Does Blimp time count towards the airlines?

[Apophis]

Sorry, and no offense in advance, but all you ever do is complain. You and the other airship guy, so why not just quit? I can not go one day with out reading about your crappy QOL. Life is not all about flight hours. You don't you think you are worth more then this? There is something to be said about getting out and actively WORKING toward your goal, not waiting for "when the opportunity presents itself" Come on dude, I am SURE people here could help you. Hell I would if I was in the position to offer a job. But if you dont like it so much then LEAVE. Spend some time and enjoy your life, go on vacation, be HAPPY again.
.

You are bold buddy. Calling me out in a thread I haven't even participated in? I think I've made a handful of posts answering questions to various people about certain QOL issues with this job since ive been a member of JC, but that's pretty much it. No I don't love my job, but I generally keep to myself about it.

If you are going to accuse me of complaining about my job all the time, then you better have some quotes from me to prove it.

Also, if him complaining bothers you so much, then stop reading his posts. It really is that simple.

Un-flipping believable.

 

[Cessna414JJB]

I actually find KS's posts rather informative in terms of what kind of an "opportunity" is hidden in airships.

Just read something about a 3 year Training Contract . In three years a bunch of cool opportunities can float by when you're stuck.
The company I looked at basically says it on their website: "Forget everything you knew about having a life outside of this airship crew"
The pay seems mediocre and if they skimp on hotels and having some fun time, this can be like jail.

I can see how someone could burn out and get tired of the whole shebang. One article I read deals with a 23 year LTA veteran who tries everything he can to get people not to do it.
Those who stick around and still want to do it (SJS people usually collapse when things get rocky or take longer than a year) have a better chance of excelling in the industry.

What I'd like to ask (given that LTA time counts as total time) is how those who do it anticipate the time to be looked at by future potential employers?

Assume you'll have roughly 3000 hours LTA PIC in your logbook after your "contract" is up and you can get out. How do you remain current as CFI during your "deployment" and with your other fixed wing ratings - given that you're never stationary? What is the next logical step after you're done?

What did you think it would lead you to when you started vs. where has it brought you?

 

[dasleben]

Hah, reminds me of the RJ days. Not so much on the Bro now...resorts are common.

Nothing says "depression" like the La Quinta-Moline Airport, Moline, Iowa Illinois...

Edited because I apparently misplaced Moline.

"The RJ days." All 10 of them.

 

[Autothrust Blue]

"The RJ days." All 10 of them.

Yup. *grins wildly*

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

I actually find KS's posts rather informative in terms of what kind of an "opportunity" is hidden in airships.

I can see how someone could burn out and get tired of the whole shebang. One article I read deals with a 23 year LTA veteran who tries everything he can to get people not to do it.
Those who stick around and still want to do it (SJS people usually collapse when things get rocky or take longer than a year) have a better chance of excelling in the industry.

What I'd like to ask (given that LTA time counts as total time) is how those who do it anticipate the time to be looked at by future potential employers?

Assume you'll have roughly 3000 hours LTA PIC in your logbook after your "contract" is up and you can get out. How do you remain current as CFI during your "deployment" and with your other fixed wing ratings - given that you're never stationary? What is the next logical step after you're done?

What did you think it would lead you to when you started vs. where has it brought you?

There are quite a few old timers with the company. Some because they love it, some because its all they can fly. We've got pilots with 10,000+ hours in nothing but balloons and blimps. There aren't many people who have gone from my company back to a regional airline, AFAIK. A few have moved on to a place like Goodyear or other airship companies. Some have quit flying totally. In 3 years, I wouldn't expect to get 3000 PIC hours, I'd say 2000 would be a decent number to expect in 3 years. As a CFI, I remained current by doing one of the online renewal courses. As for saying fixed wing current, every few months, I try to rent a plane with a CFI and at least do an hour. Usually I'm trying to do it in an airplane I've never flown, just to add something to the whole thing. Instrument currency is the hard one, and I try to do an IPC check when I get a chance, but it's hard.

Do I think that by having a bunch of airship time is going to get me on a major, no, no I do not. I'd like to think that maybe some 121 operator will at least consider that it is experience flying. If I have to go 135 to get out, that's what it will take.

The one plus side is, that because of the lifestyle, it is very easy to pay off student loans, which is reason number 1 I took the job. Now that I've nearly completed that, I'm in the process of purchasing a small airplane to have to mess around with.

 

[Apophis]

I actually find KS's posts rather informative in terms of what kind of an "opportunity" is hidden in airships.

Just read something about a 3 year Training Contract . In three years a bunch of cool opportunities can float by when you're stuck.
The company I looked at basically says it on their website: "Forget everything you knew about having a life outside of this airship crew"
The pay seems mediocre and if they skimp on hotels and having some fun time, this can be like jail.

I can see how someone could burn out and get tired of the whole shebang. One article I read deals with a 23 year LTA veteran who tries everything he can to get people not to do it.
Those who stick around and still want to do it (SJS people usually collapse when things get rocky or take longer than a year) have a better chance of excelling in the industry.

What I'd like to ask (given that LTA time counts as total time) is how those who do it anticipate the time to be looked at by future potential employers?

Assume you'll have roughly 3000 hours LTA PIC in your logbook after your "contract" is up and you can get out. How do you remain current as CFI during your "deployment" and with your other fixed wing ratings - given that you're never stationary? What is the next logical step after you're done?

What did you think it would lead you to when you started vs. where has it brought you?

Thanks for posting, you actually seem to understand where we're coming from here. To answer several of your questions, I generally try to stay current by flying a few hours of fixed wing every few months on days off. Sometimes when we have three or four days off in a row, you can trek out to the local airport in whatever town we're currently staying, and get some dual time and maybe rent an airplane for a couple of hours. Last December, myself and another one of our pilots actually rented a C172 for a whole day when we were in Miami, and flew down to Key West to spend the day.

The three year training contract at my company is pretty much to scare new hires into staying for at least that long. The company knows there aren't many people out there who can accept this lifestyle, so by "guaranteeing" that a particular person will stay for at least three years, they can defer trying to hire new pilots for at least that period of time (theoretically, at least).

That having been said, the contract here isn't worth the paper it's printed on. It has more holes than swiss cheese. We had one new hire who quit before finishing training, and the company did nothing in terms of trying to enforce the contract, because it's so weak that doing so would be next to impossible.

 

[smokey1]

What airline is taking airship time???????I would think blimp time is like chopper time in that no airlines fly choppers or blimps. look here blimpin, get out of the blimp world ASAP and go cfi, and get some fixed wing time now.Ive been at a regional for 8 yrs and i only know one blimp/balloon pilot....he had a couple thousand fixed wing before he was hired here.