiring.

It's funny how some of the low-time pilots on here are complaining about the choice of hotels. Spoiled. From 250TT-1500TT, find the company that builds the time the fastest. I understand pay is important due to the outstanding debt, but 90% of companies that provide jobs to low hour pilots won't give as much. Be humble. Suffer now and enjoy your future later.

Ground Imaging hires around those hours too and we can pick our own hotels. No Super 8, No Days Inn, no sharing rooms. We stayed at 121 style hotels for the same type of work. You know the type with, complimentary drinks on tap... to each their own I guess.

Can you give me so info on sandhills, schedule pay, etc etc?


I have a friend who knows 3 people there... apparently it shouldnt be hard for me to get a job with them.


I also hear they asked the pilots about doing a 2 week on 1 week off schedule instead of 4/2

I don’t think it’s complaining when some of the hotels are really bad. Think hearing gunshots on a nightly basis along with bed-bugs and the worst smells imaginable. Just think when the motel 6 charges 79 a night some of these companies will find a hotel that cost 39

I mean, if they find those things important why shouldn't they try to find a company which does too?

I know a lot of pilots who do these jobs as a career and enjoy the lifestyle, they should be compensated according to what the market can bear.

What I'm saying is that not all paths lead to the left seat of a widebody at a legacy carrier. So no, don't suffer today so you can enjoy someone else's idea of what a pilot should be tomorrow. Find a position that matches your goals and lifestyle and if that job doesn't exist then consider your options closely.

AA really isn't as bad as people make it out to sound. You get out of it what you put into it. I spent a year there and had a blast, built ~900 hours with 350 of that multi. They aren't doing their hiring rounds until August/September this year though, like every other company.

You end up having the most freedom here compared to any other major Picto company, which is great but it is also why AA gets some hate.

You're a 1099. Oh well. So you pay a bit more in taxes but you also can write off pretty much anything you want. I did my taxes myself and just kept track of everything I spent, every hotel, daily meal based on gov rates, headset, ipad, etc. Choose your hotel, the airport you base at.

Potential downside is you get per diem for your hotel. If you're by yourself (rare) in a pricey area, good luck finding a decent affordable hotel. I made nothing but friends here so we would get Airbnb's or hotels to split which made things way better if you can afford the little less privacy. Another potential downside - insurance. They offer insurance to cover their deductible for a whopping $350ish a year, and AA reimburses you like $200 of it.

Any info on Geomni/GVAir?

What about all the pushing to fly in bad weather? Or the aircraft in bad shape? What about rental cars?

I was never pushed to fly in bad weather. I had been asked before if I could make it somewhere that day and if I said no, it wasn't an issue.

Sure there's aircraft in bad shape. You're going to get that at any company. I've heard bad things here and there about every major picto company out there. We were given a lot of leeway with our plane's maintenance. Don't like something? Go take it to local maintenance.

As for rental cars - that's what the per diem is for - although your per diem will definitely not cover a Marriott and your rental car if you're not splitting one or both. Or stay at a hotel with a shuttle.

Per diem is $120/day plus $25/hr with 2.5 hours guaranteed per day.
Pay wise, Air America is pretty good for a low time pilot job.

Bad weather: I, and other pilots I know, were definitely pushed to fly in bad weather, or with broken equipment. I suspect that being pressured to fly was a contributing factor in Paul Graham’s death. Of course, that will never be known.

Maintenance: Most of the time you could have local mx fix stuff with no problems. But there were plenty of times that I, and other pilots I know, were asked to put off needed mx till the next 100 hour was due. The company mechanics that would do the 100 hours were almost always overworked, hurried, and pressured to save the company money. I have lots of horror stories about company mx that go far beyond the “every company has those issues” bumpersticker reply. For example, a plane I flew had so much illegal mx done it that local mx refused to touch it. Company told me to try a different mx shop. 3 more local shops refused to touch it as well, for the same reason.

Safety:
The AA safety model: But, did you die? Then it was safe.
When i was at AA, there was a pilot who was a proud company man. Said there wasn't a plane there that he didnt feel safe in, except one.....the one that had an engine fire...twice. If you ever talk to him, he’ll say the company is perfect in every way.
BTW, if you refuse to fly a plane one day, for a valid reason, but management disagrees with your assessment, expect to be put on unpaid standby (punished) because “there not enough work to go around right now” ...Didnt happen to me, but I know who it did happen to.

If you go there, start applying for other jobs at 500 hours and get to 500 hours as fast as you can.

I know pilots from other survey companies. Those companies dont have even half of the above mentioned issues.

Check out Surdex.

Keystone Aerial Survey is one of the best
 

Starting pay is between $32k to $35k per year plus overtime. Per diem is $50/day. They give you a credit card to use for car rental and hotel. It is up to you to negotiate a hotel price and rental rate as it will be part of your efficiency performance. Due to pilot shortage rotation right now is 3 to 4 months. It is the pilots responsibility to comply all maintenance specially AD’s and keep airplane airworthy. I am only require to report to chief pilot every two weeks. Very relax company to work for.

I think they require you to live in PHL and work in the office when not flying. Not sure that one can live in PHL for $35k

When stated salary per year, is it for the 7 or so months of contract or a full calender year?

Little update for you guys that don't know, AA is no longer flying as of now due to a "contract dispute" (they're being sued) by the company that owns the cameras.
AA seems like a trash company but it's a bummer for you guys and others that they're down/done.

I got with Skylens, heard a lot here about AA and I am kind of happy its shutting down lol.


ive flown 70 hours in 18 days here, feels good:D

How do you like the flying so far and where have you flown? I'm thinking about applying for the New Year hiring wave.

Sent you a pm