Cloud Seeding Pay C90 PIC

C310_pilot

C310_pilot

Well-Known Member
I was offered a job yesterday to work for the WMI ND cloud seeding project as a C90 PIC. It sounds like interesting work but the pay is very low. 4000 + 2000 per diem per month. The location is Williston, the most expensive place in the US right now due to the oil boom. A room is provided for $600 per month. It works out to 130.43/65.22 per day. Am I just misinformed or is this very low? WWYD?
 
Most expensive place in the U.S. at 600 a month for a room that's cute. You better not even visit CA...

As for the pay, doesn't sound that bad to me at all. Compare it to the freight industry or other time building type jobs, hell this is the highest paying cloud seeding job I have ever seen. You will be making more than guys getting their asses worked off in a Metro for some garbage freight company.
 
How bad do you need the time? Any contract? Can you easily leave if you do not like it?
 
Mcdonalds in Williston is always looking for people. $17/hr no experience required.
The reason mcdonalds will pay so much is bc williston sucks, so getting people to move there is nearly impossible.
Its also like 70% male.... So if you want a girl, bring your own.
There isnt an amount of money that could get me to live there!
 
72k / year gross is pretty good. That's on par with the Air Ambo guys who operate the C90.
 
Itchy said:
I try not to count per diem. It's there,but not really. Especially if it is expected to buy hotel rooms with it. (and I have heard of that happening with some....)
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I don't count on my per diem, then again, I don't have a fixed per diem. If you receive a fixed per diem of 2k/mo, I don't see why you couldn't count on it. If the company makes you pay for your own lodging, I would look else where for employment.
 
My main base is in ISN. Company crew house otherwise I wouldn't be able to afford it. At 6,000 per month it will be doable. Williston is better than it used to be, not nearly as "mos eisley" as it was when the boom started, more families are moving in and things are calming down. Still pretty expensive though. They did just open up a brand new recreation center that is probably the best facility of it's kind I've ever been in, if you have alot of down time a membership would be worth it.

If your company is making you pay $600 for housing, it means they are either going to stuff you in a man camp, or they are eating the other $1800 per month, the average price for an apartment is around $2400. In most places I'd look at other options before going to a company that makes you pay for housing, but maybe not in Williston.
 
On call 24-7 for the entire contract. I will be the only C90 guy. Other guy is a Seneca driver and then UND students cycling through our planes.

Its not a year long gig. You need to remember this is a summer contract. Its only 90 days. After that you're S.O.L. I have a mortgage, wife, kids and other things I need to support outside of the contract so you can't count per deim as I will have double the expenses. Take $600 out of that 2G right of the bat for your cot. Now you need to eat, do laundry, pay your cell, gas for your car, etc off the remaining 1400. Basically $45 a day. You do these types of jobs to send/bring money home so your net is really after all expenses.

They have a company apartment because rent in Williston is 2400 for 700sqft. They put you in with three others, four total and they still eat some of the rent but its the only way they can put pilots on the ground up there. Evidently people are living in tents in the Walmart parking lot. Regular food is suppose to be much more expensive than the rest of the world.

I have 2400TT 800Turbine 124 Jet. Not low but not high either. Just a Commercial ticket as I hate to drop another 2,500 on an ATP and have yet been fortunate enough to have a long term gig willing to pay for it. My wife makes GOOD money thus we will never move for a pilot gig and Richmond VA is pretty slow when it comes to aviation. I can't/won't go airlines as my wife, and I for that matter, would not put our family through that for south of 30k. Not being with your family is a hardship. My wife can cover all the bills so my main job is to support her needs. If I can add money to the pot to make her/our lives easer great. But if she doesn't get a fiscal benefit, or she's not getting an emotional benefit - well then their is no point.

It does sound like most people seem this is reasonable pay though. I always thought $200 was low for contract work, esp. turbine equipment. Heard the plane is only a year old. Ironic to pay a guy $130 a day and trust him with a 2,000,000 airplane. Wacky profession this is.
 
C310_pilot said:
I was offered a job yesterday to work for the WMI ND cloud seeding project as a C90 PIC. It sounds like interesting work but the pay is very low. 4000 + 2000 per diem per month. The location is Williston, the most expensive place in the US right now due to the oil boom. A room is provided for $600 per month. It works out to 130.43/65.22 per day. Am I just misinformed or is this very low? WWYD?
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Back in 2007 I made 1k less/month working for a competitor of WMI flying a single engine piston and we only flew during daylight hours... keep in mind this was when I had ~250 hours. Company completely paid for housing and there was a bonus for contract completion. I certainly hope you know what you are getting yourself into... flying top seeding in t-storms at night is a whole new level of "dafuq?!" The choice isn't easy but neither is weather mod flying.
 
gotWXdagain said:
Williston is better than it used to be, not nearly as "mos eisley" as it was when the boom started, more families are moving in and things are calming down.
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I'm going to ask our dispatchers to start listing ISN as "Mos Eisley" on the schedule.

Our director of training was telling me just the other day about waking up at our crew apartment just in time to look out the window and see a drug deal going down in broad daylight.
 
This pic is from wiki on cloud seeding..
397px-Cloudseedingimagerevised.jpg


Is this how they handled things over in Stan when the Taliban got a rough to handle..
 
Avalon781ML said:
Back in 2007 I made 1k less/month working for a competitor of WMI flying a single engine piston and we only flew during daylight hours... keep in mind this was when I had ~250 hours. Company completely paid for housing and there was a bonus for contract completion. I certainly hope you know what you are getting yourself into... flying top seeding in t-storms at night is a whole new level of "dafuq?!" The choice isn't easy but neither is weather mod flying.
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I had/have no clue about cloud seeding. However, after watching some YouTube video's i was rather intrigued by something. At least in these videos, it looks like there is a jet engine attached or some kind of fire system.

 
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