Ferry Pilot gigs

Fixtur

Fixtur

Dunning-Kruger Expert
I'm a low time (~270TT), wet-ink commercial pilot with a few weeks off before I start CFI school. Ferrying a slow airplane across the states sounds like a good way to use the new certificate and see the sights.

Has anyone here done anything like this? Any insights? Is it ridiculous to expect anyone to let me even look at their airplane at this point?

Fix
 
Yea it is, no offense but when one hires a ferry pilot it's usually someone who has enough experience to hop in a plane with out ever seeing it before and easily deliver it on time and on budget. Most people wont hire a sight unseen wet ink stranger commercial pilot to fly their plane.

Your better off making friends of airplane owners at your local airport, get your name out as a pilot and see if anyone them needs a plane moved.

If you want to fly slow airplanes across the country all day look into aerial survey.
 
It's doable, but networking is important. I got an in at a local flight school and ferried about 100 hours worth of G1000 172's last year. Having experience in different types helps too. As mentioned above, a lot of folks aren't keen on a low time guy smashing around in their newly aquired airplane. Good luck, it's doable.
 
Ferry pilots usually work out because they either have experience in make/ model or familiar with the route or destination. Say the trip is going to or through Paraguay, Russia, Japan, etc. If all your time is Skyhawks and Cherokees it'll be tough. It would be easier to break into ferrying if you had say a foundation of Stearman or Baron time.

Or being an A&P. Sending one guy to do the prebuy and delivery can be lucrative to the buyer. A combination of aircraft experience and being a mechanic is how I broke into the ferry pilot world.


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I tried to get some ferry jobs through barnstormers but even with over 1000 hours they were hard to come by. I got a few that fell through. To get reliable jobs through a ferry company you need more hours and experience in a whole lot of planes. Also tailwheel is basically mandatory.
 
Fixtur said:
I'm a low time (~270TT), wet-ink commercial pilot with a few weeks off before I start CFI school. Ferrying a slow airplane across the states sounds like a good way to use the new certificate and see the sights.

Has anyone here done anything like this? Any insights? Is it ridiculous to expect anyone to let me even look at their airplane at this point?

Fix
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I agree with with T/O. But don't let that stop you. We have all been there. Good luck to you! Where do you live?
 
I live in the Berkeley, CA.

ATP will be sending me to either Phoenix or Vegas for CFI school. In July. Can't wait. ☀️
 
USMCmech said:
A tip for new CFIs, watch your student's mental endurance, especially in the heat. After an hour, their brain is jello and further flying is just wasting their money.
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Got my PPL in PHX in the summer...can confirm. I remember working on no flap landings in the SR20 at Wickenburg and was sweating so heavily my headset would keep sliding off my head...We called it a day shortly after.
 
It's totally doable. I built all my flying time and experience ferrying all kinda of airplanes, starting just after graduation (~250ish tt), and I was not the only pilot doing it. However, networking, knowing the country of destination, speaking a second language, working hard and learning the process of aircraft export and international flying was the key for me to succeed.
The way I went about,was by hanging out at my local airport which was the gateway to all aircraft being exported to South America and talking to people. A lot of people come to the US without an FAA license, not knowing the language and never flown outside of their home country, that's were you come in. I have flow all kinda of airplanes, from a c172 to Learjet, making anywhere from 2k to 5k in just a few days of fun flying with all expenses paid for.

Just work on your networking. I once was told by a guy that I flew with: " pilots hire pilots" , and I have found it to be very true.

Good luck.
 
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