If you're at the majors, hard to find work which pays more than OT, although it might be worth doing something else to avoid additional overnights (if you can't get enough locals).

There's always uber, for flexibility. Half the guys in my town seem to be doing it more for the opportunity to talk to people than anything else. A middle-eastern dude picked up to go to work (me in uniform), starts asking a lot of operational questions about the plane I fly... turns out he's an engineer for Boeing, not a terrorist.

For part time, flexible work that pays well, it's probably going to have to be a professional skill you acquired previously. It's probably worth keeping those skills alive if you have them, in case of furlough or medical issue. Probably not worth developing such skills later in life, typically requires full time training/work for a while (although I've heard of guys managing law school while flying a line).

I had computer skills at one point, and got paid to do contract work, but I let that slide in favor of my mil reserve career. Too hard to get get current on that stuff now, but I could if I really needed to. If baby needed a new pair of shoes, I'd probably just put the suit on and drive in to the airport.

I've actually done one night as a driver for Uber, just for the novelty experience. I signed up to test how well they screen drivers (after reading about issues in the news on this area), but after signing up, I gave it a try for one night. For a 6-hour night "shift" I had 3 pickups, took them where they need to go, got to chat, hear one young drunk couple make out in the back seat of my car (cuz I was watching the road lol). After mileage expenses, I calculated I made $11 per hour. Would not say it was a busy night, but I can see the positives of being able to meet different people and socialize a bit while working instead of sitting at home.

...and there you would risk cutting off a part of your body as well and possibly lose your medical. lol

I agree that after being a pilot in the majors for several years, there is no financial incentive to get a non-military side job....I think the incentive is purely for personal growth or to mitigate the financial impact of dropping trips to improve QOL for commuters, even if that's a slight mitigation at best.

I've been a AF Reservist TR for 18 years also, that always did bring in a good secondary income to the point where I worked only 6-7 days for the airline per month and spent the rest of the month pulling duty with my unit and being home every night (I lived where the unit was)

Does hand loading ammunition and drinking beer count? Stockpiles of both could be worth $$$ in dire times?