Hello all,

I am having a little trouble finding some employment and I am hoping the vast amount of knowledge contained within these epic forums will help me on my quest.

I am Military Helo Pilot with 880 TT, I also went out and earned my Commercial Instrument MEL rating. I have applied to most of the "low time" big names (Ameriflight, Great Lakes, some local business, etc.), and haven't heard anything back as of yet.

The question is, with a vast majority of my time being helo, am I even hire-able on the fixed wing side? and if so where?

I appreciate any and all comments.

Very Respectfully,

MedHawk

Tough call. Some places count r/w time, and some don't. Your best bet might be getting your CFI and build time. Are you AC or RC? If you're not there yet, get on APTAP.org.

I am RC, I have looked around that web site, but ill poke around in the forums. thanks for the info.

How many fixed-wing hours do you have?

I have 103 fixed wing hours

Med Hawk:

My two cents. Like deadstick35 mentioned, have you looked at getting your CFI? Right now with the regionals hiring flight schools are hurting for CFI's. Now that may not be what you want RIGHT NOW but trust me it makes you a better pilot in the long term. I'd say that with one good year of CFI'ing under your belt you'd look more marketable to any one of those companies you listed. How much ME time do you have? That comes into play as well. Are any of the guys in your unit FW qualified? Maybe split some time? Food for thought?

Hey GrumpyBear,

I have about 568 ME hours (only 34 are fixed-wing). I only got my Commercial Multi, and not my single engine commercial, so getting my CFI would mean getting the Comm SEL first then the CFI on top of that. Which, as im sure you know, means more $$$. If I did go the CFI route, I would probably do it for the helo side as it would be cheaper.

FWIW, not all places count ME helicopter time as "ME" time. The prospective employers makes their own rules so just be ready to roll with it. The issue with doing the CFI-RH first vs the CFI-A is your location. If you are in the reserve down in FL, then either will work. If you're living in NE, then good luck finding a r/w flight school. Also, 99% of the flight school have sipped the Robinson koolaid (and Sikorsky has pretty much killed off the 300) and you need at least 50 hrs in an R22 to instruct in one. Check out SFAR73 in Part 61. The f/w could be cheaper.

alllll true information, and excellent catch I forgot about that damn SFAR... the bottom line is I just spent 28K to get my MEL ratings, and I have a baby on the way. I am really hoping Ameriflight comes through...

The two things going against you are your total time and fixed wing time. I was in a similar situation but with my comm ASEL/MEL and much more total time. Get one or the other higher and someone will bite.

Do you live near an Air Force base with an aero club? Do you still have base privileges? They can certainly help you out earning your ASEL and CFI for a lot cheaper. It will be double boost to your resume and total time, not to mention needed experience.


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